The Liar

“Now see, I’d never have thought of that. Now you did, and I’m going to end up buying little pots and plants. Wouldn’t that look sweet?”

“Guaranteed.”

“I could . . . Hold on.” Emma Kate picked up her phone when it signaled. “Matt’s texting me he’ll be home in about a half hour. Which means closer to an hour, as he must be finishing up helping Griff on the house, then they’ll have to talk about it awhile. Ruminate.”

“Ruminating can take some time. I’ve got a date with Griff Tuesday.”

Emma Kate’s eyebrows winged up. “Is that so? And you don’t mention it until you’re heading out the door?”

“I’m not sure what to think about it yet, but I want to see his house. I always wanted to see what someone with some vision could do with that place.”

Those eyebrows stayed raised. “And seeing the house is your sole purpose of this date?”

“It’s a factor. Honestly, truly, I don’t know what I’m going to do about what’s moving along between us.”

“Here’s a thought.” Lips bowing up some, Emma Kate lifted the index finger of both hands. “Why not try something I don’t think you’ve put up front for the last few years. What do you want to do?”

“When you put it like that?” Shelby’s laugh was quick and easy. “Part of me—maybe the most part of me—just wants to jump him, and the realistic part is saying, Slow down, girl.”

“Which one’s going to win?”

“I just don’t know. He sure wasn’t on my list, and I’ve still got a lot to tick off there.”

“I’m calling you Wednesday morning to see if you ticked off ‘sex with Griff.’”

Now Shelby raised her eyebrows, shot out a finger. “That’s not on the list.”

“Add it on,” Emma Kate suggested.

Maybe she would, for some point down the road. But for now, she was spending the rest of the weekend with her daughter.

•   •   •

BY MONDAY THERE WAS still no word on Jimmy Harlow, no sign anyone matching his description had been around the Ridge, or asked about the brunette at her hotel in Gatlinburg.

Shelby decided to be optimistic, decided it was best to think he’d done what he’d come to do, had exacted his revenge on Melinda Warren, and moved on.

She parked outside the salon with time to spare, so walked down to the bar and grill. Optimism was her choice. It didn’t have to be everyone’s.

Tansy answered her knock.

“Shelby.” Tansy immediately enfolded her in a hug. “I’ve been thinking about you all weekend.”

“I’m so sorry about all this, Tansy.”

“Everyone’s sorry about it. Come on in and sit down.”

“I have to get to work, but I wanted to see you first, and tell you I understand if you and Derrick want to cancel Friday Nights.”

“Why would we do that?”

“It wasn’t the sort of encore any of us had hoped for on our debut.”

“It didn’t have anything to do with us, with you, with the bar and grill. Derrick talked to the sheriff personally just yesterday. They’re looking at it as a vengeance killing, old business that came here with her.”

“I’m part of that old business.”

“Not to my way of thinking. It’s . . .” On a whoosh sound, she levered onto a stool. “I still get a little queasy and light-headed in the morning.”

“And here I am hammering at you. Let me get you a cool cloth.”

“I’d do better with a ginger ale.”

Quickly, Shelby went behind the bar, poured ginger ale over a lot of crushed ice. “Sip it slow,” she ordered, then got a clean bar rag, soaked it with cold water, twisted it until it held cool without dripping.

When she came back around, lifted Tansy’s hair and laid the cloth on the back of her neck, Tansy made a long, long Ahhhh.

“That really does feel better.”

“Worked for me when I was carrying Callie.”

“It comes on most mornings, but usually passes before long. Every once in a while it hangs on, comes back a time or two. Just the icks, you know?”

“I do. It doesn’t seem right something so wonderful should make a woman feel sick, but the prize at the end of it’s worth it.”

“I tell myself that every morning when I’m hanging over the toilet.” She sighed again when Shelby turned the cloth over, laid the cooler side against her skin.

“It’s passing already. I’m going to remember that trick.”

Reaching back, she patted Shelby’s arm. “Thank you.”

“Do you want a couple crackers? I can get some from the kitchen.”

“No, it really is passing. Now you sit down here and take my brand of cool-cloth treatment.”

After tugging Shelby around, Tansy looked straight into her eyes. “That Warren person? She was an awful woman, and from what I’ve been told, didn’t give a good damn about anybody but herself. She didn’t deserve to die for it, but she was an awful woman. Whoever killed her was awful, too. You didn’t even know those people, Shelby.”

“I knew Richard—or thought I did.”

Obviously feeling herself again, Tansy hissed and flicked that away. “And Derrick’s got a cousin over in Memphis deals drugs for a living. That doesn’t make us part of it. Are you too upset to sing on Friday? I understand it if you are. We lost a waitress over it.”

“Damn it. I’m sorry.”