“Yeah, I’m okay,” she said, hating that weakness shivering through her again. “It’s just frustrating.”
“Frustrating, why?”
“Because I didn’t necessarily get the feeling that he was a bad guy. More that he was trying to be protective, and I just don’t know what’s going on in that neighborhood.”
“Well, we’ll have to find out,” he said, “and this still has nothing to do with that message Thaddeus brought home or with whoever attacked you, and that’s frustrating to me,” he said, “because, once again, we have way too much happening all at one time.”
“That’s just it. Since so much is happening and seemingly unrelated, it could very well be related,” she said. “It’s all got to be linked somewhere. Surely not that many people can hate me.”
He snorted. “When you keep pissing people off like this at such an alarming rate, you can easily get that many to hate you.”
“That’s not fair,” she cried out. “I’m just trying to help people.”
“But not everybody appreciates that kind of help. I keep telling you that you have to watch out because not everybody is nice out there.”
“Not anyone apparently,” she muttered. “Not lately anyway.” She took a long slow deep breath. “So, I’m sitting on the deck having coffee,” she said, “almost defiantly.”
“Not surprised. Are you feeling okay after my brother’s visit?”
She hesitated at that. “I am,” she said, “but—”
“But what?”
“I don’t know. It just feels like we’re opening another can of worms. It’s bad news.”
“Of course it’s bad news, but it was bad news already, before we ever opened it. It existed as bad news,” he said, “but you were bearing all the brunt of it, as it festered inside you. Now that you’ve finally spoken out about your ex, we’ll excise all the pus and the infection out of it.”
She burst out laughing at that. “That’s gross. I now see my ex as this big shiny pimple that needs to be popped,” she said.
“Good,” he said. “Keep thinking of him that way. It’ll make things a little easier as we go forward.”
“I really don’t want to go to court and defend myself against him,” she worried out loud.
“You’ve got to remember that divorce court is a very different thing than criminal court.”
“It still feels like it’s me who’ll be on trial, not him.”
“Forget about the whole trial thing,” he said. “That’s not what this is about at all. I can promise you that the last place he wants to be is in court. Let Nick work for a while. You’ll see.”
“Says you,” she muttered. She reached out her free hand, checking for tremors. “I just need a couple days to get over the last attack.”
“Which one was that? Today’s or Saturday’s?” he asked, with a note of humor in his voice.
“Both,” she admitted. “Maybe I’ll just stay home for the next two days.”
“Please do,” he said. “Why don’t you try to make some friends around town? And not the ones you wind up getting arrested,” he said quickly.
“There was talk of people wanting to form an amateur sleuth club.”
Mack almost growled. “Great. A Doreen fan club. Just more people to get into my business.” He sighed loudly. “I mean real friends, the kind you can go have tea with, so you have more people to visit than just Nan.”
“I’ve hardly had a chance yet,” she said, looking around her backyard. “I have neighbors, but the only one who talks to me is Richard, and that’s not usually in a nice way.” She explained what he’d said earlier.
“I’m sure all that construction in your backyard did upset him,” Mack admitted. “But he should also realize it’s not an ongoing thing.”
“No, but we had plenty of people here over the antiques as well,” she said.
“Did you ever hear back from them?”
“No. I sent Scott an email a few days ago, so I should probably follow up.”
“Yep, you sure should,” he said. “And isn’t it time for you to get some money from the secondhand store?”
“I think it’s still a bit early for that,” she said.
“Oh, right. That was supposed to be after three months, wasn’t it? So not quite yet then. Are you doing okay for money though? Do you need some? I know you said—even before you were hurt—that you didn’t need to do much work in my mother’s yard this week and that we should put it off to next week, but you are welcome to work this week and next.”
“I still have some of Nan’s cash in the bowl. I had to dig into it for some of the pizza for the guys.”
“So, you still have some there though, right?”
“I’m not starving,” she muttered.
“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” he said, “because the last thing I want you to do is not buy groceries because you’re afraid that you won’t have enough money left.”
“Well, it is a valid concern,” she said.
“Do I need to come over and cook something?”
“No, no,” she said. “I’m fine.” She could almost see the frown forming on his face. “Honest,” she muttered. “I’m fine. And last night Nan sent me back with some cookies.”
“Cookies?” he said in disbelief.
“Yeah. That’s about all I feel like eating these days anyhow.”
“You can’t live on sugar,” he said in horror.
She snorted. “It’s food, isn’t it?”
“Not good-enough food to be eating on a regular basis,” he said. “Are you just trying to shock me to divert my attention from your morning walk?”
She burst out laughing. “Well, maybe,” she muttered. “Anyway, I’m fine. I still have groceries.”
“When I was there making pancakes, you didn’t have any groceries,” he said. “I was searching through the cupboards and the fridge just to find something to make pancakes with.”
“But you succeeded,” she said, “so it can’t be that bad.”
He sighed. “If I bought groceries, would you cook?”
“Are you buying groceries I can cook?” she countered.
“Well, what can you cook?” he asked. “Have you learned to do any other dishes yet?”
“Pasta,” she said, “and omelets.”
“Right. We were supposed to get you comfortable making a few basic recipes that you could count on, and nachos would be one of them, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, but then you ate my salsa,” she said in an accusatory note.
“That tiny little jar? And we both ate it, as I recall.”
She frowned. “But you ate more than I did.”
He groaned. “I’m not getting into that discussion again,” he said. “Besides, I’m pretty sure it was half and half.”
She thought about it and then gave in grudgingly. “Yeah, you’re probably right. And, no, I don’t need groceries right now,” she said. “I’ve really not been very hungry.” As a matter of fact, her stomach was still a little queasy from the stress.