Page 129 of The Woman By the Lake

“Pleased to meet you all.”

“And you’re Nadia,” Delphine said with a smile.

“Sorry,” I said to her. “I’m gonna warn you, I’m going to be giving off a hefty fangirl vibe. But it’ll wear off, I promise. Just love your show, but your book is in my top five favorites.” I thought about it. “No, top three.”

“Who do I share company with?” she asked.

“Rebecca and A Confederacy of Dunces,” I answered.

“That’s lofty company,” she replied.

A place her work deserved.

Waters were dropped in front of us, and the waitress, whose nametag said her name was Betty, though I suspected it actually wasn’t, looked at Cade and said, “Take it you’re gonna wait to order until the newcomers figure it out?”

“Yeah,” Cade answered.

“Ugh,” she replied then scampered off.

“We didn’t just get here,” Jess explained. “But shit is going slow.”

“Here’s a menu,” Cade offered me as Riggs leaned forward and pulled out his phone.

I didn’t peek as he checked his screen, then turned the phone face down on the table.

I did notice, as we perused menus, sipped water then the coffee that was brought, finally ordering, chatting, getting served and eating, that all four of them were great with Ledger. They liked and respected Riggs a good deal and showed it. All the men were of the hunky, cool, confident variety, and they were all devoted in their own ways to Delphine, and they showed that too. All in all, they were interesting, funny, kind people, and I was glad we happened on them to have breakfast, and not just so I could share a meal with Delphine Larue.

Oh.

And I also noticed that Riggs’s phone screen lit up against the table a lot.

This had me considering two things.

The first, my time in Misted Pines might have started solitary and slow, but since Riggs’s peace offering, it had been very full of activity and meeting and getting to know good people (Angelica not included).

This was something I needed to journal about because it was definitely something to consider in view of the fact my beloved mother had been beaten to death not five months ago, and I had to admit, even if that gloom never went away and often hit me like an invisible blow at unexpected times, for the most part, I was happy.

No.

For the most part, I was the happiest I’d been since Trevor shared his diagnosis with me.

The second thing I was considering was that someone really wanted to get hold of Riggs, and I was both curious who it was, and really hoping it wasn’t Angelica in order to give him more grief.

We were finished, and Riggs, Cade, Jace and Jess were having a four-way Man Discussion about the bill, which I was tuning out at the same chatting with Delphine about how great the spa was at the Pinetop Lodge.

This was when Kimmy, who was not wearing Christmas duds, but instead a normal outfit, if you didn’t count her carrying an oboe, showed at our table.

And her attention was directed to me.

Riggs let out a huge sigh, and if I was correct in hearing others over his, so did Cade. Though, Jess and Jace were smiling.

“Hey, Kimmy,” Delphine greeted.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kimmy replied waving a dismissive hand at her, but her attention was on me. “I don’t have a lot of time. I gotta get back. My shop is wall to wall people. I just broke up a Detective Williams who was in a fight with an Uma over my last Elf on a Shelf. But I heard you were here. Any sightings?”

“No,” I answered.

She threw up both hands, the oboe spiking in the air.

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