Page 10 of A Family Affair: The Ring
“You think Greta knows about the butter?”Harry wiped his forehead and stared at his friend.“How could she know?”
“Phyllis might be your friend, and she might serve you up the best breakfast in town, and she might even give you an extra-large slice of cherry pie, but she and Greta are tight.If Greta asks about your breakfast order, Phyllis is going to share every bit of it, including the butter.But knowing Greta, she won’t ask because she’ll want you to do the right thing and fess up on your own.”
Damn, his wife had a way of guilting him into doing something even when she wasn’t here.And Pop?He didn’t have to think Harry didn’t understand the little switcheroo he just pulled on him.“Did you just see what happened here, Will?Did you notice how this man set me up, so now Ican’tadd the butter to my pancakes?And forget a pecan roll or sausage links, no matter how long it’s been since I’ve had either.”
The young man every woman in Magdalena and ten miles beyond was after laughed.“I see that.Well played, Pop.”
Pop rubbed his jaw, winked.“I thought it was pretty crafty.”
Harry shrugged, decided he’d forgo the butter and anything that wasn’t “Greta approved” and tossed out a question to change the subject.“So, Will, what’s going on in the bean-counting world?”The boy sure didn’t fit Harry’s idea of an accountant, not that he’d known many, but crew cut, glasses, middle-aged, incapable of cracking a joke, all fit Harry’s visual.In fact, Will’s boss fit that description.Someone who could multiply in his head and got excited over words liketax freeandtax deductible, did not seem like a “chick magnet” or a natural charmer.But Will Callahan was both, and either he didn’t know or he didn’t care.The “not knowing” and “not caring” usually didn’t happen until the guy was head-over-heels about a woman and couldn’t see past her, but Harry would lay money that wasn’t the case here...not with Will’s current girlfriend, Delaney Hall.Natural blonde, pale blue eyes with a smile and a disposition that belonged in the “perpetually happy” section of humankind.Partner in an insurance business, yoga instructor, organic gardener, made her own tea and body scrubs.
Beautiful, intelligent, agreeable.
A bit too agreeable.
Vanilla swirled with maple syrup and a sprinkle of brown sugar.
Happy.Always happy.
There was something about her that didn’t sit right with Harry.He’d sensed it the first time he spotted the “Love is the Only Answer” bumper sticker on the back of her compact car, and again when she entered Lina’s Café almost a year ago and spotted Will Callahan reading theMagdalena Pressas he devoured a plate of blueberry pancakes.
It took Harry less than five seconds to identify the woman’s actions as she moved toward Will in her yoga outfit, long braid swaying with each step.
Desperation.
Thick.Clinging.Consuming.
The woman wanted a man, and the intensity in that pale blue stare said she’d located her target.Three weeks later, Delaney Hall attended the silent auction at the hospital where Will served on one of the boards and “got her man.”How an intelligent guy like Will couldn’t see her coming from a golf course away was hard to believe.
Maybe he thought he could control the situationandthe level of involvement, but Harry hadn’t been a bachelor for over fifty years to not understand the players or the game.Women like this one could act sweet and sincere and they might even be that way, but if the game went on too long, or they felt threatened by a rival?Well, the rules changed and so did the interpretation of fair.
Watch out for the unexpected and the unforeseen.
Forced marriage, fake pregnancy, you name it.
A guy had to keep his eyes open and take precautions, no matter how sweet or sincere the woman appeared.
Harry wasn’t ready for the Godfather gig and he knew it, but worry that little Miss Sweetness might trap a decent guy like Will Callahan crowded out logic and made him open his big mouth.“How serious are you about the insurance lady?”
“What?”Red splashed Will’s face, snaked to his neck.“I...”
Okay, that either meant serious but haven’t told her ornotserious but haven’t told her.Harry opted for choice number two because Will didn’t seem like someone who didn’t know his own mind.“Well, if you’re interested and not planning to pursue your current situation, I could introduce you to the new girl in town.”He slid a smile at Pop, winked, and turned back to Will, prepared for a bit of “Godfather” magic.“She’s not actually new to this town, but I never met her before.Tall, leggy, a real looker with chestnut hair and eyes the color of a putting green on a cloudy day.”
The boy had turned quiet, the red in his cheeks gone, brows pinched together.Oh, he was interested in hearing more, and Harry planned to deliver.If he’d taken a breath to notice Pop’s “not happy” look he might have stopped spewing information like a fire hydrant.But Harry never was one to slow down when he had a plan, especially if he thought it was a good one.
“My guess is she’s about thirty or so.”He rubbed his jaw, eager to provide more details to entice him.“She came into the restaurant a few days ago, and we had a long chat, said she’s visiting from Pittsburgh.She’s a nurse in the emergency room.Name’s Melanie.”Chuckle.“Bet she gives her patients heart palpitations.”
“That would be Melanie Russell,” Pop said, his words sharper than ice.“Her grandmother passed a few months ago and she’s here to sort through her things.”
Harry didn’t miss the dark look or the pinched lips when Pop shared that information.“What’s wrong?”Harry darted a glance at Will whose expression matched Pop’s.“Okay, what’s going on?I was only trying to open the door for Will and let him know about the new girl in town in case he wanted to walk through it and get to know her.”
“And you thought he needed your help?”Pop blasted him with a stink eye.“You thought this fine young man with enough brains and charm to court all of the single ladies in Magdalena needed Harry Blacksworth’s help?”
Was that a trick question?Obviously, Harry had missed something here.“I thought he might like a reason to have a conversation with her.”
“And Delaney Hall?What about her?”Pop pointed a bony finger at Harry, scowled.“Should he pretend they haven’t been keeping company for the past ten months?Should he just ignore the candlelight trips to your restaurant and the roses he sent her on Valentine’s Day?Maybe catalogue them as a friendly gesture and not aromanticintention?”
Harry opened his mouth to tell Pop he’d done those very things back in the day and they’d been more of an appeasement tactic than a romantic gesture, but Will edged him out.“Pop, how did you know about the restaurant visits and the roses?”
