Page 32 of Unexpectedly Falling
And I always make time for Miss Thelma.
There isn’t a soul in this town—or hell, half of Tennessee—that wouldn’t.
“Send her in, Amanda, thank you.”
“Sure thing, Sheriff.”
The door opens with a flourish as the white-haired spitfire steps into my office with a sly grin and a basket full of baked goods she plans to bribe me with.
We are nothing if not predictable.
Standing, I give her my most winning smile as I round my desk and place a kiss on her cheek. The woman is practically like my grandmother and knows far more secrets than she should about meandthis town.
Today she’s wearing a melon-colored sundress with her cat Louise’s picture in varying sizes sprinkled all over the fabric. It’s hideous.
And she knows it.
I’m confident nearly everything she owns has that cat’s damn face plastered on it.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?” I ask, returning to my chair as she takes the one across from me and places the basket on my desk. Peeking under the cloth napkin are a half dozen banana nut muffins, and even without touching them, I know they’re still warm.
“I was just wonderin’ when I was going to be able to meet my great-grandbaby,” she says without pretense, pretending to examine her nails before staring at me pointedly.
Shit.
“I had my suspicions that you might know. Do I want to know how you found out?”
“Probably not,” she says with a shrug. “On the other hand,” she adds slowly, making sure to ratchet up my blood pressure a couple of notches, “you should probably know I started a rumor saying that your cousin andherbaby are staying with you for a bit.”
“Why would you?—”
“Have I taught you nothing? Honestly, Jensen, I’m disappointed in you.” She tuts and I have the good grace to be chagrined. “Youalwayscontrol the narrative. And it’s workin’ for everyone who hasn’t realized she’s the one helpin’ at the university.”
“All right, all right. Tell me what happened.” I sigh, accepting defeat and slumping back in my chair.
“Well,” she says dramatically, “Jamison was talkin’ to Archer at The Kettle and Kiln and Ihappenedto overhear?—”
“You were eavesdropping,” I correct, earning me a glare.
“I’ll tell my story the way I damn well please, thank you very much.”
“Apologies,” I manage straight-faced while holding my hands up in surrender. Not that she buys what I’m selling.
“Anyway, Jamison said that he’d seen a pretty blonde walkin’ into your house and isn’t it strange that her car was there overnight? Gone the next mornin’ but it’s been back the last few days. And wouldn’t ya know Jamison found that downright fascinating, and Archer, bless his heart, was redder than an apple pie at a barbeque.”
“So, what did you do?” I ask, finally settling into my role as her attentive audience.
“Obviously I waited to see if Archer was gonna do anything besides turn as red as his barn, and when he didn’t, I had to jump in.”
“Naturally.” Giving up all pretenses that she’ll be leaving in the next half hour, I pull a paper plate from my desk and select a muffin. She declines one of her own, and I wish I’d reheated my coffee before story time began.
“I told Jamison that you were hosting a cousin and her baby while they were in town and then proceeded to make sure that he knew that he’d still not been by to help Miss June with her roses after his cows got loose a while back and didn’t he think it was about time he went there so there weren’t any hard feelings. You know how she is about those roses.” The last part is directed at me, and I nod dutifully while wiping my hands on a napkin.
“Thank you.”
She waves me off. “What good is bein’ the town busybody if I can’t be the one in charge of what news gets around and what news stays private?”
“No one truly knows how terrifying you actually are.”
