Page 10 of Hiss and Make Up
“Sounds good.” She dropped the box onto the passenger’s seat through the open window and snatched a pen from the cupholder. Grabbing his hand and holding it open, she scribbled her number on his palm. “My cell.”
“Don’t I have already have it from when you called earlier?”
She shrugged. “This way you won’t forget about Sunday.”
“You could have just told me to put it on my calendar.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” She smiled and walked around to the driver’s seat. “Now you have to explain that to your girlfriend.”
“No, no girlfriend,” Marc said too quickly. He leaned into the window. “Seriously, thanks for coming out here. Denise appreciates it too.”
“Oh, I’m sure your sister will besohappy that I was at her house.”
“Well, maybe not. But thanks anyway.”
“No problem. Like I said, you guys should be fine.” Her brow furrowed. “I didn’t find any signs of others on the property, and I have no idea why it was in that box. Total fluke. She shouldn’t have any other problems.”
“Right.”
“But, you know,” she said, looking into his eyes, “keep an eye out for a while, okay? Have her watch where the kids play maybe?”
He nodded. “Got it. Thanks.”
An awkward moment or ten passed while Marc’s brain struggled for some reason to keep her there. Finally, coming up empty, he pulled back from the window.
He waved while she drove past the line of trees and turned onto the road before looking down at his hand. His skin was still warm from her grasp, still burning from the numbers etched into his palm.
Crap. Denise was right. He was hopeless.
He grabbed his phone, and his thumbs hovered over the keypad as he waited to text his sister. What was he supposed to say? Uh, hey, sis, you had a poisonous snake in your kids’ toy box? Probably not the best message when she was in a museum with the kids and couldn’t do anything about it anyway. No, something gentler.
Done. Cleaned up. Sierra took it back to the nature station. No sign of any others. All good.
She’d have more questions later. He’d tell her the truth, but no sense scaring her right now.
By the time he locked up the house and got back to his car, she’d sent a text back.
Did you two defile my lawn?
He wished.
She would throw a fit if she found out about their lunch plans. The last thing he wanted was Denise trying to talk him out of this. It was only lunch after all. Two old friends catching up.
It wasn’t like they’d dated. They’d been kids. Sure, she’d been his first kiss, but it was one kiss, right before she moved. Never mind the fact that he daydreamed about that kiss for years afterward. They’d tried to keep in touch. He called her all the time. That kiss had hovered in every conversation, awkward and unacknowledged. But he'd kept calling anyway. They’d talked about everything. Her new school. Her classes. Her new friends.
Then it all ended. Like things do.
So this was just lunch. No biggie.
He started the car and drove to his house two lots down. Before he went inside to grab a bite to eat, he stood in his driveway and watched Denise’s house. Waiting for what? To see the snake mafia move in now that he’d left? Maybe they needed more activity in the yard. Something to deter wildlife? A dog. The kids would love that.
Shaking his head, Marc went inside and let the screen door slam behind him. Convincing Denise to get a dog would be as pointless as convincing her that lunch with Sierra was a good idea. Actually, he was pretty sure he would have more luck with the dog.
3
Sierra breezed past two women with a pair of small children to drop her shoebox beside Dale’s coffee mug. “I have a present for you.” She flipped the lid open and presented her treat with a flourish. “Ta-da!”
Dale looked over the rims of his glasses, unamused by her enthusiastic interruption. Once he looked down, his eyes widened.
