Page 9 of A Dye Hard Holiday
“Are you worried that he’s going to replace you in Adrian’s life?” Josh asked.
“I hadn’t even thought about it.”Until now.I had expected things to get a little awkward when I was promoted as Adrian’s supervisor, even though it was his idea, but it never happened. Things had been blissfully slow in Blissville and not a lot of investigating was required until someone decided to hang Santa from a flagpole. The burglary and vandalism cases from the previous year had gone cold. Was this the same person starting back up again, or was this a new threat to our community?
The grandmas snatched my children away from me before I could take them upstairs for their nightly bath. Josh chuckled at my scowl and pointed toward the newspaper folded neatly on the table. “Why don’t you make the most of it and read the paper since you didn’t get the chance to this morning.”
“Where’s my glass of sherry, pipe, and slippers?” I asked.
“The fifties are calling and they want their Neanderthal back,” Josh replied sassily.
“You love it when I go caveman on you.”
“Yes, in bed. You just keep it up and see where it gets you.”
“Oh, are you threatening to withhold sex again? I wonder if you can make it past ten minutes this time.” I scanned the front page and didn’t see anything too interesting. I opened to the second page and all my good humor vanished when I saw a smug, smiling face of a man I wanted to punch. “Did you know about this?”
“Can you be more specific, dear?”
“Did you know yourex-loveris the newest resident at Blissville Family Medicine?”
“Uh, I might’ve seen something about it on their Facebook page last week.”
“Last week?” I asked hotly. “When were you going to tell me?”
Josh snorted and said, “I was hoping for never.” My husband washed and dried his hands before he turned to look at me. “He won’t last long around here, babe. He’s a big city boy not suited for a small town. He’ll get bored and move on to someplace else. I didn’t see the need to upset you.”
“Of all the places he could’ve gone, he chose your hometown?”
Josh shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter though, does it? He’s not you.” Josh returned back to his beloved stove and lowered the battered meat into the hot oil. To him, the conversation was over, but my mind was still rolling the new information as I processed it from every angle.
“When is Dylan and Destiny’s next checkup?” I asked.
“January,” Josh answered. “Trust me, Trent will be long gone by then.”
I wanted to believe Josh, but I was a big city guy who loved the change of pace in a small town. Plus, I found the love of my life in this tiny town. Doctor Douche would just need to cast his eyes in another direction because Josh Roman-Wyatt was off the market.
IHAD LEARNED THEfirst year of business that it made no sense to keep the salon doors open the week of Thanksgiving. Very few people were thinking about their hair on the Tuesday or Wednesday before turkey day, and they were all shopping on the Friday and Saturday after. It became known as Josh’s mini vacation and my favorite time of the year.
The grandmas went out to do some shopping with an ornery gleam in their eyes that made me nervous, while my dad took Al to the VFW to introduce him to some of his old poker buddies. Gabe had a crime to solve so that left me blissfully alone with my babies and pets. Before Gabe and the babies, I’d enjoy a leisurely pumpkin spice latte and pumpkin nut muffin at The Brew on Tuesdays before the holiday to enjoy the calm before the storm. Fast forward a freakishly short period of time and my life was completely different. I still sipped a pumpkin spice latte and ate a pumpkin nut muffin, but they were brought to my house by my best friends and consumed fast before the twins could find too much mischief.
Mere squatted down and held her arms open wide. “Come show Auntie Mere how fast you’re growing up.” Dylan and Destiny squealed in delight at the sight of our visitors and were too excited to get many steps in before gravity won the battle. Mere scooped them up and held them tight against her chest and kissed their round, rosy cheeks clean off.
“Leave some cheeks for me to kiss,” Chaz playfully whined.
“I have a cheek you can kiss,” Mere retorted, but she passed Destiny and Dylan to Chaz.
My Mere always wore a smile on her face. In fact, it was impossible to know if she was upset about something until she chose the time to reveal it to you. The smile she wore that morning was just as brilliant, but there was a slyness to it that told me Meredith Richmond-Sutherland had a secret. I narrowed my eyes as I studied her. She declined caffeine and was sipping ginger ale instead. I suspected I knew exactly what her secret was too. The old Josh would’ve blurted out his suspicions right away, but the new Josh was mature and knew it was better not to ruin Meredith’s big moment.
“Have you guys heard any gossip around town about the Christmas Bandit?” I asked my friends, referring to the headline I saw in the paper that morning.
“Ho ho ho!” Savage screeched. I suspected he was insulting us rather than imitating Santa, but I chose not to call him on it. He was making an effort to clean up his act.
“Gobble gobble gobble,” Sassy replied. They sounded like an old married couple. Savage would say something and Sassy would either join in or contradict him depending on her mood.
Chaz snorted. “Plenty of gossip, but none of it sounds practical.”
“Which is your favorite theory, Chaz?” Mere asked him.
“That someone vandalized Santa’s Village because it opened before Thanksgiving this year.”