His smile worked its way across his face in a blinding flash of teeth and hope. “Thank you, Riley. You are a good friend.”
“I learned from the best,” she said. He frowned, and she patted him on the bulging forearm. “I meant you. You’re the best.”
“You are very kind and thoughtful.”
“Let’s get out of here, and you can teach me stuff,” she yelled over the noise of the leaf blower Mr. Willicott was wielding outside.
She nudged Burt awake, and together the three of them headed into the kitchen, where they found Lily giggling over a laptop and a plate of scones. The scones were blackened and still smoking.
“Morning Lily,” Riley said. “What are you doing?”
“I’m flirting with a British gentleman in a fan group forThe Crown. He says he’s a duke!”
Riley could only handle so many crises at one time. “Whatever you do, don’t give him your social security number or any money. We’ll talk about this later.”
“Wait up. I’m coming with you,” Mrs. Penny announced.
“Why?”
Mrs. Penny shrugged. “I want donuts.”
“Donuts?” Gabe and Burt both perked up.
“Okay. I guess we’re getting donuts.”
They all piled into Riley’s Jeep and grabbed a dozen donuts in the Dunkin’ drive-thru, including a Boston Kreme for Uncle Jimmy.
“This is a wonderful day,” Gabe said, clutching a donut in each hand, powdered sugar dusting his lips and black tank top. Burt licked his chops with his mile-long pink tongue as Mrs. Penny fed him bites of a plain donut.
“Donotlet him eat any of the ones with cream or jelly. He has a very delicate digestive system,” Riley warned.
Riley drove them to Italian Lake, a lush chunk of greenery sandwiched between Green and Third Streets.
Their little entourage with donuts and dog in tow tromped to a shady copse of trees on the edge of the man-made lake.
A group of sweaty joggers trotted past, and Riley was inundated with their thoughts.
“Greg’s shorts are the perfect length on the inner thigh. I wouldn’t need nearly as much Body Glide on my thighs if my shorts were that long. Is this what shorts envy feels like?”
“Why does Gary keep staring at my ass?”
“Ugh. If Greg and Gary hook up, I’m finding a new running club.”
“We really need to start doing these exercises at home,” she muttered.
Mrs. Penny happily slurped her way through an extra-large iced coffee and held Burt’s leash while he watched the ducks.
With a six-pack full of sugar, Gabe’s mood had drastically improved. Riley was happy to let him guide her through the friendly pink and blue clouds, wielding a psychic bottle of disinfectant and metaphorically scrubbing at any smudges of Bianca’s negativity that were left behind. It felt like a spring cleaning for the mind.
Riley had to admit, it wasn’t horrible. She made a mental note to talk to Wander about adding it into the yoga studio’s meditation class.
She was scrubbing at a particularly sticky spot when her phone rang, yanking her out of Cotton Candy World and depositing her back on the goose-crap-splattered park grass.
“Ooof,” she said, falling over on her side.
It was Detective Weber. Apparently civilian consultants didn’t get things like days off.
“Don’t tell me you have another dead body,” she answered.
