“Yes.” I pull off a sticker, get up from my desk, and put the star on her sweater. "Oh, two more." I grab two smaller stickers and put them on her belly. "The girls are in on this too."
"I don't know if they're girls. We'll find out on Christmas," Candy tells me for the millionth time. I don't know how the hell she's holding out on knowing. I would never last.
"They're girls." I shrug.
"If you say so." She shakes her head at me. "So is this crime now or later?"
"It would be better later, after the library is closed, but I'm not sure you're allowed out that late."
"Hey! He's not the boss of me. I do what I want.” It’s cute she believes that for even a second.
"I tell him that all the time even though he cuts my checks."
"See, and you still do whatever you want." This is true.
“I’m not the love of his life who is carrying his babies,” I remind her. We both know that Hollis is super protective over all of them.
All the dust only just settled with the crazy Maxwell man who had a weird obsession with not only Candy but Hollis too. That was fun watching him get arrested. Shit like that never happens here. It’s all gumdrops and unicorns.
“I’m coming. I mean you said we had some final stuff to go over for the wedding, right?”
“We absolutely one thousand percent have some details to iron out,” I inform her, knowing we pretty much have everything done, but this will give us an excuse to get out tonight. I know she doesn’t want to lie to Hollis, and I would never ask her to.
We make a plan to meet back up at seven-thirty; the library closes at eight this time of year. I head home and change. I can’tbe sneaking around in heels and a dress. I mean, I could, but I love a good costume, and breaking into the library calls for all black.
When Candy comes back into my office at our designated time, I see that she hadn’t had the same thought as I did.
“Oh, no.” Candy catches on quickly. Probably because I’m in pants and sneakers. It’s far from my norm. We might live in a small town, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get all dressed up each day. “I didn’t get that memo.”
Candy had changed, but she now has on a bright pink sweater that has a snowman on it. The nose flashes a bright-ass red.
“No sticker for you.”
“I can turn it off.” She starts feeling around all inside of her sweater. It takes her a minute, but she finally gets the red nose to stop blinking. “So I did some crime research, and we should leave our phones behind.”
“All right.” I go to drop my phone down on my desk but stop. “Wait, this is my flashlight.”
“Right.”
“Any other crime tricks?”
“I’m fresh out.” I snort a laugh. “But I share my location with Hollis, so he’ll know if we leave Town Hall.” Town Hall is practically at the end of his driveway.
“That’s cute, Candy, if you think that’s the only way that man can track you.” Her nose scrunches, then a smile takes over her face. She loves how crazy Hollis is about her.
“He’s kind of obsessed with me,” she says very proudly. “In a good way.”
“Right.” I nod in agreement. Hollis is, for the most part, harmless.
Unless you mess with Candy, then all bets are off. I’m sure Hollis already knows we’re up to something, but he’s going to letit slide because he enjoys seeing his fiancée being fully embraced by the town. He knows it’s something she needs with her past and upbringing.
“Let’s do this thing. We’re going in the back.” I grab my bag and keys to lock the building back up. Candy is right alongside me as we walk toward the library.
“What’s the plan?” She asks as we get closer.
“Get in. Get what we need and get out,” I reply because I don’t really have much of a plan. To be honest, I’m not even sure what the heck it is that I’m looking for, but I’ll uncover something about the sheriff tonight guaranteed.
“Maybe you should be my lookout. This way if by some chance we get caught, you won’t get into any trouble.”
