I was in the middle of wiping the shake from my face when I paused, wondering just how much of my life had been shared around town.
“Something about taking the lovely Ellie May home with you and then dropping her off the next morning, wearing practically nothing. Oh, and then there’s my favorite,” she beamed.
“I’m dying to know,” I said drolly.
“Well, apparently, you’re getting married.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that one.”
“To a woman from out of town,” she said, surprising the hell out of me.
“Really?”
She nodded vigorously, her eyes shining with mirth. “She’s young—just out of college, and she’s got buckets of money that you’re going to use to save the ranch and bring it back to its former glory.”
I snorted at that. “Well, it’s nice to know not all the rumors are true.”
She eyed me speculatively. “And just which of the rumors are false?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know, Bea?”
“I would. Don’t leave an old lady waiting on pins and needles.After all, I did share my paper towels with you. Those are coveted by many.”
“Yeah? Are there a lot of guys who walk in here with milkshake thrown all over them?”
“You’d be surprised. Maverick is waiting for you,” she said, jerking her head to the back.
“Thanks for the insight, Bea. Always a pleasure.”
Tossing the used paper towel into the trash, I headed back to Mav’s office, stopping in the bathroom first to wash up.
There was nothing I could do about the milkshake on my shirt, but I grabbed some wet towels and wiped my skin as best I could, removing the worst of it. I’d just have to be sticky the rest of the day. As for my beard…
“Christ, this smells horrible,” I muttered as I stared at my pink-stained beard in the mirror.
Shoving my face into the running water, I cleaned the remnants of the shake out as best as possible, then pumped my hands full of soap and lathered it into my beard.
The lavender scent wasn’t much better than the strawberries, but at least when I was done, I didn’t have sugar crusted against my skin.
The door swung open behind me, and Mav strolled in, leaning against the wall, chuckling as he took in my appearance.
“Heard you got pelted by a milkshake. Did you see the suspect?”
“Unfortunately, all I saw was the pink liquid headed straight for my face.”
“Well, that’s a shame. I can head down to the diner and check out their receipts.”
“Not necessary,” I grumbled, grabbing some towels to dry off as best as possible.
“What the hell do you mean? It is completely necessary. Why, the rest of us need to be assured that if and when we cheat on someone in town, there will be justice for the vigilantes who deem it necessary to throw liquid refreshments at those who would stray from the ones they love.”
Rolling my eyes, I yanked the door open and stormed down to his office.
“Is that a no on the interrogation? Because I could really lay into someone. There are all sorts of charges I could bring. Assault with a deadly weapon?—”
“I wasn’t at risk of dying.”
“You could have suffocated! Battery?—”
