“Curiosity might result in something else for your kitty.”
She stood there for a moment, not getting the double meaning, and then her eyebrows lifted just slightly.
“Oh.”
Right then the front door opened, and Millie rescued them both. “Jessie Jane!” She rushed forward as if Jessie was an old friend. “Come in!”
“Thank you,” Jessie said. “Sorry I didn’t bring any lemon bars tonight, but I will have plenty for tomorrow.”
Lemon bars. What?
“I’m excited. I have to warn you, though, that I put up a little informational thing about the booth tomorrow, and now Danielle is coming.”
“What?” they both asked.
“Well … basically I was hoisted by my own petard. Because I initially declined to let Danielle hang her posters up based on non-partisanship, now I have to allow her to have a booth in the parking lot.”
“Great,” Flynn said.
“Great indeed,” said Jessie, unflappable as ever. The woman was like Teflon. Whatever you threw at her just seemed to bounce off.
Though for a second there, when he had dropped that innuendo, she hadn’t looked quite as balanced as she usually did.
He didn’t know if he was proud of himself or ashamed.
“It will give us a chance to really stand in contrast to her. People don’t like Danielle.”
“Well, that is true. People think they have to like her. And that’s not the same thing.”
Jessie laughed. “You’re telling me.”
Jessie and Millie disappeared into the house, leaving him aloneon the deck with his ruminations. That was when the door opened again, and Carson came out with a beer in hand, which he thrust toward Flynn. “I thought you might need this.”
“Thanks. Are you not thrilled to have Jessie in-house?”
“Oh, I have no issue with her,” Carson said. “You were all wound up about me and her. There was never anything to it. All she ever did was ask me to do a little bit of work for her. There was never any … There was nothing on my end.” He paused for a moment. “Now, West on the other hand, I might have issue with. Considering he did kiss my wife.”
“She wasn’t your wife then,” Flynn pointed out.
“I guess not. But I still don’t have to like the guy.”
“I guess not, Carson, but it seems a little bit disingenuous considering you were married to somebody else before you married Perry.”
Carson cleared his throat. “Listen. We all have a past. It’s fine. It just so happens that West kissed Perry when I wanted to kiss Perry and—”
As if she had been summoned, Perry appeared, looking sunny and beautiful as ever, her long blond hair a beautiful tangle around her shoulders. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Nothing,” Carson said.
“Carson still has sour grapes about you making out with West.”
Perry smiled. “Really? Maybe you should talk to someone about that, Carson,” she said.
“I’m good,” he said.
“You know what else was good? West. He’s a good kisser.”
“No,” Flynn and Carson said at the same time.
