She spun around. “That’s called stalking. Do I need to file an official report?”
“Not stalking.” He looked her up and down, his bobbing Adam’s apple betraying his appreciation. “I just have a special interest, is all.”
While his obvious attraction to her made her pulse race, he could also fire her up like no one else. Then there was the small matter of being on opposing sides of his daddy’s murder. As long as he suspected Daisy, she couldn’t give him an inch. His loyaltywas to the law, but hers was to the Chickadee, and no amount of chemistry would change that.
“Feel free to shove your interest.” Unable to leave on such a sour note, lest he think he got the better of her, Cordelia reached deep into her well of good Southern manners to tack on a “Have a nice day.” She marched out of the store, too riled up to wait for Belinda Sue to make up her mind about a card that probably wouldn’t fool the Abernathys anyway.
Daisy wandered out next, twirling a gummy worm around her finger as she sucked on the head. “What’s got your tail up, Miss Cordelia?”
“Why does Archer have to provoke me every time he sees me?” Cordelia pushed crescent-shaped indents into her palms. “It’s like he can’t help himself.”
Daisy gave her a grin that was a shade too feline for comfort. “He likes getting a reaction out of you. I suspect he’s about the only one who can make you throw a fit like that.”
“I’m not throwing a fit.” Cordelia ground her molars together. “I just don’t like to argue and that’s all he seems to want to do. No wonder our date was such a disaster.”
“I think your date was a disaster because he tried too hard to impress you and ended up fumbling the ball.” Daisy nudged her shoulder. “Not that he knew anything about the palytoxin or Dew Valley, but were you feeling comfortable before that?”
Cordelia let her thoughts wander back to that night. The drive over had been good. Easy. Like she could just be herself around him. All that went out the window as soon as they pulled up to the restaurant though. She appreciated the effort he’d taken, but it felt like she’d been asked to dance when she didn’t know any of the steps. She clammed up and Archer stopped being himself. It had disaster written all over it from the get-go.
“Welp.” Cordelia lifted her hands and dropped them back by her sides.
“Oh, honey.” Daisy rubbed her back. “It’s not too late to fix this. You’ve just got to tell him you don’t need all them bells and whistles.”
“Why don’t I? I’m not a simple woman.”
“Who called you simple?” Daisy peered around like she expected a culprit to show themselves. “You never got the chance to be comfortable with someone seeing your worth, so you still feel like you need to do something to earn it. Ain’t nothing simple about that.”
Cordelia gave her a wry grin. “Are you psychoanalyzing me now?”
“Just calling it like I see it.” Daisy leaned against the car, chewing thoughtfully on her gummy worm. “Archer’s a good egg. You ought to trust him.”
Cordelia raised an eyebrow. “Trust him with what really happened to his daddy?”
Daisy shrugged. “I think he might end up surprising you.”
Considering it was Daisy’s freedom on the line, she should’ve put more stock in the advice, but Cordelia wasn’t willing to take a chance on maybe being surprised by Archer. They’d gone way too far down the rabbit hole, and their only way out at this point was through.
The entrance to the drugstore flew open and Belinda Sue came running up the sidewalk like the devil himself was on her heels. Arline walked casually a few feet behind her. People out for their daily errands turned to stare at Belinda Sue as she frantically waved her arms.
“Go on, now. Get in the car.” Belinda Sue dove into the back seat, grabbing Arline’s caftan to pull her in, and slammed the door shut. “Let’s get a move on.”
Cordelia checked her rearview mirror as she backed out.“I’m going to pretend there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for why we’re rushing out of here like the law is on our tail.”
“You know how you were going to buy the invitation with cash so there wouldn’t be a paper trail leading to us after the break-in?” Belinda Sue asked.
“Yeah?” Cordelia bit her lower lip, already guessing where this was going.
“When you took off on me, I sort of had to steal the card.”
“Okay.” Cordelia breathed deeply through her nose. “I’ll leave a few dollars on the counter the next time I stop in for cough syrup. Anything else I should know?”
“I’ve been banned from entering Parson’s Drugstore for life,” Arline said.
“I don’t even want to know,” Cordelia said.
“It’s not the first time.” Arline pulled out a cellophane-wrapped box containing a Cherry Blossom body mist and matching shower gel. “And they didn’t catch me with this.”
“The good news just keeps coming.” Cordelia turned toward the dirt road that would take them back to the Chickadee, hoping their plan would work. The quicker they could be done with this nonsense, the quicker she could get back to tracking down what remained of her sanity.
