Goldie turned down the alley. Had her menus really been thrown in the trash behind the building? She couldn’t help herself. She checked the dumpster in the alley and spotted them piled in one corner. Tears burned her eyes. She quickly closed the lid. She had no use for menus anymore.
Still, she stood there, tempted to pull out at least one for old time’s sake even as her sensible self, argued that keeping it would be a mistake. Did she really need a reminder of everything she’d lost, especially Max? All his favorites were on that menu.
“You need to learn how to let go of things,” her cousin Clancy had told her. “That goes for Max too.” Her cousin was much younger, had never been in love and hadn’t even been out of the county.
But still, Goldie had to admit Clancy was right.
Maybe so was what Max had told her, she thought as she turned to stare at the back door of the café, before she stepped across the alley and tried the door. Locked, just as she’d expected.
She could hear construction noise beyond the door. Was he gutting the entire place, tearing out everything? She considered the large dump truck parked nearby. She couldn’t tell what had already been loaded inside the back.
Spotting an old brick next to the back door of the café that she’d often used to prop the door open she picked it up. What would it take to break the old lockset on the door? Hadn’t Max warned her a long time ago that she needed better security at the café? She’d laughed since she often forgot to lock the back door anyway. Why make someone break in if they were hungry? she’d thought.
Cradling the rock in one hand now, she pressed her ear against the door. She couldn’t help thinking about Max’s suspicions that something was going on. If Arnie and Donovan were involved with crime boss Malcolm Mandeville…
Her blood turned to ice as she realized what she was hearing. Surely, they weren’t using jackhammers, were they? Arnie had mentioned something about redoing part of the foundation, but—
She lifted the brick, afraid she’d made a huge mistake selling her café to Arnie Adams.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said a familiar voice.
Chapter Seventeen
Goldie spun around, startled to see Donovan standing behind her in the alley.
“Are you trying to get the sheriff to arrest you for breaking and entering?” he asked with a grin as he took the brick from her hand and put it down, away from the door.
“Do you know what’s going on in there?” she asked, hating that she sounded accusing.
He seemed surprised by her tone. “I don’t, Goldie.”
The concerned way he was looking at her made her check her tone. “I just wanted to see what’s going on inside the café.”
“You and the rest of the county.” He seemed to relax. “Come on, I’ll buy you something to eat. You don’t want to go to jail on an empty stomach.”
She glanced at the back door again, then at Donovan, and relented. He was right. Arnie had made it clear that he didn’t want or need any input from her. But would he have had her arrested if she’d broken in? Quite possibly.
“How is it that you always know what I need?” she asked as she joined him and they walked down the alley and around the corner past the bank, before they crossed the main street to the hotel. How was it that he was always around, like just now? She hated that Max had her so suspicious of Donovan.
She felt his gaze on her and looked over at him. The warmth in his eyes, in his expression, sent heat rushing to her center, and she remembered why she’d gone to his room at the hotel earlier.
“Is it possible that I have your best interests at heart?” he asked. His words didn’t really match with the predatory look in his eyes. That he wanted her was evident.
“Your girlfriend leave town?”
He grinned. “Just a friend. Lolly drove up to see how Arnie was doing. Her father helped the man open his own café.”
“You don’t think it’s odd that he chose Dry Gulch?” she asked, suspicious again.
“Not really. Your café was for sale. Arnie wanted a café in a small town in the West.” He shrugged. “He’s not a bad cook from the meals I’ve had at the Mandeville ranch.”
“That’s all there is to it?” she asked, sounding like her ex.
“What else?” He chuckled, but it didn’t have his usual lightness to it. “No matter what you’ve heard about Malcolm, he’s not all bad. I suspect you’ve spent too much time around the sheriff. By the way, Max and I had a nice heart-to-heart earlier.” She was instantly alarmed. “Don’t worry, no blood was shed.”
“What did he want?”
“From what I could gather, he was wondering about my intentions when it comes to you.”
