I crouched down beside him. “Are you trying to make me look bad. You know darn well I have bottled water in the cooler in the truck for you.”
“Pepper,” Stone called out.
“We will discuss this later, Mo,” I warned him and stood.
“I have to go. If you think of anything that might help with the case, I’d appreciate it if you let me know. And please,” he said with a cute smile, “don’t go getting into any trouble over it.”
“Who me?’ I said innocently.
He smiled and shook his head, for the third or fourth time, was it? And walked off.
I bent down, grabbed the empty plastic bowl, and looked Mo in the face. “Come on, we’re going to see Kate.”
CHAPTER 16
When we reached the porch to the old Victorian house that was Kate’s shop, Mo made himself comfortable by one of the white wood rockers in the shade.
“Glad you remember that you’re not allowed in here. Your tail would be lethal, leaving me with a bill for broken antiques. You had water and now you have shade and no doubt plenty of people who will stop to pet you. I won’t be long.”
My words were no sooner out of my mouth than they proved to be true.
“He’s a great-looking dog. Can I pet him?”
I turned to see an elderly man and woman. “Yes, Mo’s friendly and enjoys a good rub behind his ears.”
The man sat himself down in the rocking chair and began to rub Mo just where he liked it.
“You go on in, Gloria, I’ll stay here and keep Mo company.”
“Thank you,” Gloria whispered as I held the door open for her to enter. “Now I can take my time since he’ll sit there content and not mind how long I take.”
I was glad to see the shop wasn’t busy. I went straight to Kate at the counter, she was stacking the free, local newspaper, Willow Lake Bulletin, on the end of the counter.
“How’s it going?” I asked.
“With the shop or your brother?” she asked with a smile.
“What do you think?”
“I heard that you never want to see him again.”
She sighed heavily. “He made me so mad the words just slipped out.” Kate dropped down on the high stool she kept behind the counter. “And I don’t know how to take them back.”
“The important thing is—do you want to?” I asked, crossing my fingers behind my back.
“I tell myself I shouldn’t, that he’s a handful, and yet I never felt anything for a man like the way I feel for your brother. He makes me smile, at least he used to, his kisses are better than I ever experienced and?—”
“Okay, that’s enough about his good qualities,” I said before she got too personal.
“Has he sent you to talk with me?”
I nodded. “He did ask but that was before you told him you never wanted to see him again.”
She laughed. “And I bet he blamed you for not talking to me soon enough.”
“Wow, you really do know my brother,” I said, impressed. “I told him to talk with you and evidently that was the wrong advice.”
Kate shook her head. “It was good advice and would have been fine if Josh had told me what he was feeling rather than insisting that if I didn’t want to see him anymore, I should have the decency to tell him. And not giving me a chance to voice my own concerns to the point, I ordered him out of here. Why can’t men say what they mean?”
