Bonnie wore her work clothes—a cream-colored blouse and dark slacks, her hair swept back from her face and twirled into a twist thing that ran vertically along the back of her head.It was nice.Sophisticated looking.
He watched her smile at Rose, exchange a greeting with Irma, and cross the diner with the polished ease of a woman who had been performing normalcy in public spaces for years.She slid into the booth across from him.
“Ruth’s singing Lucas’s praises again,” she said, her voice low and even.
He grimaced as he muttered back, “I heard.She was talking about the fire when you walked in but shut up when she spotted you.”
She rolled her eyes.“Rose is right over there.She lost her husband, too.Does Ruth think that just because Rose has Cooper now it doesn’t hurt her to be reminded of JB’s death?”
He sent her a sympathetic look and started to reach out with his hand to lay it over hers.He stopped abruptly as he realized what he was about to do and where they were.
Her gaze dropped to his hand as it lurched toward her and then pulled back as abruptly.She sent him a crooked smile.
It took a moment, but Bonnie said conversationally, “She cornered me in the post office last week to tell me what a fine man I work for.”The smile on her face didn’t reach her eyes.“And I said, ‘He certainly is.’I swear.I deserve an Academy Award.”
Rose appeared with menus and two glasses of water.“The usual, Bonnie?And turkey club or the soup and sandwich for you, Gray?”
They ordered and Rose vanished.From the pinochle tables, Ruth’s voice floated over.“...and he let that handsome, young Lawton boy, clean up the station with his own two hands.That’s Lucas looking out for the town, is what that is.”
Bonnie picked up her water glass.Her hand was steady.She drank.But for an instant, a flash so fast he nearly missed it, her eyes flashed gold and green fire.Her expression settled back into bland indifference as fast as the flash had come and gone.
Gray wrote down the names in his notebook along with a brief note beside each.Making no big deal of it, he casually turned the notebook around to face Bonnie and pushed it forward so she could read what he’d written.Glassware clinked around them, and the hum of the lunch crowd buzzed on, undisturbed.
Lex Jansick, the state arson investigator whose report called it an accident.
Dale Fenton, county building inspector who signed off on the barn.
She looked down at the page without expression.She’d gotten good at that.She was receiving devastating information, and her face was perfectly composed, her hands still.Of course he supposed the alternative was falling apart in a public place filled with dozens of people.And in Cobbler Cove, people were always watching everyone else.
She was quiet for a moment.Then she said, “Before and after?Like you thought?”
“Yes.”
She nodded slowly.Her eyes were dry.Her jaw was set.
From the front of the diner, Ruth declared, “Mark my words, Lucas Shoemacher will be remembered as the mayor who rebuilt this town after tragedy.”
Bonnie looked at Gray.Her hazel eyes glinted with fierce, quiet resolve that burned hotter than mere anger.She picked up her water glass again and took a long drink.
“Cooper’s putting the package together,” Gray said.“A week at most.”
“Good,” Bonnie said.“The sooner it’s out of our hands and into the proper ones, the sooner I can stop pretending I don’t want to overturn his desk and scratch his eyes out.”
“You may have to wait a little while longer.Until someone from the state makes it known to the person in question that the investigation’s open and that person is a subject of interest.”
She huffed, the said in resignation, “I’ve waited this long.I suppose I can wait a little longer.”
Rose brought their food.As they ate, they talked about the calves, Noah’s new quicksand obsession, and the fire science exam Gray had coming up.Normal things.The surface of a life that still rolled along even though the road beneath it had shifted and cracked.
When they left, they walked to the parking lot together.The March air was cool and sharp, carrying the smell of snowmelt and the faint dry rustle of last year’s grass on the hills above town.
Gray stopped at her car.“Yesterday Cassidy wanted to talk to me about you.”
Bonnie smiled, relieved that he had honored Cassidy’s silence yesterday but today was acknowledging her right as a parent to know something about Cassidy’s visit to the station.“She told me last night that she told you I was sad.”
“She wanted to know why you’ve been sad.I didn’t want to lie to her, so I answered in general terms.I didn’t give her any details or hints.”
“Thanks.But ugh.That had to be tricky to navigate.”
