Julie thought back to the first hour with Mark the day before. “None taken. ‘Surly’ is a nice word for how he wakes.”
Becca flashed her a quick smile. “Like a bear with a sore paw?”
Julie nearly choked on her soda. Fortunately, her cheeseburger arrived. The waitress set it down with a thump. “On the house,” the woman said with a toothy grin. “Welcome to the community.”
“Oh, hell no,” Julie said, startling everyone. But Julie didn’t stop. She turned to the room at large, stunned that she was doing this. She couldn’t imagine this scene in Chicago where most people didn’t even recognize their neighbor much less care whom they slept with. “Sorry, everyone. Mark and I aren’t dating. We’re not going steady, getting pinned or…” She couldn’t think of any more terms from the 1950s. “We’re just not, okay? I’m here to help my dad, then I’m going back to my life in Chicago.”
Half the room looked at her like she’d lost her mind. The other half glared at her like she’d just betrayed one of their favorite sons. And not a one of them said a single thing. At least not to her. After about ten extremely awkward seconds, they pointedly turned their backs to her. They spoke in low murmurs to each other or silently ate their food. And not a one of them gave her another smile.
Julie looked down at her food, feeling completely mortified. But that only brought her gaze to the cupcake and the über-friendly grizzly face on top. With a sigh, she pushed it back toward Becca. “You should probably eat this.”
Becca picked it up and peeled off the wrapping. “How about we split it?”
Julie stared at the beautiful confection, her mouth watering at what had to be a killer amount of calories. And yet, it really looked delicious. “Sure.”
“And don’t worry about what everyone else thinks. We all just want a happy ending for Mark, you know?”
No, she didn’t know. What the hell— Oh, right. In all the bizarre happenings of this morning, she’d completely forgotten about what started the whole kissing thing this morning. Mark had told her he was dying. And how the hell had that slipped her mind?
She stared at her food, unable to move. And now the sight of Becca cutting that cute bear face in half chilled her down to her bones. “Do all…Do they all die young?” God, the idea was horrifying.
“What? Oh, no. Just the…um…really unlucky ones.”
Mark. She slumped back in her seat and rubbed her hand over her face. “I don’t understand any of this.”
“No reason you should,” a cold voice said over her shoulder. Julie spun around to see the female officer from this morning. Her tag read “Kappes.”
Meanwhile, Becca sighed. “Hello, Tonya.”
“Hello, Ms. Max,” the woman returned without much warmth. Clearly, there wasn’t a whole lot of love between these two. Meanwhile, Officer Kappes turned to Julie. “Glad to see you back here. I was worried when you took off this morning.”
“My dad’s in the hospital. I had to go see him.”
“So I understand. But I’d really like to talk to you about this morning.”
“Can’t right now,” Julie said as she grabbed her cheeseburger. “I’m eating.”
The woman showed her teeth and slid right into the booth beside Becca. “No problem. We’ll have girl talk while I wait.”
Becca rolled her eyes. “Like you girl talk.”
“Hey!” the officer said, sounding insulted. “I have girly parts. I talk.”
“Not the same thing.”
Definitely not. She couldn’t imagine this officer as anything but prickly, cold, and…and hell, now she remembered Tonya Kappes from summers in Gladwin. She’d been a tall tomboy with no time for Becca. And once during Becca’s first summer here, Tonya had dressed slutty and made out with Carl’s younger brother Alan at a birthday party. The gossip had been loud enough that even Becca had heard it.
But that was years ago, and the woman had obviously grown up to be all business. Which was exactly what Julie had been wishing for just a moment ago. She hadn’t wanted all the small-town gossips poking their noses into her love life. And so like an answer to her prayers, in comes a woman who could give Joe Friday a run for his money. She practically embodied, “Just the facts, ma’am.” Which meant that if anyone could give her straight answers, it was Officer Kappes.
Thinking hard, Julie swallowed down a bite of pretty amazing burger and grabbed an onion ring. The other two women had degenerated into small talk. How’s the new bakery coming? Fine. How’s the keeping-the-peace business? Not so peaceful. And while those words were being exchanged, Julie came to a decision.
When the small talk eased, she gestured to the sliced-in-half bear cupcake. “Obviously, you know about the bears? Are you one of them?”
Becca shook her head, but the officer nodded.
“Became furry with my first period.”
Julie winced. That certainly painted a picture. But come to think of it, this was just the type of information she needed. Simple facts, uncomfortably graphic. “Okay. I need answers.”
