Page 3 of Jasmine Street Blues

“A sandwich, or maybe a…”

“No, no, that was an invitation. Have dinner with us. Tuck is taking the night off, if you can believe it, leaving The Magnolia in the hands of one employee or another. He’s frying up some fresh fish, and making hushpuppies. That’s a lot of fried, I know, but I made a chopped salad that’s sitting in the fridge and it’s way too big for the two of us.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not even sure I can get Tuck to eat salad when there’s fried fish on the table.”

Loran smiled. “Sold.”

She liked her neighbors, Olive and Tuck. They seemed an odd couple, at first glance, but they made it work. They almost made Loran wish for…

But no. She didn’t dare to wish for anything more than she had right now. A low-key business that allowed her to pay her bills. A decent enough savings account for the hard times that always came. A small house with a place to lay her head at night. Canvas and paint to feed her soul. Food in the fridge and no one looking over her shoulder.

For now.

* * *

Mac glanced down and muttered a curse word. He should’ve changed out of his uniform before heading this way, but a local kid had been caught shoplifting, both of his junior officers had been busy elsewhere, and he’d been close to the knick knack store when the complaint came in. It wasn’t like Tuck hadn’t seen him wrinkled and sweaty before. He smelled the fried fish before Olive opened the door. His mouth watered. He’d missed lunch, thanks to a fender bender on the main highway. Tourists, again.

He stepped inside, and Olive’s smile faded. “You couldn’t be bothered to shower and change clothes?”

“For you or for Tuck?” he asked.

She sighed, one of the long-suffering kind.

“It’s been a long day,” he explained.

“I can tell,” Olive said as she turned and walked away, leading him not to the kitchen table, but beyond it to the screened-in back porch.

“We can’t eat inside?” he asked. “Where there’s air conditioning? It’s July.”

“It’s not that hot, and the fans are going, and besides, it’s more…”

She stopped speaking abruptly, caught herself before she said something she obviously didn’t want to say.

When he saw the woman standing with her back to him, her eyes on Tuck’s lush back yard, he whispered, “Romantic?”

Olive had the good sense to blush. “Well, yes.”

All he could see of the woman who had Olive’s mind on romance was her dark blonde, wavy hair. It cascaded halfway down her back. She wore a loose fitting pale blue dress that hit well below the knees. She wasn’t skinny, but he wouldn’t call her plump, either.

“You ambushed me,” he said, keeping his voice low.

“If you’d ever say yes when I invited you on a double date, I wouldn’t have to ambush you. It’s all your fault.”

“Of course it is.”

The woman at the window turned around. Damn, she was gorgeous. Classically beautiful. Even in the loose dress he could tell she had a great figure. Not too much, not too little. Again, just right. Like Goldilocks.

Her eyes widened and she tilted back a little, as if she was instinctively trying to get away. Evidently this dinner date was a surprise for her, too. He should make an excuse and bolt, right now, but he didn’t. Dammit, he was hungry and the fish smelled good.

Olive made introductions. Mac, Loran. Loran, Mac. He’d heard the name. Loran Raine was the artist who’d moved into the pink house downtown after the couple who’d been there for a while retired and moved to Georgia to be closer to their grandkids. She’d been in town for three months and had opened her studio a little over a month ago. Her place was sandwiched between a fairly busy strip center and a vacant house that needed a lot of work before it would be suitable for anything.

He knew all about her, of course, but since she’d managed to stay out of trouble since her arrival in Seawolf Beach they hadn’t met. Until now.

After a quick exchange of hello and nice to meet you, she didn’t have a lot to say to him, and he had no idea what to say to her. Awkward. Tuck and Olive laid a feast on the table, filled glasses with wine and water and provided bottles of beer for him and Tuck, and they all sat.

How fast could he scarf down dinner and get out of here?

Everyone filled their plates and began to eat. Tuck and Olive did all the talking, for a while. They did ask a couple of questions but neither he or Loran wasted a lot of words on their answers. Once he just grunted in response.

When Olive went to the kitchen to fetch dessert, Loran, who seemed to have relaxed a bit since she first saw him walk onto the porch, asked, “Why Mac?”