topic.
No such luck.
“I've seen him with that Penny Fitch a few times,” one of the ladies said.
What? Peter hadn't said anything about that. Or Carol…
Mrs. Rooney nodded. “Oh, yes. And her being divorced and all, I'm sure she's on the prowl.”
Divorced? On the prowl? An image of Penny with wild black hair and
fingers like claws popped into her head.
“Oh, now, Rose, don't start any rumors,” Carol said.
“Well, you never know. None of us are getting any younger.” More titters and nods. “And, as I said, he's the town's most eligible bachelor.”
Carol came forward. “Well, ladies, I suppose we should get to it.”
“Yes, it was nice to see you all again,” Kate said, backing away.
The bevy of ladies began moving into the dining room, their chatting picking up where it had left off.
Kate quickly picked up her things and headed for the front door. She hadn't
run a gauntlet like that in a while. The weird thing was, aside from the embarrassing prodding about Peter, it was nice to see everyone. At least Carol had a group of friends to hang out with. All she had were Saturday night Netflix
binges and the occasional after-work pizza with a few co-workers.
She'd have to have a talk with Carol later about all this. Penny Fitch? What
was that all about? Just a bunch of ladies trying to start a rumor?
Well, she had more important things to do than worry about Peter's social life. And the Thread Heads confirmed it. He was doing well here. Not only well,
but he was actually helping kids. Just like he'd said last night.
She glanced at her watch as she shouldered her way out the front door and
down the steps. That conference call with her bosses was in a few hours, and she
had a ton of work left to do if she was going to convince them she was not only
on the job, but killing it.
She couldn't help glancing at the house next door where the town's most eligible bachelor lived. The treehouse still stood, for now, quietly being swallowed by the tree. And the boy who had built it? He seemed stuck here, too,
slowly being engulfed by Golden Grove.
Chapter Twelve
The Screamin' Bean was Golden Grove's main coffee shop, next to Ray's Diner,
of course. It was usually empty late on Saturday afternoon, save for a scattering
of college students hunkered down with earphones on, studying. And Sam Price
in a corner booth, hunched over a manuscript. Sam was one of Golden Grove's
authors, currently the ghost writer behind the “Lottie Long” cozy mystery series,
although he didn't publicize the fact.
“Hey, Sam,” Peter called over. “Who you killing off today?”
Sam looked up. “Hey, Peter. Not sure yet. Either the one-eyed priest or the
librarian with the limp. Have any suggestions?”
“How about a school district budget committee member with an evil laugh
and red pen that never runs out of ink?”
“I'll see what I can do,” Sam said, eyes twinkling as he went back to work.
Lucius and Peter chose a table with two chairs by one of the two plate-glass
windows that overlooked the town square.
