Lydia just nodded.
Leo chose to change the subject as he didn’t think he would get another promise of noninvolvement in future cases. “What do you think of the flowers?”
“They’re pretty. And I think they will be eye-catching. Was this part of Suzanne’s advice?”
“Yeah. We went to pick out some plants for the house together. She has a great eye. She’s a very talented decorator,” Leo said.
“I know. She even designed the mayor’s office,” Lydia said. “Though I don’t think she’ll be advertising that right now. Gary Sand might have been the thief and not the mayor, but Mayor Nielson should not have kept the stolen money a secret just because he was embarrassed by it.”
“Right,” Leo said. He looked off dreamily. “I had a really nice time with Suzanne at the garden center.”
“And?” Lydia asked, sensing that there was more to the story that he wanted to tell her.
“And we’re going out to dinner Friday night,” Leo said, all smiles. “We just really seem to click. I don’t want to jinx it. But I haven’t felt this way about someone before. I’m really glad that Uncle Edgar decided we needed a decorator.”
“Leo,” Lydia said, playfully hitting his shoulder. “You’re a detective. Can’t you see what happened?”
“What?” he asked, sounding genuinely confused.
“All this time, we thought that Uncle Edgar didn’t leave you anything in his will, but we were wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
“His instructions on how to sell the house were in front of us the whole time. We were just ignoring them. He wanted you to see Suzanne again. He knew that you two would hit it off, and he hoped you might have a future together,” Lydia said, happily. “That’s the dream that he was helping you realize and you didn’t need money for it. He was helping you find true love.”
Leo looked dumbstruck for a moment and then shook his head. “No. There’s no way. If he just wanted me to meet Suzanne, he would have said so.”
“No. It had to be this way. You despised blind dates that Aunt Edie sent you on and you wouldn’t have been open to the idea. You would have rebelled. And if you thought of this as a final request, you wouldn’t have been able to focus on Suzanne as a person. You’d only think of the relationship as a duty. What he did was thoughtful and perfect,” Lydia said. “And the only reason I’m pointing this out is so that you’ll finally get it into that head of yours that Uncle Edgar didn’t abandon you. He knew you and loved you.”
Lydia didn’t think it was possible for Leo’s smile to get any bigger, but it did. She started grinning as well.
“Did you see Aunt Edie’s latest postcard?” Lydia asked, slightly changing the subject. “It was from Paris.”
“The city of love,” Leo agreed. “And I think she gave some pretty good advice in mine.”
“Mine too,” Lydia agreed. “She said to cherish the people you care about as much as you can while you have them.”
“Really?” Leo joked. “In mine, she just told me I should try a baguette and cheese!”
They both laughed, and Sunny joined in with a happy bark.
Also by Alyssa Mirry
The Sticky Sweet Series
Book 1: Pineapple and Poison
Book 2: Double Chocolate and Death
Book 3: Cinnamon Swirl and Suspicions
Book 4: Cotton Candy and Corpses
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