I noticed that Gwen’s brow seemed even more furrowed as Rosalie pulled her aside, taking her away from the customer she was helping.
“What does she want with my mother?” Crystal said. I was surprised at her tone. Crystal always seemed like a free spirit type who kind of rolled with the punches. But then, I supposed she was protective of her mother. I knew that Crystal had come back to town with her two kids when her rock musician husband had taken off with a younger woman and left her stranded. Gwen had taken them in with no question, even though her house was small and money was tight.
“It doesn’t seem like good news,” I said as I got a better look at Rosalie’s expression. She was a pretty woman, probably somewhere in her late forties. But by now her personality was catching up with her looks, and I noticed a harshness about her expression. “But maybe that’s just the way she always looks,” I said. “That’s pretty much the expression she had when she said ‘thank you’ for the muffins.”
“She appeared a little softer when she came out of the kitchen last night so the team could thank her,” Crystal said. “Kory is such a good kid. He’s the one who said they should give her a ‘hip, hip, hooray’ for the chili.”
I thought of the dark-haired, gangly boy. “I just can’t get used to the idea that you have a sixteen-year-old son who is taller than you.”
Crystal smiled. “I got an early start. I would say it was a big mistake running off with a musician, but I wouldn’t trade my kids for anything. Rixx doesn’t know what he’s missing.” I remained silent, but all I could think was, What a pretentious name.
“You probably don’t know this, but Rosalie thinks of herself as being one of the movers and shakers in Cadbury,” Crystal continued. “She’s a piece of work. She was Butterfly Queen three times and even tried to get the town council to make it a permanent position for her.” Crystal rolled her eyes. “She made the chili dinner a tradition when her kids were in high school and her son was on the team. Someone suggested changing it to maybe a spaghetti dinner or having someone else make the chili, but no, it had to be her secret recipe and she always has to make it the morning of, in the community room, with no one around.” Crystal laughed. “It’s no wonder she didn’t appreciate your corn muffins. She acted like they were some kind of invaders. I’m sure she would have conveniently managed to drop them into the trash and not served them, except I showed them off to the other parents before she had a chance. We put them out on the tables.”
* * *
Rosalie finally left, and Crystal looked at the wall clock. “The game is about to start. I have to go.”
“Go Monarchs,” I called after her.
By the time I went outside, the street was much quieter. It seemed the whole town was going to the game, except me. I could only make my town spirit go so far, and I had bags to make up.
A police cruiser pulled up behind my car and an officer got out as things began to topple out of the tote bag again. “Need some help?”
Before I could say yes, Dane Mangano stuck his foot in a round loom that had started to roll down the street. He hopped on one foot as he reached forward to pick it up. Dane was my neighbor and a Cadbury PD officer. Really he was more, though I kept trying to fight the feeling. There was definitely a spark between us, which he seemed anxious to pursue, but I had put the brakes on. I didn’t have a good track record of sticking with places or people, and even though I seemed to be settling into Cadbury and my aunt’s business, I couldn’t predict the future. So why start something? And if I were to stay, it could turn out even worse. What if we dated and broke up? I was still an outsider and he was a town hero.
“Why aren’t you going to the game?” I said as he took the bag from me and managed to fit the loom pieces all back in. He set it down on the floor of the front seat and waited until it settled.
“Somebody has to protect the streets of Cadbury,” he said with less than his usual enthusiasm. I knew the truth was that Dane had gotten in trouble with his superiors because he’d helped me in the past, and as a result was now working every holiday and the worst shifts the rest of the time.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
Dane shrugged and gave my shoulder a quick squeeze. “It was worth it. But you’ve got to give me another chance.”
He was referring to our attempts at a date. There had been two, and neither had turned out well. The first time, we’d gotten the business from the locals sitting around us. I blushed thinking of all their comments about what a cute couple we were and when we got married would I make my own wedding cake. The next time we tried going to a tourist trap out of town, where we were sure not to meet anyone who knew us. That part of it had worked out, but someone had choked on a hunk of chicken. Dane had jumped into action and gotten the chicken piece out. I won’t go into gory details, but it was a lot more messy than the typical Heimlich maneuver. The guy’s wife fainted, a bunch of EMTs showed up, and the restaurant was closing, so we ended up getting our dinner to go and eating in his truck. So much for a romantic evening.
Dane was so much more than a pretty face. He practically oozed character. When his father had disappeared, leaving him and his sister with an alcoholic mother, Dane had taken care of the family. I’d heard he did a good job pretending to be a bad boy, but he was also the one who took his sister shopping for her first bra.
Growing up that way could have left him angry and bitter, but instead he really did want to keep the streets of Cadbury safe. He knew bored teenagers were likely to get into trouble, so he converted his garage into a karate studio and gave the kids lessons and let them hang out. On top of that, he fed them copious amounts of spaghetti with sauce so delicious my mouth watered at the thought of it. He fed me, too.
While I might excel at dessert, I sucked when it came to regular food and mostly ate frozen entrees. But the relationship wasn’t all take on my part. I left him muffins and cookies a lot of the time.
It was probably because he was such a great guy that made me hold back even more. I had tried to explain my hesitation to him and his answer floored me. He actually said he’d gladly have his heart broken if it meant he’d gotten to spend time with me. Was he sure he was talking about me?
I apologized again. I knew some of the kids who hung out at his place were on the football team and I was sure he wanted to cheer them on.
“It’s okay,” he said, not sounding too convincing. “I have more things on my mind.” He looked up and down the street. There didn’t seem to be any need of his services, and he continued. “Chloe lost that job at the diner in Gilroy and everything that went with it—including her own place.”
“So she’s back staying with you?” I asked. He nodded.
Chloe was Dane’s sister and was kind of a wild child, the kind of woman my mother would have described as hard. She dressed to show off as much skin as possible, had hair that looked like she used crayons to color it, and though Dane had never said anything about it, I had the feeling she wasn’t too picky about who she went home with. I didn’t mean to be judgmental, but she was somebody I couldn’t understand at all.
“If only that was all there was,” he said. “She’s decided that she wants to be Butterfly Queen. She’s in the princess court.”
“Then she made it into the finals?” I said, surprised.
“It doesn’t work that way. Anyone can get into the princess court. All they need is a sponsor. I wish she had talked to me first.” He sounded dejected. “She went straight to the owner of the beauty supply store. Apparently, she’s a big customer.” Dane rolled his eyes as he gestured toward his hair. “I guess it’s nice that she got something out of buying all that hair dye.” Dane rested his hands on his equipment belt as he checked the street again for criminal activity, but there was just an old man walking a beagle. I guess the only chance he’d do something requiring Dane’s attention was if he didn’t pick up after his dog.
; “She’s really into this princess thing. She told me she thinks it’s going to open some doors for her. She won’t listen to me. Maybe you could help her pick out something to wear that looks like a princess for the event tomorrow night?”
“You’re kidding, right?” I said, and he let out a weary sigh. I’m sure he knew that Chloe wouldn’t listen to me either.
“I just hope there isn’t any trouble,” he said.
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