Top of the Hour

by Anina Collins

  Even at that moment, I hated the mere thought of going to that store, and all that had happened almost five years ago. Since then, not only had I shunned Savings King, but I also had shunned men.

  Not that I really wanted to. Well, at first I had. During those days right after my life fell apart, it was all I could do to get out of bed. I not only shunned men but the entire world. Never before or since had I so wished my mother had been there to show me how to move through all that with the kind of grace she displayed every day of her life.

  But she wasn’t there, so I retreated into my own private misery and stayed there for far too long. When I finally came out, I wasn’t the same person I’d been before Jared broke my heart. I was suspicious and untrusting. In time, I returned more to my old self, but that scarred Poppy still lived and thrived in the two places inside me that couldn’t believe things would ever work out for me again.

  My heart and my head.

  Normally, they worked against one another in other people, but not me. Since all that happened, both of them were all but sure I was destined to be what the gossips in Sunset Ridge whispered about me behind my back. Old maid. A woman who had her chance at true love and happiness but by choosing to stay in this small town with its boredom and safety under the guise of taking care of her father had sealed her fate.

  Old maid.

  I pushed the pillow down over my face and screamed into the room around me as the sun began to creep up over the horizon. I didn’t want to think about those horrible days when I was sure life would never get better. It had. Now I had purpose to my life with my work at The Eagle and with Alex.

  And there was no way I wanted to return to that time when all I did was hide out in bed, afraid of facing life. I may not have overcome all my fears, especially the ones about love, but I wasn’t that broken, betrayed woman anymore.

  At least that wasn’t all I was.

  Tossing the pillow aside, I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and called my partner. Today called for a change of scenery. That was for sure. His phone rang as I hoped it wouldn’t go to voicemail. I didn’t want to talk to a machine or type out my words this morning. Today called for the closeness a person’s voice could provide, even if they had no idea they were giving someone that.

  “Poppy, it’s not even seven in the morning. Is everything okay?” Alex said in a groggy voice.

  “Did I wake you up? I’m sorry. I just wanted to tell you I’d like to go to the Madison instead of The Grounds this morning.”

  “Feeling like a change today, huh? Fine with me. We were probably getting in a rut at The Grounds anyway.”

  Curious, I asked, “How did you know I wanted to change things up a little and wasn’t just in the mood for pancakes instead of my usual danish?”

  The phone fell silent for a moment, and I wondered if Alex had fallen asleep on me, but then he said, “I can hear it in your voice. You sound different this morning. Is everything okay?”

  Choking up, I smiled. “Yeah. I’m fine. See you at nine at the Madison Diner?”

  “I’ll be there. If you get there before me, get me a coffee. I’m going to need it this morning.”

  Even though I knew I shouldn’t care, my heart sank at the thought that he was exhausted because he’d spent the night with Bethany. Before I could stop myself, I asked, “Rough night?”

  I heard a rustling noise in the background and then he slowly blew the air out of his lungs. “Derek lectured me until nearly one AM about finding Lee Reynolds’ killer. He’s worried about the town looking incompetent on a national scale because he’s already begun getting calls from outside of Sunset Ridge about it.”

  Feeling defensive about our work and protective of Alex at the same time, I swung my legs out of bed and threw up the window shade. “It’s only been a couple days, for God’s sake. What’s wrong with him? Why is he acting like Lee Reynolds was anything but a small town radio guy? I swear since he became chief, Derek has become a real politician.”

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t get home until almost two and then I had to deal with…”

  Alex’s voice trailed off, leaving me hanging about what he’d had to deal with. Was Bethany camped out on his doorstep wearing nothing but a smile? Had wild dogs found her waiting naked for him and torn her into a million pieces which he’d found scattered all over his front porch? Had he left the water in the kitchen sink running all day and returned home to a flooded house?

  What the hell had he had to deal with in the middle of the night?

  My brain and my heart, working together to do their damnedest to my happiness this morning, made my mouth their co-conspirator and I blurted out, my voice on full panic mode, “What did you have to deal with? Was Bethany there? Oh my God, is she still there and I’m interrupting?”

  I stood in the middle of my bedroom holding my breath as a combination of dread and embarrassment washed over me. This was what happened when a person avoided men for years. I was barely better at social relations than those wild dogs.

  “No, Poppy, it’s okay. She wasn’t here last night and she isn’t here now. We rarely see each other anymore. I just meant I had to deal with having a hard time getting to sleep.”

  My dread faded away to allow the feeling of foolishness to join my embarrassment. They were close friends, so they’d keep each other company. Quietly, I said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t sleep well last night, so clearly I’m leaning toward crazy today. I swear I’ll be normal by nine.”

  For the first time that morning, I heard a smile in Alex’s voice. “It’s okay, Poppy. This is what partners do—we’re there when the rest of the world thinks you’re nuts. I’ll see you at nine.”

  I ended the call and threw my phone into my blankets as a feeling of calm came over me. Alex had that way that no matter what mania was tearing through me, just a few words from him and I didn’t feel so crazy anymore. I liked that. Hopefully, he got something similar from me.

  Pushing open the door to the Madison Diner at five before nine, I saw the place was packed and practically standing room only. Perhaps a change of scenery wouldn’t be happening after all. I pushed past the crowd hovering around the hostess station and scanned the restaurant for any sign of Alex. Waitresses buzzed up and down the aisles between tables, making it hard to see anyone for more than a second or two, but from the back I saw him wave toward me, so I made my way to where he sat back near the restrooms.

  “Choice seats, I see,” I teased as I sat down in the booth across from him.

  “The cop uniform doesn’t carry much weight when there’s only two seats left. It was this or right next to the kitchen, and I wanted to avoid what happened last time.”

  Remembering the mess of having a waitress dump an entire tray of drinks as she passed me on the way to her table when we were last at the Madison, I cringed as I nodded. “Yeah, I don’t feel like having to go home to change this morning.”

  I’d worn my favorite pale pink sweater with the three-quarter length sleeves. It was meant to make me feel more attractive, and the last thing I wanted to do was get it drenched by a tray full of coffee and tea.

  “I’m happy you wanted to change things up, Poppy. Don’t want us to get into a rut.”

  Alex’s smile traveled all the way up to his eyes, lighting them up, so even though he sounded like he was joking with me, I knew he approved of the change. We’d return to The Grounds tomorrow, in all likelihood, but for today, we’d begin work on the case right there in that booth with the shiny red vinyl seats.

  Candy, a pretty blonde with a black and white Madison Diner uniform that never had enough buttons closed, walked up to the table and immediately began flirting with him instead of taking our order. Between her need to punctuate every sentence she uttered with a touch on his shoulder and my hunger, it didn’t take long for me to resent that she seemed to be incapable of doing one of the few tasks her job entailed.

  After a minute or so of her fawning over Alex, I tapped on the table in front of me
and said loudly, “Excuse me, Candy? I’d like a coffee and an order of French toast. Please bring me extra butter too. Oh, and can you bring over more milk?”

  A look of surprise crossed her face, as if my telling her my order was something so strange she didn’t know how to react. She looked back at Alex, who smiled at her, and then at me before taking out her pencil and order pad.

  “A coffee and French toast. What would you like, hon?”

  I opened my mouth to remind her how about the extra butter and fresh container of milk, but Alex began to speak before I could say a word. “Candy, don’t forget about Poppy’s extra butter, okay?”

  She smiled sweetly and touched him on the shoulder again. “Of course, hon. I never forget what you tell me. You don’t want the milk, though, do you? You always get your coffee black from me.”

  “I think I’m going soft this morning, so be sure to bring enough for both of us. I’ll also have two eggs scrambled with American cheese and breakfast potatoes.”

  With a final touch to his shoulder, she gathered up the menus and trotted off toward the kitchen to put in our order. I looked at Alex and asked, “Why are you coming off your black coffee routine of late, and if you don’t mind me asking, how do you stand her touching you like that?”

  Grinning, he winked at me. “I’m not, but I didn’t want you to have to ask her for milk again later. As for her touching me, my shirt’s so starched I can’t feel a thing when she does it.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh, but his way of using his sexuality made me wish I was that comfortable with my own. I would have been happy with being able to talk to a man I liked. Thinking he might be the perfect subject to practice on, I asked, “Alex, what do you do when you’re not working? I’ve known you for nearly six months, and all I know is that you like watching sports on TV.”

  With a smile only for Alex, Candy set our coffees down and the container of extra milk right in front of him and walked away. He pushed it toward me and asked, “Is this that you don’t know anything about me business again?”

  Disappointed I’d already failed at even making small talk with him, I poured milk and sugar into my coffee and said, “No, but it’s okay. I was just wondering. Nothing big.”

  He took a drink of his coffee and after a few minutes of us saying nothing, he answered my question. “Normally, I would have stayed home and watched the baseball game last night, for example, but Derek was busy reading me the riot act about this case. Why do you want to know?”

  “Just wondering. Do you watch a lot of sports?”

  Alex nodded. “Every season has one. Right now, baseball is ending and football is in full swing. Soon basketball will join football until after the new year, when football will end and then it’s just basketball until baseball returns.”

  “And that’s what you do when you’re not working? Nothing else?”

  “That’s about it. I’m a typical man, unfortunately. What about you? What do you do when you aren’t working cases with me or asking what I do in my spare time?”

  I thought about my life and didn’t like the answer I had to give him. “Not much. I worked at the bar last night and then went home to sleep. Now I’m here with you on a bright and sunny Saturday morning.”

  “No plans for tonight?” he asked in a tone that made me wonder if he thought I was as pathetic as I did.

  “None right now,” I muttered casually, as sure as I knew my own name that I wouldn’t be doing anything other than watching sad Saturday night television if I wasn’t out working on the case with him.

  “Well, we certainly are perfect examples of small town life, I guess.”

  “Nice way to say boring.”

  For someone like him who’d lived in Baltimore and had an exciting life as a detective, retiring to someplace like Sunset Ridge felt right. He’d lived the big city life and now wanted to relax and take it easy, assuming Derek didn’t drive him crazy over our current case. But me? I’d lived in Sunset Ridge nearly all my life, never really spending any time away other than my years at college, and it wasn’t like I’d lived anywhere exciting during those four years either.

  I had to face the facts. My life and I were boring, and I had no one to blame but myself.

  And then as I sat there hating how boring my life was, the handsome man from the corner of McGuire’s the night before walked right through the front doors of the diner and laid eyes on me. As if I hadn’t acted like some scared teenage virgin, he made a beeline to where we sat while my mind scrambled for a way to escape what would undoubtedly be an awkward conversation of me trying to explain why I’d acted so ridiculously when we’d first met.

  It was no use, though. Before I could bolt into the ladies’ room, he was standing at our table smiling down at me like he still wanted to talk to me. “Didn’t I see you behind the bar last night? I hoped to get to meet you instead of just sharing longing gazes across a room, but you left in such a hurry I barely got to introduce myself. Just in case you don’t remember, I’m Jack.”

  Taken aback at how friendly he was once again, I extended my hand to shake his. “I’m Poppy. Poppy McGuire. That was my father’s bar you were in last night. Are you new in town?”

  Calm down. You don’t have to serve him up twenty questions as soon as you start talking.

  Jack nodded, and I saw a slight frown mar his attractive and very chiseled features. “I guess you could say that. I haven’t been in Sunset Ridge for a long time.”

  “Oh? What brought you back here to us?” I asked with as much confidence as I could muster.

  Hanging his head, he said quietly, “My brother’s funeral. I’d just gotten into town when I saw you last night.”

  Nice, Poppy. Way to be smooth. Why couldn’t you just keep it light and question free?

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to…I never intended to pry.”

  Jack swallowed hard. “I always thought I’d have more time with Lee. I guess I was wrong.”

  Shocked to hear he was none other than our murder victim’s brother, I said, “Oh, you’re Lee Reynolds’ brother? I’m so sorry about your brother. We’re the ones working on his case.”

  “I’m his younger brother. Only brother. Only sibling. We were separated by a lot of years, among other things.”

  He turned to look at Alex but didn’t address him, and then he looked back at me. “Well, Poppy McGuire, I hope I have the good fortune of seeing you again while I’m here in Sunset Ridge. It would be nice for at least one good thing to come from my being back.”

  Stunned at the turn of events, I smiled and mumbled some words about hoping to see him again too before he walked away to sit at the counter. I’d underestimated how good looking he was the night before. In the light of day, he was stunning.

  And he was interested in me.

  Jack Reynolds, the gorgeous brother of Lee Reynolds, our victim, liked me. I sat there in that booth staring at him as he got his coffee to go and strode out of the diner just a minute later and couldn’t believe he’d even wanted to talk to me after my behavior the night before.

  Alex cleared his throat and brought me back to reality. I turned to see him staring at me with a look that said he was definitely unhappy about something.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He crossed his arms and leveled his gaze on my face. “I’ve never seen you act like that.”

  “Act like what?” I asked.

  “Like a lovestruck girl,” Alex said, a strange tone echoing in his words.

  I pooh-poohed his statement. “You’re nuts. I was just being friendly to someone in their time of need.”

  “You didn’t know he was in need until well after that lovestruck thing took over.”

  Candy brought our order to the table and did her touching thing on Alex’s shoulder, but he didn’t even look up at her. Instead, he continued to just stare at me like he disapproved. I didn’t like that look.

  “Maybe we should talk about the case so we can get it solved before Derek has
a breakdown?” I asked, changing the topic.

  “I think that’s a great idea, but I wonder if you’re able to focus or is your head filled with fantasies of Jack Reynolds.”

  I looked across the table and saw he was serious. “That’s ridiculous! Maybe we should just eat and then after we can talk about our case, okay?”

  He grumbled something about being able to talk about the case now and began to eat his eggs. I couldn’t understand what had gotten into him. While it was true that Jack had been a little rude in not introducing himself to Alex, and I hadn’t done much better, I didn’t think that was any reason to be so surly with me. In truth, the chance to introduce him to Jack hadn’t come up, and anyway, why would he care?

  We sat in silence eating our breakfasts as an iciness set in between us. Of all the people I had in my life, and there weren’t many, Alex was the only one other than my father I didn’t want to fight with, so I needed to fix whatever had happened before it snowballed into a problem.

  I pushed my plate of syrup into the middle of the table and took a deep breath. Whatever the issue was, we could work through it. With a smile, I said, “Thanks again for nudging Candy about the milk. I appreciate it.”

  Alex looked up from his eggs and nodded. “My pleasure.”

  Suddenly, he sounded like the man I met that first day in Derek’s office, that cold and unfeeling person who had taken a dislike to me from the instant he was introduced to me. Had my liking Jack Reynolds’ attention made me into someone he couldn’t respect anymore? What had happened to that man who had warmed up enough with me that I considered him a dear friend?

  Whatever it was, if it had to do with Jack, I had to take the bull by the horns and show him I was still the person he admired because of her mind and how she helped him solve cases. Sitting straighter in my seat, I said, “Alex, if this is about you thinking how I acted was unprofessional, I swear that wasn’t my intention.”

  He didn’t speak for a long moment and then finally said, “Well, now that you mention it, I don’t think it’s right for you to be so friendly with our victim’s brother, who may very well turn out to be a suspect.”