“Done,” he said to her. She might not know it, but there was a big difference between stalking and investigating.
She drew her lower lip between her teeth then slowly met his gaze. “Okay. But not in Muddy Creek.”
Cade felt as giddy as a teenaged boy. “We can drive over to Brody for Mexican food at Paco’s. You ask me, they make the best homemade tortillas in Texas. Best hot sauce, too. I’ll pick you up at six-thirty.”
“Make it seven. And I’ll pick
you
up.” When he started to protest, she added, “We women have been liberated. I’m allowed.”
Shrugging, he steadied his gaze on hers. He wasn’t fooled. He knew good and well why she didn’t want him coming to her house. It had to do with liberation, all right. But not the sort of which she spoke. It had to do with liberating a young girl from the long arm of the law. Guilty or not.
Fine time to finally get his chance with Mia, Cade thought. Thanks to Rachel Nye, what could become of it now?
I
nching over the speed limit, Aggie neared Muddy Creek Methodist Church at the edge of town where she and Roy had attended services their entire marriage. In the parking lot, close to the building, she spotted Roy’s truck pulled up alongside the choir director’s faded LTD.
“What in the world?” Tapping the brake, Aggie pulled in.
Wayne Muncy and Roy stood between the vehicles. Roy towered over the gangly, bespeckled, fiftysomething man. He jabbed a finger toward the choir director’s startled face.
When Aggie stopped and opened her window, the choir director’s voice drifted in on a rush of cold air.
“Mr. Cobb, I assure you I’m completely innocent.”
“You think I’m blind?” Roy bellowed, red-faced and spitting rage. He didn’t appear to notice Aggie’s Blazer idling close by. “I see how you single out my wife every Sunday, giving her solos even though she sounds like a sick warbler.”
Insulted now as well as angry, Aggie didn’t bother to turn off the ignition. She unbuckled her seat belt, threw open the door and stepped out, not bothering to close it behind her.
Wayne peered at her with pleading eyes. “Agatha . . . thank goodness you’re here.” His Adam’s apple quivered. “Your husband has the misguided idea that we’re . . .” The skinny man coughed and blushed.
Grabbing Roy by the arm, Aggie tugged until he looked at her. “You should be ashamed of yourself. I’ve never been so humiliated in my life. You’ve pulled a lot of stupid stunts in the past, Roy Dean Cobb, but this takes the cake.”
“Don’t you deny it, Aggie.” Roy jerked his arm from her grasp. “You didn’t give two hoots about joining the church choir until
he
took it over.”
“That was thirty years ago! We didn’t even have a director before Wayne volunteered. Just a bunch of members who couldn’t get along.”
Wayne’s head bobbed and his body shook like a wet dog in a blizzard. “That’s right,” he said timidly. “And Agatha has a lovely voice. She’s my only soprano.” He cringed, as if expecting Roy to slug him.
“
Agatha
.” The veins in Roy’s neck bulged. “That’s your special name for her, isn’t it, Muncy? Do ya think I don’t hear you talking to her? ‘
Can you stay a little late after the sermon to work on that solo, Agatha
?’”he mimicked. “‘
Bravo, Agatha
.
’
” Roy clapped his hands. “‘
Your voice sent chills up my spine
.’” He feigned a shiver.
“That does it.” Aggie dug her fingertips into her palms. She’d never hit anyone in her life. Not ever. But right now, it took all her control not to beat her husband black and blue. “You tell Wayne you’re sorry or you can find someplace else to sleep tonight.”
Roy opened his mouth. Closed it. His nostrils flared. “You wouldn’t kick me out of my own house.”
“Oh no?”
His eyes narrowed and his mouth curled into a sneer. “Joe Bob Jenkins is the only one in town who could change the locks on such short notice.”
Her muscles tensed. “What are you saying?”
He crossed his arms, propped them atop his belly. “If I tell Joe Bob not to change the locks, he won’t do it. His boy works for me, Ag. Besides, I bought and paid for that house. It’s mine, not yours.”
“So I’m just the housekeeper and cook? Is that what you’re saying?” His silence stung, but Aggie wouldn’t shed one more tear over Roy’s terrible behavior. “Fine then. If forty-five years of cleaning that house and decorating it and tending to the yard doesn’t make it mine, too . . .” She drew a shaky breath. “If turning it into a home instead of just a place to hang your hat at night doesn’t count, then you can have it.
I’ll
leave.”
She saw his confidence slip, watched a hint of doubt seep in. “You’d leave me? After all we’ve been through?”
“If you don’t apologize to Wayne and everyone else in town you’ve offended with this nonsense, including me, then don’t expect me home tonight.” She crossed her arms. “Or any other night until you’ve done what’s right.”
The corner of his mouth jerked. One eye. His cheek. “Where would you go?”
“Mia won’t think twice about letting me stay with her. She knows what an ass you can be.”
Roy’s dark eyes clouded over, his stony face crumbled bit by bit. Lord, she hoped this didn’t throw him into another episode of chest pains. Short of that happening, she wouldn’t back down. One thing she knew about her husband; he’d have a hard time choking out the words “I’m sorry.” If he had ever once uttered them during their marriage, she couldn’t recall when.
Just as she thought he might surprise her and give in, the stubborn glint returned to Roy’s eyes.
“So, that’s the way it’s going to be, is it?” She pursed her lips and squinted at him.
Beside her, Wayne pointed and shrieked, “Your car!”
From the corner of her eye, Aggie saw the Blazer rolling slowly across the parking lot toward the children’s wing playground.
“Dang it, Ag.” Roy’s head jerked around. “Go get it before you mow down the swingset.”
Fuming, Aggie arched a brow. “If you’re so worried about it, you go get it.”
He squared his shoulders and didn’t budge.
Wayne looked frantically from one to the other then took off after the vehicle.
Roy grumbled inaudibly.
“Did you say something?” She blinked at him.
Turning, Roy stomped over to his truck and climbed behind the wheel.
As Wayne caught up to the Blazer and jumped in, Roy drove his truck away. The Blazer came to a halt two feet shy of the jungle gym. Wayne backed up to where Aggie stood, then climbed out and returned to her side.
“Thank you, Wayne.”
“Everything’s okay, Agatha,” he said in a small voice.
“No. No it isn’t.” She stared down at her shoes. “You didn’t deserve that.”
Wayne opened his car door. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“You’re right, but he’s my husband.” And she loved the ornery hothead. Though, at times like now, she didn’t know why. “He owes you an apology. He owes a lot of people one.” Her included.
Until he paid up, he’d get nothing from her. No clean laundry. No hot meals. No fresh sheets on his bed.
And no her in that bed, either.
At close to noon, the shop emptied for the first time all morning. In the kitchen, Mia took a break and tried calling the number Leanne had given her for Rachel’s classmate’s mother. After talking to her attorney friend, Leanne seemed certain that the Oberman woman’s testimony about the abuse she’d witnessed was the only chance they had of saving Rachel from a detention center. If only they could get her to answer her phone, or at least call them back. So far, that wasn’t happening.
The phone rang and rang without answer, so Mia hung up and prepared for the next rush. When she heard the back door open, she looked up. Aggie blew in like a tornado.
Mia rushed over, alarmed by the dark look on her friend’s face and eager to hear what news had spurred Aggie to leave the shop earlier in such a hurry.
“He did
what
?” Mia shrieked, when Aggie told her.
“He woke your neighbor the past couple of nights to harass him, gave the mailman a bloody nose this morning, and accused the choir director of teaching me more than hymns.” Aggie dragged a stool to the island workstation and sat. “Plus he insulted my singing.”
Mia covered her mouth to muffle a laugh. “Sorry, Aggie. I know it isn’t funny, but skinny little
Wayne Muncy
? Has he ever even
had
a girlfriend?”
“I doubt it. The thought of asking someone out on a date would probably make the poor man’s teeth chatter so hard he wouldn’t be able to get out the words.”
“So, what now?”
“Well, sugar.” Aggie blinked hurt eyes at her. “I’m afraid you have yourself another roommate.”
Mia nibbled her lip. Her house was fast becoming a home for runaway females. “I have plenty of room.”
“I hope you don’t mind.”
She hugged Aggie’s slumped shoulders. “Of course I don’t. You’re always welcome at my house, you know that. But I do hate that you and Leanne are at odds with Roy and Eddie. I feel like it’s my fault. Hiding Rachel was my idea.”
“We made up our own minds. Don’t blame yourself.” Aggie stood. “Guess I better take over at the house with Rachel so Leanne can come to work. I just wanted to let you know what’s going on. Oh, and I delivered those sweet rolls to the Cactus Hotel for the Rotary Club meeting.”
“Thanks. You want to go to the farm and pack a suitcase before you take over for Leanne?”
Aggie shook her head. “I’m not setting foot back in that house until he apologizes. I’ll buy whatever I need and charge it to Roy’s MasterCard. He made it clear I’ve been nothing but a housekeeper and a cook to him all these years. The way I see it, he owes me a truckload of past wages.”
“You’re more to him than that, Ag. That man’s crazy about you, and you know it.”
Aggie’s face twitched with emotion. “I’d say he has a funny way of showing it, but I’m not laughing. Now everyone in town knows just how little he trusts me.”
“I don’t think it’s you, Aggie. I think Roy’s suffering from a bad case of insecurity. You’re looking pretty sexy these days. He doesn’t know what to think about that. And he probably senses you’re hiding something.”
“That doesn’t excuse his behavior.”
“No, it doesn’t. I’m not taking his side. I just don’t want you doing something rash in the heat of the moment. Leanne, either.”
“Well, I’m not planning on visiting any lawyer if that’s what you mean. Not yet, anyway.”
“Aggie—” The phone rang and Mia picked it up, only to hear Cade’s voice on the other end of the line. She talked to him a moment then extended the receiver to Aggie. Something she’d detected in Cade’s tone bothered her. Stepping aside, Mia crossed her arms and waited for Aggie to hang up.
Aggie looked like a limp balloon when she finally returned the phone to its cradle.
“You okay?”
“Cade put Roy in jail to cool off.”
“In jail? What happened?”
Aggie sighed. “Apparently when I was at the Cactus Hotel delivering those rolls, Roy saw my Blazer in the parking lot. He heard a man and woman laughing behind the door to room ten so he busted in thinking he’d find me inside with Roland since he didn’t see Roland up front at the desk.”
“Roland Wade?” Mia screeched, referring to the hotel proprietor. “He’s eighty years old if he’s a day.”
“I swear Roy’s lost his mind. The couple he burst in on were just passing through town last night on their way to Dallas. They’re young enough to find the whole thing funny, so they’re not pressing charges. But Roland was fit to be tied, so he called Cade, anyway.”
“Oh, Aggie . . .”
“Cade asked if I wanted to bail him out, but I’m not about to. Let him sit there all night and stew over what he did.”
Mia couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry. Rachel’s arrival in all of their lives had set something in motion, kicked up a dust cloud of uncertainties and hopes, fears and desires that had lain dormant too many years.
She wondered if that was good or bad.
At six-thirty that evening, Mia mentally kicked herself for at least the tenth time for accepting Cade’s dinner invitation. Insecurities she hadn’t felt since before marrying Dan taunted her. Was she overdressed? Underdressed? What if they couldn’t think of anything to talk about? What if he tried to kiss her?
Worst of all, was she betraying Dan?
She stepped away from the full-length mirror, but Rachel grasped her arm, pulled her back, then held a black dress up in front of her.
“This is better,” the girl said. “Tell her, Leanne.”
Leanne hung up the phone on the nightstand after attempting to reach Paula Oberman again without success. She and Aggie sat at the edge of Mia’s bed. For the past forty-five minutes they’d observed, even participated in, Rachel’s primping session. Their expressions said
we knew this night would come
.
“Rachel’s right.” Leanne winked. “You definitely want Cade to get a good look at those legs of yours. He probably hasn’t seen them since high school. That’s the last time I recall you wearing anything that showed them off.”
Mia pushed away the dress. “I’m sticking with slacks. They’re more comfortable.”
“Sugar, when a woman’s trying to snag a man’s eye, comfort should go right out the window,” Aggie said, to which Rachel replied, “
Duh
.”
An afternoon spent with the girl had perked Aggie up. They’d painted each other’s fingernails and had plans to do toenails at a later date. Rachel’s nails were orange; Aggie’s were pale pink with sparkles. Aggie claimed to be at least fifty years too old for glittery nail polish, but Rachel had chosen it, and so she’d gone along. Mia thought Aggie secretly liked the touch of glamour.
“I’m not trying to snag Cade’s eye,” Mia insisted, heading for her boots in the closet.
“You don’t have to.” Leanne leaned on one elbow and grinned. “It’s already snagged. Watch out, girl. That man has ideas.”
In Mia’s opinion, they were making too much of one measly dinner. It wasn’t as if Cade was taking her somewhere swanky and romantic. Mexican food at Brody was a casual, low-key affair. Lots of Muddy Creek residents made the drive to eat at Paco’s, since the only Tex-Mex in Muddy Creek was the taco basket at Dairy Queen.