“Thank you,” she said.
“I guess I won’t see you until this evening.” When Sara smiled but made no reply, he left her bedroom.
As soon as Sara heard Mike’s car pull away, she texted Joce.
MIND IF I USE YOUR KITCHEN TODAY?
ONLY IF I CAN HELP.
YOU CAN SIT AND PEEL FRUIT. IS SHAMUS THERE?
YES. I GOT HIM OUT OF SCHOOL. THE CHILD LOVES ME.
Ten minutes later, Sara was dressed and on the way to her mother’s grocery.
As soon as Mike left the gym, he checked his phone. Tess had called, so he rang her back.
As always, she didn’t bother with preliminaries. “If you make Sara fall in love with you, then drop her for one of your bimbos, so help me, I’ll never speak to you again. I will completely and totally disown you.”
“There’s no danger of that,” Mike said. “Sara wants nothing to do with me except as her”—he nearly choked—“friend. We share bowls of popcorn and watch movies together. I’ve made lots of passes at her, but she doesn’t seem to be interested.”
Tess was silent for a moment, and when she spoke, her voice was barely a whisper. “Women have liked you since you hit puberty, but you’re saying that Sara doesn’t want you?”
“Are you laughing at me?”
“I’m trying not to, but it’s not easy. So how are you going to keep her from marrying that jerk?”
“Tie her up, I guess.”
“Then do delicious things to her?”
“Whatever happened to that support you women talk about so much? You act like you want me to handcuff your friend.”
“You very well know that I want you to marry Sara and live happily ever after at Merlin’s Farm. Who’s my kid going to play with if you don’t get busy with her?”
“I didn’t sign on to this for marriage. I think—”
“I have to go. Rams is here.”
Twenty minutes later, Mike was at Nate’s Field. He wanted to help with the fair, but he also wanted to hear more gossip. Although Sara said she’d told him all she knew, he kept discovering new information.
There were permanent bleachers in the big, open lot, and several trees, but nothing else. When Mike walked up, everyone grew quiet, and he knew what was going on. They were men and they were waiting to see if he knew which end of a hammer to use. No doubt they’d heard from Sara’s mother that Mike knew about organic foods and how to cook them—all of which he’d learned on undercover assignments. A couple of times he’d had to go into training for months before taking on an assignment. Over the years, Mike had done a lot of construction, so he felt at home with a tool belt on.
After a couple of hours of watching Mike, the other men loosened up and began to include him in their talk. But he and Luke worked best together. With Luke on one end and Mike on the other, they hoisted studs into place and nailed them down.
“Ever use one of these?” Luke asked as he held up an electric nail gun.
“On a person or a piece of lumber?” Mike asked so only Luke heard him.
“When your case is done, I want you to help me with my murder mysteries.”
“By the way, my captain wants an autographed copy of your latest.”
“Gladly,” Luke said as he picked up a hand saw. “Know how to use one of these?”
“Want to hear about the time I was forced to build my own coffin with hand tools and no electricity?”
“With all my heart and soul,” Luke said sincerely.