Chelsea stayed in the car, her eyes wide. This was a side of Eli she’d never seen before!
In just minutes the lights flashed three times, then stayed on. The house was lit up like daylight.
Feeling a bit shocked from seeing Eli with a gun in his hand, she walked back to the house and opened the back door.
The first thing she saw was Eli and his assistant, Jeff, in a quiet argument. Jeff seemed to be talking rapidly, and by his gestures he was apologizing. Not far from them was a pretty young woman who seemed to be in the process of refastening her clothes.
On the end of the granite kitchen countertop were two pistols. She recognized the smaller black one as Eli’s, but whose was the silver one?
She got her answer when the woman picked it up.
It looked like Jeff and his girlfriend had been making out on the living room sofa. And everyone was either angry or embarrassed.
Chelsea decided to step in before emotions took over. “Hi, I’m Chelsea,” she said loudly. “Is there any food in the house? Eli nearly starved me on the way here so maybe we could find something to eat. Or order carryout?”
“I have to go,” the woman said, her face red. “I need to—”
Chelsea put her arm around the woman’s shoulders. “You can’t leave now. I’ve had days of Eli’s morose company and I need some girl time. What are you that you carry a gun?”
“Deputy sheriff.” From her look, she seemed to be worried that she might be fired after tonight.
“How wonderful,” Chelsea said as she ushered her toward the refrigerator. “Look in there and see what you can find. And Jeff, do you know where the plates are? Of course you do. You probably bought them. Heaven knows Eli wouldn’t bother with them. He used to use the leaves from my mother’s elephant-ear plants for plates.”
They were all standing there staring at her. “Eli! Get some wine. No, make that champagne. You do have some, don’t you?”
Eli’s face changed from glowering to twinkling eyes. As Chelsea walked past him, she said under her breath, “Put your gun away and lighten up!”
Thirty minutes later the four of them were sitting in the breakfast room around a table loaded with food and drink. Chelsea had found out that the deputy’s name was Melissa.
“I thought the two of them were going to kill each other,” Jeff was saying as he waved his glass around. “There Lissa and I were, snuggled down on the couch, and suddenly this big, dark man is holding a gun over us.”
Melissa was smiling but Chelsea could see that she was still embarrassed
over the whole thing. Chelsea decided to change the subject. “Tell me about Lanny Frazier. Does he often change the tires of ladies in distress?”
“He has done. How do you know that?” Melissa asked.
The men stayed quiet while the two women figured things out. Pilar and the sheriff’s brother, Lanny, had been out on a date—one that lasted all night.
“What’s he look like?” Chelsea asked.
“He’s the number three in the bar,” Eli said.
She knew who he meant. The man they’d had the wager on. She looked at Eli. “In that case, you’re going to lose your secretary.”
He didn’t smile. “A woman doesn’t have to give up her life, her very identity, just because she falls for some guy.”
Jeff threw a piece of bread at Eli. “Stop with the heavy! Did he make you miserable on your little trip? How was camping?”
Eli finally smiled. “I have a picture I want to show you.”
Chelsea groaned. “Please tell me you don’t have the bear-cub photo. My dad still shows that to people. Hey! I still want to know why you insisted that I go camping.”
Eli started to reply, but then he just waved his hand to indicate the table of food that Chelsea was eating, her clean face and hair, and the big smile on her face.
“You’re taking credit for all this?” Chelsea said as Eli got up, went to a cabinet, and pulled out an old photo album.
Across the table, Jeff and Melissa looked at each other. He’d told her a lot about the attachment of Chelsea and Eli, and it looked like everything he’d said was true.