Dateline Matrimony (Hot off the Press! 3)

“I’ll send over some of tonight’s specialties. You’ll like what you get.”

“Just make sure we get gumbo.”

“Sure you get gumbo. You think I don’t know what you like by now? What does the pretty lady want to drink?”

“White wine. And I’ll have—”

“A beer,” Chuck finished with him, setting the already filled mug on the counter. “When’s that uncle of yours going to come back in? Haven’t seen him in a while.”

Picking up the beer and the filled wineglass Chuck had set beside it, Riley shrugged. “I’m sure he won’t stay away too long. He’d go into gumbo withdrawal.”

Laughing as if Riley had just said something incredibly clever, Chuck turned to his work, and Riley made his way to the booth where Teresa waited for him.

Dragging his gaze away from the action on the crowded dance floor, Teresa accepted her wineglass with a smile. “It looks like things are getting interesting over there.”

Following her gaze, Riley grinned. A curvaceous, copper-haired woman in a skimpy halter top and low-riding tight jeans was dancing with two men, making sure she stayed in the prime spotlight. “Lorrie does love being the center of attention.”

“Lorrie?” Teresa repeated, her eyes on him.

He lifted one shoulder. “An old friend. Sort of.”

“Oh.” She looked at her wineglass, running one fingertip slowly around the rim. “You seem to have a lot of friends.”

“I suppose I do, considering I have some basic loner tendencies.”

“I don’t think of you as a loner.”

“Only when I choose to be.” He paused to let a sudden burst of laughter from the other side of the room die down.

“I read your column in yesterday’s newspaper,” Teresa said when he could hear her again. “You were actually quite complimentary about the high school administrators.”

“I believe in giving credit where it’s due. That new student outreach program is a good idea. Keeping kids involved in their community is one way to keep them engaged and out of trouble.”

“One of the at-risk students is working at the diner before school, serving the early breakfast crowd. She’s doing very well—and Marjorie, of course, has really taken her under her wing. Every paycheck is accompanied by a grandmotherly pep talk.”

“Marjorie would mentor every kid in town, if she could. She’s a compulsive do-gooder.”

Teresa frowned at him as if she were trying to decide if he was poking fun at her employer. “Marjorie has the biggest heart of anyone I know.”

“She’s one of the finest people I’ve ever met,” he assured her. “I’m crazy about her.”

“So am I. She’s been so good to me during the years I’ve been lucky enough to know her.”

A young waiter brought a tray with two big bowls of gumbo and a basket of corn fritters. Filling their water glasses, he told them he’d back shortly with their next course, then ambled off at the usual leisurely speed of the staff here.

“You’re right,” Teresa told him a few minutes later. “This is good gumbo.”

She had tasted the spicy stew without even blinking. When she reached for the Louisiana Hot Sauce and added a few drops for extra heat, Riley almost sighed. A woman after his own heart, he thought—a heart he’d spent most of his adult life protecting.

Chapter Thirteen

Riley and Teresa took their time with the meal. They talked about her children, about the high school program he’d researched for his column, about the upcoming holidays. “I usually join my parents in Florida for Thanksgiving,” Riley said in answer to a question she had asked him. “But this year I’m staying here.”

“Because of Bud?”

“Partly.”

“Surely you’ll have heard from him by Thanksgiving. That’s still more than a week away.”