Goody Two Shoes (Invertary 2)

Caroline was not happy with that. At. All. “You’re late because you were at the bakery?”

There was silence behind her as the four old men tuned into their conversation.

“Morag’s mince pies were on sale.” Beth held up a bag. “I got some for everyone. My treat.”

There were cheers from the domino players. Caroline scowled at them.

“Beth, I expect you to be at work on time. I have other commitments that mean you have to be here for the hours that you are paid to be here. If you’re late, then I’m late. That isn’t professional, or polite. And stopping to buy pies isn’t a reason to shirk your responsibilities.”

Beth’s face fell and her eyes welled up. “I won’t do it again. I promise.”

At twenty-two, it didn’t take much to make Beth cry, and Caroline was beginning to suspect that the woman used her ability to get out of trouble.

“Don’t you have to rush off somewhere?” Archie barrelled past Caroline to get to the pies. The old man grinned widely and smacked his lips at the aroma coming from the bag. “Boys, time for a tea break.”

“We’ll talk about this later,” Caroline promised Beth. “Right now I have to go. Make sure you organise the children’s section in the library. It looks like a tornado went through it. The Weight Watchers group have booked the green room for two o’clock. You’ll need to air the place before they get here or the smell of pies will sabotage them. We can’t have another disaster like the day they were double-booked with the cake-baking society.”

“That was a great day.” Archie sounded wistful.

Brian nodded. “Cake and needy women. I didn’t realise until then how much comforting a woman who broke a diet needed. Plus those cakes were damn good.”

“Behave yourselves,” Caroline warned as she fought a smile. They were four teenage boys trapped in wrinkled packaging, and she loved them dearly.

“Yes, miss.” The domino boys saluted like boy scouts.

Caroline shook her head with resigned amusement.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry, anyway?” Findlay asked.

“I have a meeting with the vicar.” She picked up her brown briefcase.

“Church roof fundraiser?” Archie asked.

“Something like that.” Caroline felt her cheeks begin to burn.

Archie’s sharp grey eyes zoomed in on her. “Is it a committee meeting or not?”

Caroline pretended she didn’t hear him, but her face burned hotter. “Make sure you remember to air the place out. I don’t want to smell any pie fumes. I’ll be back in an hour or so.” As soon as I’ve organised a wedding ceremony.

“Now wait a minute, lassie.” Archie trailed behind Caroline as she marched to the door. “Something fishy is going on here and I want to get to the bottom of it.”

“No time. We’ll talk later.”

She yanked open the door and walked straight into Josh McInnes.

“Hi, gorgeous.” Josh wrapped his arms around Caroline.

She put her palms on his chest and tried to push away. Josh held her tight against him, a second longer than was necessary, before releasing her. She smoothed her hair and straightened her skirt before casting a nervous glance behind her. Josh dragged his attention away from Caroline to survey their audience—four old guys, who seemed bewildered, and a wide-eyed young woman who was mouthing him name silently.

“What are you doing here?” Caroline snapped at him, bringing him back to the reason for the visit.

“Well.” He put his hands in his jeans pockets. “My house is full of workmen and none of them know about the studio I need.”

She bit her bottom lip. “Maybe we should talk about this in my office.”

Josh was the first to admit that he wasn’t the most sensitive of people, but he was picking up her signals loud and clear. If he wasn’t mistaken, she was embarrassed by him.

One of the old guys walked towards them. “Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend, lass?”