That Man of Mine (Whispering Bay Romance 3)

Lauren followed her gaze. “Who’s that you’re staring at?”

“I’m not sure.” Mimi tried to put a name with the face but she came up blank. “Excuse me,” she said to the young man. He turned around and that’s when she realized that it was Adam, the boy Claire had left the football game to go parking with last year. Zeke had told Claire that if she wanted to date him, then he would have to present himself at the house. Adam had come by and Zeke and Mimi had spent a few minutes getting to know him. He’d seemed polite and harmless enough, so Zeke had given the boy his blessing. Well, maybe not his blessing exactly, but he hadn’t objected to their dating. Adam had taken Claire out a couple of times after that, but then the relationship fizzled. He’d graduated from high school last year and Claire had never mentioned him again.

“Adam, how are you?” Mimi asked pleasantly.

Initially, he looked startled, and then his ears went pink. “Oh, hi, Mrs. Grant. I’m good. And you?” he choked out.

“I’m doing fine, thanks. So, how long have you been working here?”

“Just a couple of months. I’m in school over at the community college.”

“Good for you. What are you majoring in?” she asked.

“Um, right now I’m just doing basic studies. I’m really not sure what I want to do yet.”

“Well, good luck with all that.” She gave him her mom smile.

“Thanks.” He made quick work of clearing the table then scurried off like a jackrabbit across the restaurant.

“Oh, boy, do I remember him,” Allie said. “He’s make-out boy.”

“Make-out boy?” Lauren twisted in her seat to try to get a better look at him. “Is he a boyfriend of Claire’s?”

“Old boyfriend,” Mimi said. “From last year.”

“He’s cute,” Lauren mused, “in that hipster kind of way. Weird how he didn’t ask about Claire, huh?”

Mimi took a sip of her champagne and thought about it a moment. “I think I took him off guard. He seemed kind of nervous, don’t you think?”

Allie snorted. “He’s probably afraid my brother is hiding behind a fern somewhere ready to pounce on him.”

Mimi smiled. Allie was probably right.

It had been a week since the lunch at The Harbor House. Lauren and Nate had broken their good news to Henry, then followed it up by telling their parents and the rest of the town. A baby was a wonderful thing, that’s for sure. Unfortunately, said baby was making Lauren sicker than she’d anticipated and she hadn’t had a chance to work on Buela’s dress yet. Mimi had cried off the shopping trip with Allie with an excuse about work, but she wasn’t sure how much longer she could put Allie off buying her own wedding dress.

Luckily, though, the rest of the wedding plans were going smoothly. Cameron was spending the night with Henry, and Claire was at a cheerleading retreat in Jacksonville, leaving Mimi completely home alone for the first time that she could remember.

She still hadn’t heard anything definite from Billy Brenton’s assistant, Crystal, so she’d contacted a country-western band from the Panama City area that had gotten good reviews. They were available, but they weren’t cheap. She hesitated to bring it up to Doug, but he’d offered to pay Billy Brenton out of the city budget, so why not this other band? The Spring Into Summer committee was meeting this week and she planned to toss some of the responsibility for the entertainment back on them. Maybe between all of them they could figure out a way to put the festival back in the black.

She caught up on the latest episode of The Walking Dead (were these poor people ever going to take a bath again?), then took Toby for a walk around the block before he settled into his doggie bed in the kitchen. As usual, Buttercup was asleep on top of Claire’s comforter when Mimi turned the lights off and headed for her own bed. She tried to read, but she was restless. Zeke had taken it upon himself to make an appointment with the marriage counselor for later on in the week. Mimi didn’t know how to feel about that. On the one hand, she was anxious to resolve things, but on the other hand, she didn’t want to get her hopes up, either. But she’d told him she would try again, so try she would.

She had just dozed off to sleep when she heard Toby barking.

“Go back to sleep, boy,” she muttered. Then she sat straight up in her bed.

Toby was barking?

He’d never barked before. Mimi tossed back the covers and padded barefoot across her bedroom floor and into the living room. That’s when she heard the noise.

Thump! Thump!

Her heart skydived straight down to her stomach.

Thump! Thump!

Toby barked louder.

Mimi scurried to the kitchen and turned on the lights. Toby stood by the back door, his short hair standing on end, barking like a mad fiend. Oh God. Someone must be in the backyard!