She ignored his question. “Why’d you change shirts?”
“I thought maybe we’d have lunch in town.”
“In what state?”
“Colorado,” he answered as he opened the door to his car and got into the driver’s side.
In a familiar way, Terri sat beside him, spread paper towels on her lap and began peeling the oranges. “There’s a roadside stand nearby. Great tacos.”
“Nope. Sit-down restaurant in Summer Hill. Look, the whole town has seen us together. What’s wrong with a man and a woman being friends? Didn’t I see a bookstore somewhere? With the way you go through murder mysteries, I
’m sure you need new ones.”
She held up an orange slice, he opened his mouth and she put it inside. “I could use a few. Cale Anderson has a new one out.”
“Did you know that she’s Jamie’s mother?”
“No!”
“Which way?”
“Any way Cale Anderson wants to go, I’m with her. Her last one about PTSD made me cry. Is she really his mother? Do you think I could meet her someday?”
“Yes, of course. And Jamie can tell you where his mom got her inspiration for that book. But right now I don’t know where we’re going so I don’t know which way to turn.”
“Either way. We have to go around the whole lake. Uncle Frank said all three signs have been kissed.”
He turned right. “And we’re back to the kissing. What’s that all about?”
“I’ll have to show you.”
“I look forward to it.” He drove on the road that encircled the lake. The area had four entrance-exits, but otherwise the lake was a community unto itself.
“Here!” Terri said. “Pull over onto the gravel.”
As soon as he stopped, she got out. Behind the huge sign that welcomed people to Lake Kissel was a small metal storage unit that Terri went to.
Nate got out of the car and stood in the shade of a big oak tree eating orange slices and wondering what Terri was doing. When she came out of the shed with a canvas bag slung over her shoulder, and struggling with a ten-foot ladder, he ran to help. “What are you doing?”
“Set it up there, then step back and look at the sign.”
He opened the ladder, braced it, then walked to the edge of the road. Someone had put graffiti on the billboard. But it wasn’t the usual kind. The L of Kissel had been painted over with white to match the background, and a big red S was in its place. The sign now read Welcome to Lake Kisses. He couldn’t help laughing.
“If you think it’s so funny, you get to fix it.” Terri was holding up a long piece of red vinyl and two spray cans.
“You want me to block out kisses?” He sounded horrified. “But kisses are one of the greatest things ever invented. They’re—”
“Just do it,” she said. “Or I will. I hope I don’t wobble on the ladder.” She’d learned that his sense of... What? Chivalry? Protection? Male chauvinist pigginess? Whatever it was, she knew he wouldn’t like her climbing up the ladder.
A steel platform had been installed at the bottom of the sign to make it easy to change. When she handed him the strip of vinyl, he held it. “What is this?”
“An L. I had a hundred of them made to match the signs. You paint over the S, spray glue on the back of the L, then stick it in place. Changes kisses back to Kissel.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Not at all. Dad and I have been doing it for years. When I was in high school, I caught some kids in the act of vandalizing the boards. I tried to get Uncle Frank to put them in jail, but he wouldn’t. He just made the kids repair the damage, but they had so much fun doing it, it wasn’t a punishment.”
“It is to me,” Nate grumbled as he went up the ladder. “It’s a desecration.”