“Ernie! Did you see who’s here?” She rounded to the passenger side of the car and yelled at the top of her lungs to her husband seated inside.
“Eh?!” His wrinkled face contorted as he leaned toward her.
“Kade!” Mrs. D grabbed Kade’s wrist and tugged him beside her, then pushed his shoulder down, causing him to bend at the waist.
Kade waved to Mr. Dobrinski.
“Oh.” Ernie nodded, looking unimpressed.
Mr. Dobrinski’s lack of enthusiasm did nothing to squelch Mrs. D’s.
The apples of her rosy cheeks grew rounder as she smiled from ear to ear. “The girls are going to be so tickled.”
“The girls” that Mrs. D was referring to were her partners in crime that were eighty-eight and ninety-one respectively. And if you Googled sweet, old ladies Betsy Dobrinski, Pearl Chen, and Doris Weathersby would be the first results. Mrs. D was the spitting image of Mrs. Clause. Mrs. Chen wore shawls, used a cane and probably weighed ninety pounds soaking wet. And Mrs. Weathersby was Whisper Lake’s answer to Betty Crocker, she never showed up anywhere without a basket of delicious baked goods in hand. Their image might be harmless senior citizens but that’s not what they were. They ran this town. They had eyes and ears everywhere as well as time and resources to bend situations and people to their will. They mostly used their powers for good and not evil but get on their bad side and they could make life very uncomfortable for you.
The boss lady trio hadn’t been huge fans of Patrick’s nor Ali’s when they were growing up, thanks to their mother’s antics. The phrase ‘no home training’ had been uttered often. But after Ali lost Patrick, the ladies’ changed their tune. They’d invited Ali to be a part of their knitting club aptly named The Needlepoint Mafia. Like in The Godfather, it was an offer she couldn’t refuse. No one turned down the mob bosses of Whisper Lake. No one.
Mrs. D fawned over Kade as he folded up the wheelchair and stowed it in the trunk. Ali figured now would be a good time to sneak away. She made it two steps before she heard Mrs. D say, “Now you wait just a minute, missy.”
Ali glanced over her shoulder hoping that somehow she wasn’t the “missy” that Mrs. D was referring to. But, unfortunately, lady luck really wasn’t on her side today. A pudgy finger was pointed in her direction as she turned back to face her. “Yes, ma’am?”
“Don’t forget that you’re bringing the snack on Tuesday and Leonora is lactose intolerant, and Beverly has a gluten allergy. Last time you were in charge of snacks the two of them spent three days with the runs.”
Ali tried to erase that visual from her consciousness. “No dairy. No gluten. Got it. See you Tuesday!”
She turned again and noticed that Kade was back at her side. A shiver of awareness rolled through her body like a crowd doing the wave at Wrigley Field. Every time Kade was within spitting distance of her, her body went into arousal overdrive. It had to be pheromones. That was the only explanation.
She needed to Google how to combat her physiological reaction…maybe there was a spray. Like a bug repellant. A Kade repellant.
They’d barely made it out of Mrs. D’s hearing range when Kade leaned down and whispered, “Are you, Allison Leanna Walsh, a card-carrying member of the Needlepoint Mafia?”
“Yep.” She kept her answer short and sweet in the hopes that he wouldn’t notice the shakiness in her voice from the tingles that his breath on her neck had caused.
“Holy shit.” He sounded genuinely shocked, which caused her to grin. “You’re a made woman.”
“Shut up.” She rolled her eyes as she double-timed it up the block.
“Whoa.” Kade breathed, as he slid his hand around Ali’s wrist.
The heat of his large palm warmed her instantly as the roughened pads of his fingers sent a chill through her. The hot-cold combo caused goosebumps to rise on her skin and she tugged her hand away.
“What?” Her tone sounded more irritated than she actually was.
Kade didn’t seem to notice her bitchiness as he lifted his chin toward the lake. “Look.”
Her eyes cut in the direction he was staring and she saw that the sun was setting behind Stone Castle that sat on a bluff overlooking the lake. Oranges, purples, and yellows silhouetted the landmark and danced across the serene water.
Ali couldn’t remember the last time she’d noticed a sunset, or a sunrise, or flowers blooming, or a clear blue sky. Growing up the only thing she’d liked at all about living in Whisper Lake was the natural beauty that the tiny, tourist trap of a town was surrounded by. No matter how much she hated the dull, small town where everyone knew everyone’s business, she could always find peace by just looking out over the lake or better yet going out to Foster Pond and sitting in the gazebo watching the ducks swim.
But since Patrick had been gone, even that had lost its appeal. Everything was gray.
She sensed Kade leaning toward her and she froze when she felt the heat of his breath fan the wispy hairs that fell over her neck.
“Do you still think it’s haunted?” His tone was taunting.
Patrick and Kade had always mocked Ali about her unwavering belief in the urban legend of Stone Castle’s ghost activity. Their teasing hadn’t swayed her when she was ten and it sure as heck wasn’t going to sway her at twenty-eight.
“Yes.” She turned her head slightly ready to launch into the same spiel she’d given every time her beliefs were called into question, but when she locked eyes with him her ability to speak flew right out the window.