“So, in other news,” Jess wagged her eyebrows, “I think I know who the next victim of the Needlepoint Mafia is.”
“Who?! Wait.” Ali sat up straighter. “Let me guess…”
Mrs. D and her cohorts considered themselves the town matchmakers. Most of the time they didn’t succeed in making matches, just in making the chosen one’s life miserable. They’d secretly select a “young person” always over the age of thirty—which luckily kept Ali and Jess out of the running for at least two more years. The misguided cupids would arrange extravagant setups that sometimes included the entire town, whether it be a carwash, a parade, or even once, a Christmas carnival. The meddling threesome had the means, extra time, and a false sense of entitlement toward messing with people’s lives.
Jess would get the inside scoop because she owned and operated the only beauty salon in town. All three ladies had standing Wednesday afternoon appointments for sets and blowouts. They used code names for their targets, but Ali and Jess had Sherlock Holmesed the last four pawns in their game of love chess.
Ali quickly did a mental search of possible candidates. “Dr. Hanover?”
Chris Hanover was a veterinarian that had recently taken over Doc Yanuck’s practice. He was in his early thirties, divorced, gainfully employed, and ripe for the picking.
“No, but good guess.”
“Wait. Not Brynn?”
Brynn Daniels had only turned thirty the prior month and was the mom of the twin’s best friend Ryder. After getting pregnant at sixteen she married her high school sweetheart who decided that being married shouldn’t slow down his dating life. She ended up being a divorced single mom by the time she was old enough to vote. But she hadn’t let that slow her down. She’d put herself through school and received her master’s in social work. She was the counselor at the high school and did volunteer work for the county’s foster system.
“No, thank God.” Jess sighed dramatically. “But when they do, we should be ready.”
“Good point,” Ali agreed wholeheartedly.
Brynn was a couple years ahead of Jess and Ali in school, so they hadn’t been close growing up. But as they’d all gotten older she’d become their third musketeer and the trio’s motto was definitely all for one and one for all. They didn’t leave a woman behind.
So if it wasn’t Dr. Hanover, and it wasn’t Brynn, then who could it…
“Not Kade.” Ali could hear the horror in her voice. “He just got here.”
The thought of him being setup with various women was enough to make Ali’s stomach turn.
“No. But I think it’s interesting that you sounded more upset about that possibility than you did about one of our own. Remember hoes before bros. Uteruses before duderuses. Chicks before dicks.”
Ali ignored Jess’s colorful comments. Her best friend knew how she’d once felt about Kade and she knew that any feelings that she’d had for him had been shredded when he’d vanished without a trace at the time she’d needed him the most.
That thought took the steam out of the impromptu guessing game.
“Fine. I give up. Who?”
“One Mr. Keaton Mills.”
“Keaton?” Ali felt sorry for the guy. He’d been a great influence on KJ this past year. His classes were the only leverage Ali had to get KJ to do his homework. “Why do you think it’s him?”
“I’m glad you asked. I saw Mrs. D Googling him when I went to check on her curlers. When she saw me looking over her shoulder, she hid her phone. And I distinctly heard the name Karate Man when they were sitting beneath the dryers.”
“That’s it?”
Jess shrugged. “I said I think, not I know. But I mean, come on, Karate Man?”
“He coaches jiu-jitsu.”
Tilting her head to the side, Jess’s eyes narrowed as her dark hair fell over one shoulder. “Do you honestly think they know the difference?”
“No,” Ali conceded. “They probably don’t.”
“The reason I’m bringing it up is because I think Coach Mills might already have a love interest in mind.”
“Really? Who?”
Ali dug her spoon in for another bite and was thrilled when she managed to scoop both a chunk of brownie and chocolate chip cookie dough and lifted it to her mouth.