“I will,” Arissa said, reaching for her marker as the announcer started calling off numbers.
Another long stare. “I heard you’re dating the sheriff.” And said loud enough to gain the attention of people sitting tables away, as heads swiveled in their direction.
Her heart twisted but she answered simply, “I am.”
“He’s a good boy,” Penny said. “Good sheriff too.”
Arissa couldn’t stop the smile because the young and old loved him.
“Thought he was going to get hitched with that other one,” Penny said, eyeing Arissa. “You’re prettier.”
There was still a chance he might and that thought had her pressing the marker so hard on the card she almost snapped it in two.
“You gonna break his heart like she did?”
Arissa felt those words as her stomach twisted. “No.”
She seemed to ponder Arissa’s answer before she said, “Good.” Then hollered, “Speak up, Darren!”
“She left in an awfully big hurry,” Penny said, shaking her head. “Some women just don’t know what they have.” She pointed a long boney finger at a woman across the table from her. “Like Nancy.” She shook her head again. “Clueless.” Those eyes returned to Arissa. “You gonna take our sheriff out of Summerville? Big city girl like you is going to get bored here.”
“No, I like the quiet. The city was getting to be too much for me.”
“Hmmm,” she said skeptically. “I suppose we’ll see, though, you’d have to get past his mother.” She cackled. “That’s not going to be easy. Talk about a mama and her cub.” Penny adjusted her glasses. “Didn’t even let him go into the city to get his presidential scholarship award. It was a big deal, he was even written up in the local paper, and man did she have a fit about that.” She pulled herself back on track and added, “Too afraid of the big city and all the dangers. Having lived there herself, I guess she’d know better.”
It wasn’t the information she wanted, but Arissa grabbed onto that. She tried to sound conversational when she asked, “Oh, she lived in the city?”
“Yeah, came here when Hank was just a babe. Good place to raise a kid.” Penny crossed off another number. “They took to the place too, fixtures. Not surprising that their son became the sheriff.”
Arissa looked for an opening, and then just created one when she asked, “I heard Phoebe was the one to start the bingo game.”
Penny’s expression shifted. “She did, didn’t she? Maybe not so bad an egg.”
“You said she left in a hurry, any idea where she went?”
“Probably back to the city.”
“Charleston?”
Penny focused on Arissa, her eyes narrowing slightly before she asked, “Why you asking?”
Years of having to think on her toes had her replying smoothly, “The fair is coming up. She was the founder. I was thinking it would be nice to invite her back for it.”
A long pause before Penny said, “Hmmm.” But she didn’t focus on Arissa for long when she jumped from her seat and screamed, “Bingo!”
Arissa walked to the back of the church where the refreshments were set up. Hya was there, stuffing a donut in her mouth and talking around it. “You bump into me one more time you nearsighted twat, and you’re going to have a close encounter with my cane.” She brandished the said weapon for emphasis.
Arissa grabbed her cane and muttered, “We’re trying to keep a low profile.”
Hya’s expression was comical. “Not possible for me to keep a low profile.” But she dropped her voice when she added, “Talk to Sally Baker, woman is a windbag, but she knows every little thing. Phoebe is in Charleston, but she said something else that caught my attention.”
“I’m listening.”
“Her memory ain’t so great but she made the comment that Catherine and Henry once won a vacation. A cruise. They didn’t take it.”
Arissa chewed on her nail. “That’s not so odd.”
“No, but then why the hell did they try for it if they weren’t going to go?”
Arissa glanced around the room before turning back to Hya. “I don’t know.”
“I do.”
That got Arissa’s attention. “Why?”
“Because they gifted the cruise to someone.”
Arissa didn’t hide her confusion. “Who?”
“Phoebe, but she didn’t take the bait,” Hya said. “Tickets were never picked up.”
“So they tried to lure her away with a bribe,” Arissa said disgustedly.
“Looks that way.”
So how the hell had they gotten to her? What did they do that had Phoebe running from Hank? Arissa couldn’t imagine them doing anything to her that would make her run but then with the taste she’d gotten of Catherine, who knew what she was capable of?
As if their conversation conjured him, Arissa’s cell vibrated in her pocket. Reaching for it, it was Hank. Hya gave her a look then said, “Good luck.” She turned, drew in a deep breath and shouted, “You cheat again, Frankie Dee, and you and Bertha are going to get really intimate, you hear me!”
Just seeing his name brought that warmth she knew now was love. And she did love him, enough to let him go, but for now she was his and she had no intention of wasting a single second. “Hey, Sheriff.”
Hank let that sit and warm the coldness he had in his gut all day. “Hey, pretty girl. Whatcha up to?” He tried, tried so hard to be cold toward her but he couldn’t. She was digging into his life behind his back, clear deception, but he fell to his knees every time she looked at him or he heard her voice.
Looking for your ex so she can steal my happily ever after. “The girls and I are at bingo.”
“Come again?”
“Hya was feeling lucky,” Arissa said, turning her focus on Hya who was reaching across the table, her fingers wrapped around an elderly man’s neck. “Though you might be getting a
