Hannah’s lips quirked. “Our gunfighters are actors. They don’t really shoot at one another.”
Maude’s smile slipped. “Well, that’s disappointing. What about horses? I totally want to ride a horse.”
“Well ... I’m certain we can make that happen,” Hannah said after a beat. “Um ... .” She looked to Maddie for help, but the other blonde was spitting mad. “May I ask what propelled you to come here? It’s not that we’re not excited to see you or anything,” she added hurriedly. “I was thrilled with the conversation you held with Maddie earlier. I thought it was hilarious.”
“Yes, we should have our own sitcom,” Maude agreed. “I would be the headliner and she would be the sidekick. Nick here would be the comic relief.” She jerked her thumb in his direction. “In fact, he could be the Rosco P. Coltrane of our show.”
Nick’s mouth dropped open. “I am not Rosco.”
“Who is Rosco?” Alicia queried, confused.
“It’s from an old show,” Hannah volunteered.
“The best show ever,” Cooper enthused. “I was infatuated with that show when I was a kid. I wanted to be Bo Duke so bad.”
“I’m Bo Duke,” Nick countered irritably. “You can be Luke. He’s smarter anyway.”
“Yes, but Bo is more handsome. I’m clearly the best-looking one here.”
Nick snorted. “In your dreams.”
“Hey!” Maddie snapped her fingers in front of Nick’s face to get his attention. “We’re talking about me right now, not the Dukes of Hazzard. Pay attention.”
Nick snickered at her dominant reaction. “I’m sorry, Mad. This is your show.”
“Yes, it is.” She pinned her grandmother with a serious expression. “Granny, I have one question for you. If you lie to me, I’m going to be mad forever.” She retrieved the tablet from Cooper and held it up so Maude could see the website clearly. “Did you do this?”
Rather than react with embarrassment, Maude beamed. “Oh, you found it. I wondered if you ever would. What do you think? I’m behind on the updates. I was considering updating with a fantastical story about your wedding, but I haven’t had a chance to Photoshop anything yet.”
Maddie was officially furious. “I’m going to kill you.”
“So ... does that mean you don’t like it?”
It took everything Hannah had not to burst out laughing. Even though she’d just met the older woman, she absolutely loved Maude. Of course, Maude wasn’t her grandmother, and there was no doubt Maude was a pain in the rear end for those closest to her.
“Not that I’m not enjoying this conversation, but we really should discuss the seance,” Hannah pressed, focusing on Alicia. “I know you don’t think it’s a good idea, but I happen to believe it is. We’ll close the town to outsiders so nobody but us will be involved. I bet you’ll find that the others will be thrilled to participate.”
Alicia didn’t look convinced. “Maybe we should ask them first.”
“Absolutely.” Hannah had no doubt how the vote would go and was already on her feet, moving toward the door with Alicia practically snapping at her heels. “Why don’t you guys get Maude settled — make sure she gets her drink — and I’ll be back in a few minutes. Then we’ll make our plans for tonight.”
“You sound awfully sure of yourself,” Alicia chided. “How do you know the vote will go your way?”
“Let’s just call it intuition.”
Maddie managed to maintain control of her temper until Alicia and Hannah slipped through the swinging doors. Then her wrath could not be contained. “I can’t believe you came here, Granny.” She was close to exploding, even though she knew it wouldn’t matter. Her grandmother didn’t care about angering people. In fact, she fed off attention, even if it was negative.
“More importantly, you didn’t tell us you planned on traveling,” Nick chided. “What would’ve happened if you got ... confused? What if you would’ve gotten on the wrong plane or landed in a strange city and gotten lost? We wouldn’t even have known where to look for you.”
“Oh, good grief.” Maude’s eye roll was theatrical. “You two sure know how to suck the fun out of a trip. I planned to tell you when I got here. Oh, and look, that totally worked out.” She beamed at Cooper as he delivered a drink to her. “Personally, I think this is your retribution for going on a vacation without me anyway.”
“I can’t even.” Maddie slapped her hand to her forehead and stared at the table.
Nick gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze and focused on Maude. “We need to talk about the forum. You can’t keep that up.”
“Why not?” Maude turned petulant. “Nobody knows it’s Maddie. I made sure not to mention her name.”
“And yet people have figured it out,” Nick argued pragmatically. “That woman who was just in here, Alicia, she figured it out. That’s how we found out about it in the first place.”
“Then she needs a good kick in the pants,” Maude replied. “What do you want? It’s not a big deal.”
“Fine.” Nick was a master at picking his battles and he held his hands up now to cede the initial fight. “We’ll talk about the website later. We need to talk about why you’re here.”
“I already told you,” Maude said. “I’m here because I’ve always wanted to visit an Old West town.”
She was a masterful liar, but Nick didn’t believe her. “Why really?”
Maude worked her jaw as her gaze bounced between Nick and Maddie. “Maybe ... maybe I felt like I should be here,” she said finally. “When I talked to Maddie earlier, she seemed upset. She tried to cover, but I know her. She needs me, so that’s why I’m here.”
For some reason, the words caused the leading edge of Maddie’s frustration to dull. This time when she focused on her grandmother, she felt nothing but love ... although agitation lurked beneath the surface.
“That’s very sweet, Granny,” she said after a beat. “This is a dangerous situation, though. We’re
