“The shock was deliberate?” Kathleen looked startled.
I shook my head. “Maybe. It’s a theory.”
“Someone would have to be very angry to electrocute another person.” Kathleen’s eyes were wide. “I heard that there were some hard feelings, but sending volts of electricity through someone is pretty extreme.”
I had to agree. “Was Tulla seeing anyone?”
Kathleen shrugged. “I honestly don’t keep up with the activities of Tulla’s social circle. I hear things occasionally, but I’m a newcomer to town.” She rolled her eyes. “You have to have lived here before the Civil War to be considered a real resident.”
“So Tulla and her friends are considered … outsiders?”
Kathleen laughed. “They’re making inroads because they have money. Maybe my grandchildren will be invited to the high society events. If we had lots of money, we could get there sooner.” She walked over and linked her arm through Darla’s. “But better than consorting with that crowd, you could have a really good friend who’s way more fun than boring high society.”
“We like our life working here in the Bissonette House,” Darla said. “We live a pretty quiet life. Tulla and that group have stirred up hard feelings, and that never has a happy ending, so we stay clear.”
A little warning bell in the back of my brain went off, but I was not working. I was not on a case. And I was not going to get dragged into a domestic during my holiday. Every law officer on the planet knew that a domestic was the most dangerous call to get. I smiled brightly. “The town is lovely. The decorations are perfection, and I hear there’s a tree lighting tomorrow night at the Riverwalk. We’re going to attend, and I hope to find some time to at least do a little walking along the river.”
“A perfect plan. Now let me check on the food.” Darla excused herself and Kathleen followed.
Coleman put his arm around me and gave me a squeeze. “We all need to burn off some calories. Let’s plan a walk tomorrow along the river. Just the two of us.”
I leaned into him and whispered, “Let’s plan some activities tonight.”
“Eat fast,” he said. “Santa may come for a visit.”
When we all sat down to eat, the meal was delicious. Darla had a light touch with the food and the pasta with butternut squash sauce was incredible. Filling but not too heavy. The salad was crisp and tangy. We finished with lemon squares—one of my favorite desserts—but I gave mine to Harold.
“Darla is going to give us a tour of the moon garden,” Harold said. “Are you two coming?”
He knew better, and he was just deviling us. “I’m exhausted. I’m practically asleep on my feet.”
“I’ll bet,” he said. “See you in the morning.”
The group headed out, and Coleman and I were finally alone. It didn’t take me any time to walk into his arms for the kiss I’d been waiting for all day. I’d met my share of really good kissers, but Coleman was at the top of the league. He was never rushed, always tantalizing, and he hinted at the pleasures to come. With Coleman, the kiss was an end unto itself, not a means to something else. He was a master at building desire.
When I thought my pants would catch fire, he swooped me up in a Rhett Butler moment and carried me up the stairs to our bedroom. Somehow he’d made arrangements with someone—Darla or Kathleen, most likely—to light candles all over the room. They burned on the mantel and on the dresser, beside the bed, on the windowsills, and in the bathroom. A fire burned cheerily in the fireplace, and when Coleman put me on the bed and unbuttoned my blouse, the chill bumps weren’t from the cold.
“Are you glad we came on vacation?” I asked.
“Yep.” His finger grazed lightly down my skin from my neck to my navel. “Are you?”
“Very.” I pulled him to me for another kiss. When we broke apart, I stared up into his eyes. I’d known him forever and loved him for that long. It had just taken both of us awhile to find our way to each other. “I love you.”
“I love you back.” He smiled. “We’re lucky, Sarah Booth. We are. We’re lucky in the way we love each other, but we’re lucky in our friends, in our circumstances, in this special moment of our life.”
There were times both of us might have been killed in our work, but we’d managed to escape death, though we both had a few scars to show for our experiences. “We are lucky. And smart to see how lucky we are.”
He kissed my lips and then trailed down my body. “And now it’s time to stop talking, unless you want to tell me again how lucky you are.”
“Shut up and show me how you love me.”
He pulled the comforter over both of us as we laughed like teenagers.
4
Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap.
I dove under the pillow until Coleman’s fingers found my ribs and gently began to tickle me. “Stop it!”
“She’s your partner. You open the door.”
“Oh-h-h-h.” I climbed out of bed and threw on a robe before I opened the door to Tinkie. She held a tray with a pot of coffee and three cups. Obviously, she had plans to “stay awhile,” as the old saying went.
“Tinkie, Coleman isn’t even up.”
“Well, he should be.” She sidestepped around me. “I did leave you until the last.”
“You’ve been to every other room and annoyed everyone else out of their sleep?”
“Yep, and no apologies. It’s time to get up and get going.”
I thought back through the itinerary I’d seen and I couldn’t remember anything that was pressing this morning. “What do we have to do?”
“Shopping!”
I sighed. “No shopping. I shopped yesterday. I’ve had a bait of shopping.”
“The girls are going shopping and the guys have some kind of secret mission.”
My ears perked up at “secret mission”—especially since it
