He held the flat of flowers under one arm and put his other around her waist. “Where do you want these? I’m hungry.”
Now that he had his arm around her, he was really hungry.
Down, boy.
“It’s not hot today. They can go in the shed, and then I can plant them tomorrow. Seriously, Law, thank you for such a thoughtful gift.” She stopped walking, put her hand on his chest, and stood on her tiptoes so that she could place a kiss on his jaw.
“How about a real kiss?” he suggested.
He watched as she turned around and looked over at the neighbor’s yard. He’d already seen Hiram Applegate watching them with interest. Law could care less if they gave him an eyeful, and since he’d met him the last time he was here, he didn’t think the older man would do anything but chuckle.
Jill blushed once again. “We can’t. Mr. Applegate will see us.” She tugged Law’s hand to take him around to the back of the house where the shed was.
“Hi, Lawson,” Hiram called out as they got closer to his lawn.
“Hello, Hiram. Nice day to be working in the yard.”
“I don’t know, I think it will be nicer once Edith has that pie out of the oven.” He winked at Jill. Law didn’t look at her, but he would bet his last dollar that her cheeks were heating up again.
“Law, I haven’t asked you, do you have any plans for Labor Day? There’s going to be a festival at Founder’s park here in our community. They should have a lot of food trucks from the local restaurants.”
“That sounds—” Law started to answer.
“Jill, are you still going on about that? I told you, something was fishy about that guy who came around. You reported him, didn’t you? I checked into it, there are no Labor Day festivities going on here. the homeowners association said it would compete with what’s going on down at Laguna Beach.”
“Hiram, what are you talking about?” Law didn’t like the sound of this at all.
“Some man came to Jill’s door.”
“Mr. Applegate, I can tell the story.”
“Can you? You weren’t suspicious and it sounds like you didn’t bother to get this checked out or go to the guards at the gate like I told you to.”
Jill stiffened. There wasn’t any blush on her cheeks now. As a matter of fact, Law thought he might see steam coming out of her ears.
“Mr. Applegate,” she started to get testy. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
“What are you talking about, not being a big deal?” It was clear that the older man was agitated. “Jill, that man was casing your house. He might have been targeting you. This is something that you need to take seriously. Lawson, did she tell you about this?”
“Let’s just take a breath,” Law said with an easy grin. He knew that Jill would regret getting upset with her neighbor, and what’s more, he wanted to get more details. “Jill, was this something that you were worried about?”
Jill had moved away from him during the conversation and was now standing between the two men. “No, not at the time.” Law could tell she was upset and frustrated. If he had to guess, it was mostly at herself.
Hiram opened his mouth to say something, but Law gave him a sharp look and the older gentleman settled.
Good.
“Jill, whoever came to your door was probably used to setting people at ease. Tell me what he said. What was his approach?”
She looked upwards, gathering her thoughts, then she looked back at Law. “He said he was with the homeowner’s association and that he was trying to get a headcount from everyone for the upcoming Labor Day festival.”
“Okay, what did you tell him?”
“I told him that I might have someone going with me, because even back then I thought about asking you.” He liked her shy smile.
“Was there anything else that you noticed about him?”
“What struck me at the time was that he didn’t seem well-organized. Then there was the fact that at the end of the conversation he left abruptly.” Her eyes narrowed. “Actually, he was pretty rude. I remember thinking at the time that the HOA needed to find people with better people skills.”
“And that didn’t set off your bullshit meter?” Law asked.
“I had to take work home that day and I ended up working past midnight. So no, it didn’t.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“Did you tell Lawson about your home security alarm being tripped last week when you were in Santa Barbara for the night?” Hiram asked Jill pointedly.
What?!
Law looked at Jill. She was ready to let go of both barrels on Hiram. The man was going to be drinking Edith’s pie through a straw.
“Jill, let’s get these flowers to the shed, then you can feed me.” Law smiled. He put his arm around her waist. “Good-bye Hiram, it was good talking to you.”
Thank God she let him guide her away. He’d wondered if she would.
Once they were around to the back of the house she stepped out from his reach. “So, are you going to start questioning my judgment like Mr. Applegate was?” Jill demanded.
“It’s not a matter of questioning your judgment, Jill, it’s a matter of everyone’s area of expertise,” Law said as he opened up the door to the shed.
“Meaning?”
“If there was a medical issue, I would stand back and let you handle it. If you told me to jump in that situation, I would ask how high. Does that make sense?”
“I’m fine with what you’re saying so far, as long as you’re not going to say I have to jump regarding this guy who came to my door.”
Law set down the flat of
