“I have a new kind of dahlia.” She smiled proudly while petting Dolly. “An import from Denmark. I’ll have to show it to you after you finish eating.”
“I’d like to see it.”
Adjusting her Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses, Anne sat back, looking cool and comfortable in white linen pants, a peach blouse and leather sandals that were peach and turquoise. A scarf around her neck tied all three colors together. She also wore a white headband to keep her shoulder-length blond hair from her face. Sophia suspected she’d had a facelift last year, but even if she asked, Anne would never admit it. She wanted everyone to believe she was vanquishing the years without help. Either way, with her fingernails and toenails polished the same shade of peach as her blouse, she was a class act, still very attractive at fifty-five.
“How’s work?” she asked.
“Fine.” Sophia didn’t want to get caught up in a discussion of the UDA murders. That could waste an hour or more, and she knew her stepfather would be coming home in forty-five minutes, assuming he kept to the same routine as usual. She didn’t want him to interrupt them, didn’t want her mother censoring what she said to make it more pleasing to Gary’s ears.
“Gary called a little while ago to tell me about Stuart Dunlap,” Anne murmured, lowering her voice. “I’m so sorry. I know he was a friend of yours.”
Not as close a friend as her mother would’ve liked. “I feel terrible for the family.”
“So do I. Those two boys are everything to Edna. I have no idea how she’ll get through this.”
“It won’t be easy.”
“Do you know who did it?”
“Not yet. But I’m working on it.”
“What about those other murders?”
“I’m working on those, too.”
“Are you getting any sleep?” The dog jumped down as Anne leaned forward to smooth the hair out of Sophia’s face, like she used to do when Sophia was a girl. Sophia didn’t bother stopping her. She knew her mother would take it as a subtle form of rejection if she did.
“Enough. There’s been a lot going on lately.”
“No kidding. But please tell me you’re taking time for yourself.”
Obviously, Anne had no clue what a murder investigation involved. “When I can.”
“How’s your love life?” She gave Sophia a conspirator’s grin. “I hear there’s a new man in town. And that he’s gorgeous!”
Sophia rolled her eyes. “Don’t get your hopes up, Mom.”
“I hear you two have been spending a lot of time together.”
The singsong quality of her voice made Sophia scowl. “He doesn’t like me. Not since I shot him with my Taser.”
“You…what?”
“I shocked him. You know, like with a stun gun?”
Her mother rocked back. “No!”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He broke the law and resisted arrest.”
Resting her chin in her hand, Anne sighed. “I’m afraid you’ll never get married.”
“He broke the law!”
“So? I’ve told you and told you—men don’t like women who carry guns and have tattoos and ride motorcycles. That’s intimidating. They prefer soft, frail females who make them feel powerful.”
Like her. Anne fit that stereotype perfectly. “Yeah, well, I’m not pretending to be feeble in order to build some guy’s ego, especially this guy’s. It’s big enough already.”
“Is it?”
Sophia wanted to say yes, but because her mother’s eyes had lit up as if she was eager to hear—and spread—the inside scoop, she couldn’t do it. Rod could be cocky, but she’d figured out that his cockiness was a defense mechanism to cover his vulnerability. If he felt he’d meet with rejection or hostility, he added a swagger to polish up that outer shell, so folks would assume he didn’t really care. But he did care. And when he opened up, he was kind and gentle and funny and sexy and…so many things she liked. “I can’t really say,” she hedged. “I don’t know him that well. I didn’t even when he used to live here.”
Playing dumb seemed the safest route, the easiest way to hide her feelings, but Anne wasn’t about to let the subject go. “He had a rough childhood, Sophia.”
“I know. I lived here, too, Mom. But…” She groped for the right words. But what? The Dunlaps had hurt him deeply. They would’ve destroyed a lesser heart. And yet Rod’s beat strong and true. Or was that only what she wanted to believe?
“And I hear he’s got money now.” She slipped that in before Sophia could go on. And there it was. The reason for her mother’s sudden interest in the Dunlap bastard.
“Maybe that’s true. Maybe it’s not,” she said. “It’s none of my business. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about Rod Guerrero, okay?” She was having a hard enough time putting him out of her head. He’d wanted to stay the night again. And, heaven help her, she was tempted to call him up and let him do it.
“Are you dating anyone else?” her mother asked.
“Not right now.” Finished with the food she’d eaten only to make Anne feel she was doing a good job of being a mother, Sophia pushed her plate away. “Hey, I saw that article in the paper about Gary. That was pretty nice, huh?”
Her mother seemed surprised by her choice of topic but was pleased enough not to question it. “Very nice.”
“So his store’s doing well?”
“Better than ever.”
“Who would’ve thought there’d be so much money in feed?”
“The rentals help, too.”
“Still, the guy before him couldn’t make it,” she mused.
“The guy before him wasn’t as smart as he is.”
“Right.” Sophia took a sip of the iced tea she’d brought out with her food. “He must be putting in a lot of long hours, though, huh?”
“Too many,” her mother agreed.
“But he spends his evenings with you, doesn’t he?”
Anne waved a dismissive hand. “Sometimes. But even then he’s up till all hours.”
“Doing what?” Sophia settled back in her seat to make the conversation seem more casual.
“Who knows? He’s always on his laptop. He started trading stocks a few years ago and has gotten more and more involved in it. I’m sure that’s what he’s doing a lot of the time.”