“How could you do that?” Julia faced her mom, who was calmly brewing herself a cup of her special blend herbal tea in Julia’s kitchen.
“How could I do what?”
“Talk to Tyler that way.”
“What way is that? I have no idea what you’re so upset about, but it isn’t good for your auric field to express such anxiety.”
Julia had plenty to be anxious about. First, she’d had to stash her junk food in a locked armoire in her bedroom. She’d also put her breakables there, away from little Toni’s inquisitive hands. She’d even installed child-proof latches onto the kitchen cabinets and drawers. Did anyone else think of that? No. Of course not. Apparently she was the only one with nightmares of Toni downing a bottle of Drano or yanking a knife out of the drawer.
“Here, try a celery root cookie. I baked them this afternoon.”
“No, thanks. Look, Angel, just don’t go offering any other men a massage.”
“Why not? I’ve got the touch.”
“I know you do. But stick to yoga lessons, okay?”
Angel frowned. “You really think Tyler would be interested in taking yoga lessons?”
Julia ignored the question. “He said you asked him to do some kind of project. What project?”
“I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“I hate surprises.”
“You didn’t always.”
Julia sighed. “Yes, I pretty much always did.”
“Really? I never noticed that.”
“I know. Now about that project . . .”
“I wanted Tyler to fix your leaky bathtub faucet.”
“Oh.” Now Julia felt guilty for giving Angel a hard time.
“I wanted to do something to help you, and I know that drip drip drip noise bothers you, so I thought I’d do something to remedy to situation. Not that I’d attempt such a thing on my own, not after the last incident.”
“Which one? The one where you nearly set the rental house on fire when you tried to restart the pilot light on the old stove?”
“No, the one where I flooded the kitchen that time. Where were we when that happened? Was it Washington state or Oregon?”
Before Julia could answer, there was a knock on the back door. It was Tyler. “This a good time?”
“Any time is a good time if you make it so,” Angel answered. “Come on in. Can I offer you some tea?”
Tyler shook his head. “Just show me the leaky faucet.”
“It’s right this way.”
Noting the way her mother’s face lit up when she saw Tyler, Julia’s heart sank. She’d seen that look many, many, many times before. Each time her mom took some social misfit under her wing and into her heart. Most recently it had been Aiden, the poet who wanted to write Celtic rap.
He’d mooched off Angel for six months before taking off. That’s what they all did in the end. Take off.
Julia had no reason to believe Tyler wouldn’t do the same thing. She wanted to warn her mother, but knew there was no point. Angel never listened to her advice anyway. “As most of you know, this Friday is the big game between Rock Creek and Serenity Falls High.” Library director Frasier McGrady paused to study the staff members in the meeting room with him. “The rivalry between the two towns makes the Capulet and Montague feud seem like a petty upset. Of course, our library is far better in every possible way than Rock Creek’s. So is our football team. Which is why I want all the staff members to wear their go TIGERS buttons this week. Any questions? Comments?”
Alice raised her hand. “No one has mentioned the issue of one of our staff members appearing on the local news in a sensationalized story about the animals in her backyard.”
Frasier nodded as he closed the folder he’d been consulting for their meeting. “That’s correct.”
Alice sniffed her disapproval. “Well, I think it reflects badly on all of us when one of us behaves in such an unprofessional way. It’s bound to have offended a number of our patrons as well.”
Frasier frowned. “Has anyone said anything to you?”
“They don’t have to. I can tell by the way they’re looking that they’re uncomfortable.”
Julia wished she had a Pop-Tart handy to toss at her. The reason patrons were uncomfortable was because Alice was such a pain in the butt.
Ever the peacemaker, Frasier said, “Yes, well I’m sure that now that things have settled down, we won’t have to worry about a repeat performance. Right, Julia?”
“Right.”
Long note to self: Why did you let her talk about you that way? Why didn’t you defend yourself? Why didn’t you cut her off at the knees and take her down like a defensive lineman from the Serenity Falls Tigers? Why did you just sit there and take it?
Where was her backbone? Her Carmen Diaz kick-butt persona? The one that had put Billy in his place when he’d tried to swallow the library director’s koi? Where had Alice been then, huh? Not out there on the front lines, that’s for sure.
Julia spent the rest of the morning as disgusted with her own lack of spunk as with Alice’s cheap shots.
At lunch in the staff room, Julia discussed the incident with Patty Miller, head of circulation, and Laurie Wachowski, the part-time children’s librarian. Patty was in her forties and had super-short red hair and an outgoing personality. Laurie was in her mid-thirties and wore her long brown hair loose around her shoulders almost as a shield to protect her from the world. But she was fantastic with kids. The three of them sat around a square table squeezed in between the sink, the fridge, and the side counter housing an old coffee maker and microwave.
“Alice seems to be going out of her way to make your life difficult,” Patty noted in between bites of salad.
“That’s my family’s job,” Julia said.
Patty shook her head. “I can’t believe the way she picked on you like that.”
Julia still couldn’t believe she hadn’t defended herself. This after having had boxing lessons from a hottie like Luke.
“The town council desperately wants Serenity Falls to be chosen as one of America’s Best Small Towns,” Patty continued. “I think Alice is feeling the pressure, because Frasier made her liaison on that project. That’s why we have to wear these buttons. Because she heard that the judging committee has ten points on which they select their top towns. One of them is the high school test, because they consider it to be the heart and soul of a small town.”
“I would have thought Edith would have the high school situation totally under control,” Julia noted. “I mean she’s taught there since the dawn of time, and she’s on the town council.”
“You know how Alice is.”
“Anal.”
Patty nodded. “Enough said.”
“I thought the library was the heart and soul of a town.”
“Not the week of the Serenity Falls/Rock Creek game,” Laurie said.
“Not any time during football season, actually,” Patty added.
“So does the judging committee look at the library at all?” Julia asked.
Patty nodded. “Of course, it does.”
“So high school and library. What are the other eight points?” Laurie wondered.
“No one knows for sure,” Patty admitted. “I think the downtown area is something else that’s judged.”
“I heard a rumor that there was even a local restaurant test,” Laurie added.
“In which case Maguire’s would win, hands down. Have you tasted Adele’s sweet potato fries?” Patty made a dreamy face, one she usually reserved for chocolate. “They’re to die for. And have you heard that they’re on the new menu permanently now? Before she only had them occasionally.”
“I heard that was Luke’s doing,” Laurie said. “His dad would never approve of changing the menu one iota. But Luke liked the change.”
Julia made no comment, keeping her attention on her carton of cherry yogurt. Hey, she could eat healthy when she wanted to.
“I hear he’s hired Tyler to do some kind of painting work for him,” Laurie added.
“The members of the town council aren’t happy that he didn’t tell them what color he plans on using,” Patty stated. “You know how they are about that kind of thing.”
Julia nodded, but her attention was actually focused on how incredibly good Luke had looked in front of that punching bag, muscles glistening with sweat. No,
glistening
sounded too girly somehow. He’d been the picture of male power.
So why didn’t she have female power? Why had she wimped out with Alice?
“I hear Walt described it as bordello red,” Laurie said.
“It certainly is a bright color,” Patty agreed. “What do you think, Julia?”
“That I was a failure at defending myself earlier. It’s not as if I wanted those llamas in my backyard to begin with. And it’s not like I’m the one who called in the media. Sue Ellen did that. I should have said as much to Alice. Put her in her place.”
“She’s Walt’s sister-in-law,” Patty reminded her. “I don’t think there’s anything you could have said that would really make an impression. She knows that with her family connections there’s no way she’d ever lose her job here.”
“There’s one bad apple in every batch,” Laurie said.
“On a happier note, the new Jayne Ann Krentz hard-cover is in now.” Patty adored romance fiction and was an expert at steering patrons to the best authors and books.
“I know. I read it already,” Julia said with a grin as she licked the last bit of yogurt from her plastic spoon.
“How did you manage that?” Patty demanded.
“I have connections in tech services.” Andrea the cataloger had let her have the book overnight the other day. “I also bribed her with chocolate.”
“No fair!” Patty lobbed a crumpled paper napkin at her.
At which point Alice walked in. “Food fights are not allowed in the staff room,” she stated with disapproval.
Julia barely managed to keep a straight face at the Alice impersonation that Laurie was doing behind the open door to the fridge as she replaced the jug of lemonade she’d brought with her from home. Laurie was big on citrus.
“Whew, that was close,” Patty noted as Alice departed as quickly as she’d arrived.
Laurie had the final word. “Let’s just hope that Serenity Falls wins this football game on Friday, or everyone will be in as bad a mood as Alice.”
Serenity Falls did win the game against Rock Creek Friday night, which had to go into overtime. But Julia was more interested in the Wiener Dog Races the next day, the first Saturday in November.
Once again the town square was decorated, this time with banners of dachshunds hanging from the iron lamp posts. The race route was a straight line from the front steps of the gazebo to the park bench at the north edge of the park. Well-wishers lined the short route, waving handmade signs proclaiming “Our Frank Is a Wiener!” or “Go Oscar, Be a Winning Wiener” or “Our Wiener Is a Hot Dog!”
The smell of steaming hot dogs and grilled bratwurst filled the air. Bavarian-style pretzels dotted with salt were also available. That’s what Julia was here for. The food. Not the canines, despite the fact that her friend Pam had her puppy Rosebud entered in the Little Smokies category for dogs under a year old.
The emcee of the event was Walt’s youngest brother, Phil the dentist. Julia had only recently noticed that most people in town were known by their first name and profession. Walt the mayor. Ethel the teacher. Pam the flower girl, even though she was nearing thirty and was no longer a girl. But the fact that she’d opened a flower shop within the nursery made her Pam the flower girl. She’d gained a reputation for her gorgeous floral wedding displays.
Always a flower girl, never a bride, Pam liked to say.
“Is this thing on?” Phil tapped the microphone before beginning. “Welcome everyone to the tenth annual Wiener Run. We’ve got to be
frank
with you, we’ve got an exciting series of races lined up today! We’ll kick off with the Senior Sausages event. You might think these dogs would be waddling like the wind, but they really know how to pour on the mustard.” Phil was one of those guys who liked cracking himself up. “Our judges this year are the town council members. The rules are the same as always. First dog that
dashes
across the finish line wins.”
“Everything in this town is the same as always. Or it was until I met you and your family,” Luke noted as he joined her.
When Julia made no comment, he said, “Aren’t you going to ask me what I’m doing here?”
She shook her head. “I saw the booth selling Adele’s sweet potato fries.”
“Her idea,” he said.
“You should give her a raise.”
He was wearing jeans, a denim shirt, and his perennial leather jacket—and he looked too good to be real.
The last time she’d seen him, she’d been protecting her mother’s reputation. Or trying to.
She’d gone right behind the bar and confronted him. Been so close she could see his dark eyelashes. She stole a quick sideways look. That Black Irish thing he had going on was still a weakness of hers.
Brooding, complicated, secretive. None of these were good adjectives to apply to a guy who turned your knees to mush.
Julia made a serious effort to ignore him and to concentrate on the event.
The first race went well, with Mabel’s dog Tubbie taking the honors.
“These dogs are on a roll today!” Phil cheerfully proclaimed from the podium. “Let’s give them a round of applause as they step into the wiener’s . . . I mean the
winner’s
circle.”
“That Phil, he’s just a laugh a minute,” Luke mocked.
“He’s having fun.”
“Look at the buns on that dog,” Phil said with a belly laugh.
Mabel was not amused at the insult to her beloved Tubbie.
The look on her face had Phil hurriedly backing away. “Let’s move on to the next event. The Little Smokies.”
“Go Rosebud!” Julia shouted with a wave at Pam. Even if she did come for the food, she should still show support for her friend and her puppy.