Lean on Me (The Mackay Sisters) (20 page)

“Percy!  Really, your language!” 
Then Mrs Hubble spoiled her outraged look by giving a giggle.

“Don’t encourage him,” Mrs Swanson
told her.  “It only makes him worse.”

“Thanks for the rose,” Lori called
after them, waving as they all glance fleetingly back and smiled before Old Man
Parker resumed ushering the women across the road.

Mrs Hubble’s door shut behind them
and Lori grinned.  No doubt it would be tea, cupcakes and dissection of
Harriet’s presence in the town.

Feeling a lot better, she went
back into the house and through to the garden, setting the pot beside Minx’s
grave.  Yes, the white rose was a good choice for her fur-baby.  Sweet, gentle,
and peaceful.

Tears stung her eyes again, but
this time she was able to smile through them.

~*~

Lori dreaded telling Ali about
Minx, but Saturday evening rolled around and she came home.  It didn’t take her
long to realise that Minx wasn’t there, and it was a good half hour before Ali
was finally able to talk without crying.

Unwillingly, Ghost left Ali to
sleep in her own room but knowing her so well, he simply kissed her on the
forehead, hugged her, hugged Lori, and left quietly without arguing, but anyone
with half an eye could see that he wanted to drag Ali home with him, to coddle
and soothe her.

Out of politeness, Matt steered
clear of the Mackay house, telling Lori that he felt it was best for the
sisters to be alone for the night.  There was no doubt in Lori’s mind that he’d
have been more than happy for her to insist he stay, but she did want time
alone with Ali.

Regardless of everyone’s best
intentions, Minx had been their cat for years and had been with them through
their parents’ and grandmother’s deaths, and they’d shared confidences to the
little ginger cat that they couldn’t possibly tell anyone else throughout their
teenage years.

To say they’d lost a member of
their family was so true.

Sitting on the back veranda, they
watched the sun set and finally disappear, talking quietly about Minx, their
parents and their grandmother.  It was a sad time, but it was a time of
closeness for the sisters, and when they finally went their separate ways to
bed both were able to smile and hug each other without Ali bursting into tears.

Sunday morning Lori was woken by
the sound of Ali in the kitchen.  Going out, she met Ali’s sad smile with one of
understanding.

“Come on,” she said.  “Let’s go
have breakfast at the café.”

Ali glanced around before finally
nodding.  “Good plan.”

After showering and dressing, they
locked the house and walked through the small town until they came to the
café.  Entering, they nodded to Tommy and crossed to a far booth.  Sitting
opposite each other, they both studied the menus.

Tommy walked over and stopped by
the table.  “What’ll it be?”

“Charming,” Ali said.

“Amiable this morning, aren’t
you?” Lori asked without looking up.

Tommy grunted.

Lifting her gaze from the menu,
Lori caught Ali studying her with raised eyebrows.  It struck her suddenly. 
Ali knew a lot of the town’s secrets, many people confided in her, knowing she
never gossiped.  And Ali knew Tommy’s, Lori always suspected that, some secret
that was no longer a secret to Lori.

Or was it?  Lips pursed, she
dropped her gaze back to the menu.  Maybe it was a different secret that Tommy
had, not the same as he’d told Lori.  Or sort of told her, though she now knew
what it was regardless thanks to Harriet’s visit.

“Decided yet?” Tommy asked.

Lori glanced up at him and raised
one brow.

He looked directly at her as
though daring her to say something apart from the order. 

“Your attitude needs some fine
tuning,” she told him.

With another grunt, he tapped his
pen on the notepad.

Not happening, obviously, surly
bastard.

She snapped the menu closed. 
“I’ll have the cheese and bacon omelette, a slice of toast and a cup of tea,
please.”

Tommy scribbled the order and
looked at Ali.  It wasn’t hard to see the annoyance simmering in his eyes.

Ali smiled at him.  “Same.”

Swinging on his heel, he walked back
to the kitchen, beginning to bark out the order to the cook, which happened to
be his own mother.

Even with the door shut, her voice
was clearly heard.  “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.”

“Then don’t use that tone with me,
son.”

“What tone?”

“The one I’m about five seconds
from beating out of you.”

There was silence for several
seconds before Tommy’s voice replied, a lot more subdued, “Two orders of
omelette, toast and tea.  Please.”

“That’s more like it.  And you
better work on your attitude, Tommy, or you can find yourself another cook.”

“Sorry.”

“Oh, that sounded sincere.”

Lori and Ali watched as Tommy came
out of the kitchen.  He took one look at them, glanced around the deserted
café, and then crossed over to their table.

Unceremoniously shoving Ali along
the bench seat, he sat down beside her.  “This is doing my head in.”

“I guess so,” Lori replied
carefully.

“I don’t understand women!” 
Thrusting one hand through his hair, he glared at her.

“They don’t exactly understand
men.”

“She’s driving me insane!”

“Your mother?” Ali asked just as
carefully.

“No!  Harriet!”  Flopping back
against the backrest of the bench, he stared up at the ceiling.  “I’m so
tired.  I am so bloody tired!”

“And horny?” Ali suggested, only
to catch Lori’s horrified gaze and shrug.  “Hey, it’s obvious who and what he’s
talking about.”

“I’m not horny,” Tommy denied
before Lori could answer.  “I get enough sex.”

“Whoa.”  Lori held up one hand. 
“I’m all about sharing and caring, Tommy, but-”

“How the hell can I make Harriet
see reason?” He rubbed his eyes.  “This sneaking around-”

The doorbell sounding cut him off
and he leaped to his feet as though stuck with a pin.  “Later,” he said to the
sisters and practically stormed off to meet the hapless customer who was
watching his approach warily.

Ali studied Lori.  “So you know.”

“Yep.”  Lori traced a finger on
the table top.  “A few things have happened while you’ve been gone.”

“Really?”  Intrigued, Ali settled
back, stretching out her legs to rest her heels on Lori’s bench seat.  “Do
tell.”

“Well, as you undoubtedly know
now, Tommy had a chat with me.”

Ali nodded.

“And so did Harriet.”

“Wow?  You met her?”

“Twice.”  Lori hesitated.  “The
first time was a bit volatile.”

Ali’s eyebrows rose.

“She thought Tommy and I were
having an affair.”

Ali grinned.

“Then he talked to her and she
came around to apologise and talk.”

“So you know more than I do.”

“Not really.  It’s exactly the
same as Tommy said it was, only with a bit more detail.”

“What a shame.”  Thoughtfully, Ali
twirled a long curl around her finger.  “They need to sort something out or he’s
going to crack.”

“You think he’ll break it off?”

“Hell, yeah.  No one is going to
sneak around forever.  But he’ll probably do something dumb.”

“So what can be done about it?”

Ali pulled her finger out of the
curl, which bobbed enchantingly around her cheek.  “I’m not interfering.”

“Neither am I.  I’m just asking.”

“Someone needs to talk sense into
Harriet.”

Lori cast her a wry look.  “Oh
yes, because acting sensibly in this town could swing the opinion either way.”

“Better to be upfront about it
than have bits and pieces come out in gossip.  Now that…” Ali jabbed her finger
in Lori’s direction.  “Is much worse.”

“You think?” Lori rolled her eyes.

“I know.”

That was so true.

Their breakfast arrived and they
started eating.

They were halfway through when the
door chimed again.

“Oh look,” Ali said.  “The blonde
that’s doing Adam’s head in.”

“You noticed.”  Lori watched the
busty blonde walk to the counter.

Pretty, blonde, busty, and with
the figure of an overblown hourglass, she also seemed to have a whole lot of
attitude, going by the few interactions Lori had observed between Adam and her. 
Actually, the blonde’s attitude seemed to be present mostly at the same time as
the local cop.

“Interesting.”  Ali forked up some
omelette without taking her eyes from the blonde.  “Adam’s usually so calm and
collected, yet I’ve seen him drag her out of Mrs Swanson’s restaurant after she
tipped a glass of water onto his lap.”

“You did mention that,” Lori murmured. 
“Wonder what’s going on between them?”

“No idea, and Ghost won’t tell
me.”

Lori shot her sister an
incredulous look.

Disgusted, Ali shook her head. 
“Can you believe it?  He’s such a blabbermouth at times, knows some gossip, but
will he tell me?  No.  And you know why?”

“Because you refuse to spill the
beans about Tommy.”

Ali jabbed the fork in her
direction.  “Exactly!”

“Tit for tat?”

“I showed him a bit of tit and he
still didn’t say a word.”

Lori nearly choked.  “Cripes,
Ali!  I’m your sister, remember?  Eww!”

“No tit for tat.”  Ali ignored
her.

“Tit for tat actually means giving
someone the same kind of thing.”

“He never offered to show me his
wanger for a bit of my secret.”

“Ghost is like my brother!  Please
stop!”

Ali smirked.  “He’s not like a
brother to me.”

“I’m going to gag in a minute

“Hello?”  The blonde called out,
obviously tired of waiting.

Tommy’s mother came out to serve
the blonde, the annoyance clear on her face.  “Where is that boy?  Tommy!”

No answer.

“I swear, he’s doing my head in,”
she muttered.

“Lot of that going around,” Ali
observed.

“It’s a man thing,” Lori said.

The sisters sniggered.

“I’m so sorry.” Tommy’s mother
smiled at the blonde.  “Can I help you?”

“I’d like to put a notice up in
your window, if you don’t mind.”  The blonde handed her a poster which she
studied before nodding.

The doorbell rang again and Lori’s
eyes widened.  “Ali.”

Ali glanced around and her mouth
fell open right before she closed it again with a snap.  “As I live and
breathe.”

Harriet Keller glanced around
nervously, spotted the sisters, smiled weakly and stood to one side, shifting
from foot to foot.

The doorbell rang once more and in
walked Adam Moor.

Tommy chose that moment to come
out of the back room and came to a stop.

The room was dead silent.

“It’s like a stand-off right
before a gun fight,” Ali whispered, awed.

Lori could only agree as she
watched the people.

Tommy glared at Harriet, she
stared at him, the blonde glared at Adam, and Adam’s nostrils flared.

Chapter 8

“Harriet,” Tommy finally said
stiffly.

“Tommy.”

The blonde turned away from Adam
to glance curiously at Harriet and Tommy before switching her attention to
Tommy’s mother.  “The poster?”

“Hmmm?”  Tommy’s mother looked
from her son to the blonde.

“The poster?  Can I put it in your
window?”

“Oh, of course.”  She handed back
the poster.  “Do you have sticky tape?”

The blonde plucked a small roll
from her skirt pocket.  “Absolutely.”

“Then go right ahead, dear.”

“Anywhere in particular?”  The blonde
turned and walked right by Adam without looking at him.

Lori’s mouth fell open when he
reached out and plucked the poster from her, holding it up to read.  His eyes
flashed.

Almost as much as the blonde’s
when she snatched it back off him.  “Do you mind?”

“I’m keeping an eye on you, Barb.”

“Don’t call me Barb,
Mr
Moor.  That’s reserved for friends who deserve it.”

One of his big hands curled into a
fist.

Lori and Ali exchanged looks.

At the same time this was happening,
Tommy said tightly, “I’m surprised you’re able to take a step into here,
Harriet.”

“Tommy, I-”

“I mean, you can’t bear to let
anyone-”

“
Please!
” Harriet stepped
forward.

“Are you ashamed of me?”

“No, of course not.”

Tommy’s mother gaped.

“Then tell me why the hell we
shouldn’t-”

“We’ve talked about this!”

Ali and Lori didn’t know which
couple to look at first.  The accusations and innuendos were flying thick and
fast in the air.

“I’ll damned well call you
anything I want,
Barb
.”

“You’d dare that, wouldn’t you? 
It would just suit your twisted-”

“Don’t you even think of finishing
that sentence!”

“Why don’t we just stop this now,
Harriet?”

“I don’t want to!”

“You don’t want a lot of things
that I want, so how do you explain that?”

“Don’t be absorbed, we both want-”

“Is that so?  Because I’m getting
confused here.”

“You trying to tell me what to do,
Moor?”

“You so need taking in hand-”

“Just try it!”

The air was thunderous with fury
as the two couples faced off, the only difference being that Harriet was crying
with temper while Barb, the blonde, was red-faced and practically nose-to-nose
with Adam, who was leaning down to her height.

“Whoa, whoa!”  Lori leaped out of
her seat, Ali rushing after her.

Without thought Lori shoved
herself between Adam and Barb, while Ali flung herself between Tommy and
Harriet.

Bracing one hand on Adam’s chest
and the other on Barb’s, Lori held them apart.  “People, settle down!”

“Mind your business!” Barb spat.

“This is nothing to do with you,”
Adam snarled at Lori.

“Oh really?” She flared.  “You
made it my business when you started brawling in a public place!”

“Where we were trying to have a
peaceful breaky, in fact,” Ali informed Harriet.  “I’m Ali, by the way.  We
haven’t met, though you had a chat with my sister, Lori.  How do you do?”

“Ali!” Lori glared at her.  Now
was not the time for introductions.

“Cripes, we’re not going to start
now, are we?”  Ali turned back to Tommy.  “Look, this isn’t making things any
better.  Go out back.”

“This is my café, Mackay.”  He
looked over her head at Harriet.  “I’m not the one ashamed of me.”

“Don’t put words into my mouth!”
Harriet snapped.

“Back off, Lori.” Adam made to pull
her out of the way, his hold firm but careful.

“Oh, that’s right.” Barb sneered. 
“Can’t be the gentleman all the time, can you?”

Within seconds squabbling broke
out again, louder than before, and Lori looked at Ali. How the hell were they
going to stop what looked to be an all-out brawl any second?

Ali shook her head and held up her
hands in a gesture of
now what
?

The angry voices were jarring, to
say the least.  Everyone was furious and no one was listening, which left only
one thing for an increasingly annoyed Lori to do, and that was scream out,
“Shut
up!  Everyone shut the hell up!”

The shocked silence was almost deafening
after the uproar of seconds ago.

“Whoa,” Ali said admiringly and
gave her the thumbs up. “Nice one, sis.”

“The only way to reach the
rabble,” Lori retorted.  “Now listen up, you lot.  I don’t give a rat’s arse
what you argue about, but at least have the common decency to remember where you
are.  Public places are not for airing your dirty linen, got it?  Now back off,
take a deep breath and for God’s sake, go home!”

The silence was now more subdued
and the two couples mumbled and shuffled their feet.

“Um…this is my café.” Tommy cleared
his throat.

“Yeah?” Lori retorted.  “Then you
better start running it like one, Tommy, because the rate you’re going, you’re
going to be out of customers.  Sort yourselves out, people.  Geez!”  She glared
around at them all.

Even Adam couldn’t meet her gaze,
but when Barb shuffled past and proceeded to stick the poster up in the window,
he started to say something, only to have Lori stick her finger under his nose
and growl, “Is it a nice thing to say?”

“No,” he growled back.

“Then zip it.”

His jaw clenched right before he
whirled around and stalked out, his long legs making short work of the
distance.  The door shook under the slam.

Harriet gave a cough, wiped her
eyes and left, hurrying out to the car and getting in, driving away quickly.

That left Tommy, who took one look
at his gaping mother and fled.

Tommy’s mother looked at Lori and
Ali, her mouth opening.

“Don’t bother,” Lori said.  “We
know nothing.”

Ali crossed back to the table and
slid into the booth, Lori following.

“Seriously?”  Lori watched her
sister resume eating.  “You can still eat?”

“I paid for this,” Ali replied around
a mouthful of toast.  “It’s a public café.”

After a second’s thought, Lori
picked up her fork.  “I get it.  It’s the principle of the thing, right?”

“Abso-freakin’-lutely.”  Ali
looked up and grinned.  “Sis, you were
awesome
.”

Remembering the shocked
expressions on Adam and Tommy’s faces, Lori couldn’t help but start laughing.

Picking up her cup, Ali held it
up.  “To the shy, sweet sheilas.”

Lori clinked her cup against her
sister’s.  “Amen.”

~*~

“Your girlfriend.  When did she
get so loud and aggressive?”

Leaning to the side of the open
ambulance bonnet, Matt watched Adam approach.  “Lori is never loud and
aggressive.”

“Want a bet?”  Hands in his
pockets, Adam peered at the engine.  “Something wrong?”

“Nope.  Just checking the oil and
water.”  Wiping his hands on a rag, Matt eyed his friend.  “Did you upset her?”

“Upset her?”  Adam scoffed. 
“Mate, do you really know what you’ve got hold of there?”

“A sweet girl.”

“No.  She hides behind a sweet
persona, but that woman can roar like an angry bull.”

“Are we talking about the same
girl?”

“Lori Mackay, sweet and shy to
those who don’t know her.  I’ve known her all her life, so I know she can get
stubborn when she wants to, but I’ve never seen her tear shreds off people in a
public place the way she’s been doing lately.”  Adam eyed him.  “What have you
done to her?”

“Me?”  Matt dropped the bonnet
with a thud.  “I’ve done nothing.”

“I think you have.”

Crossing to the bin, Matt tossed
the rag into it.  “I think none of you really know Lori.”

“And you do?”  Adam laughed. 
“You’ve only known her for months.  I’ve known her for years.”

“And yet her outbursts shock you, not
me.”

“Mate, you were as shocked as shit
when she let rip at the supermarket.”

Squatting down before one of the
ambulance wheels, Matt studied the tyre.  “True.  However, still waters run
deep, my friend.  Lori has a lot more going on under that sweet demeanour than
anyone realises.”

“No kidding.”

“I kid you not.”  Matt shifted to
the next tyre.  “She’s no dumb bunny.  In fact, she knows a lot more than she
lets on.”

“The Mackay sisters always did,
that’s nothing new.”  Adam strolled around the ambulance, keeping pace with
Matt.  “She just about reamed us all a new one at the café.”

Matt laughed.  “Yeah, I heard
about it.”

“Listeing to gossip now?”

“Sure, especially when it involves
the local cop getting reamed.”  Matt flashed him a grin.

“Arsehole.”

“Sticks and stones.”

“One day I’ll catch you going over
the speed limit, and when I do, I’ll have you crying for your mummy.”

“I’ll send Lori to sort you out.”

“Normally I’d say ‘I’m scared’,
really sarcastic like, but now…”

Matt laughed again.

“Wait until she reams you a new
one,” Adam said.

“Hey, I can handle Lori.  The only
one doing any reaming will be me.”

Adam’s eyebrows shot up.

Oh shit.  That had slipped out
before Matt could think clearly.  “Don’t you bloody repeat that.”

“I’m guessing my reaming and your
reaming are two different meanings.”

“Heh heh.”  Matt slapped his
forehead.  “What?  No!”

Adam leered.

Matt gave the last tyre a kick. 
If he’d said anything like that in Old Man Parker’s hearing, or Mrs Hubble or
Mrs Swanson’s, word would fire through the town of his dirty thoughts and then
Lori would be waiting for him and…
Heh heh, I’d ream her good and proper.
 
He gave himself a mental head slap.

To divert his attention and the warm
stirrings in his loins at just the thought of the kind of reaming he wanted to
give Lori -
roll on tonight!
-  he turned and braced one hand against
the side of the ambulance.  “So, you and Barb have a dust up at the café, huh?”

All humour fled Adam’s face to be
replaced with a scowl.  “How do you know her name?”

“Small town.”  Matt studied him. 
“Man, she has your nuts really twisted.  What’s up with the two of you?”

“Nothing.”  Adam kicked the tyre.

“Checked that one already.  Come
on, man, spill.  What is it with you and blondie?”

Adam glanced away, staring into
the distance.  The silence lengthened and Matt watched quietly, wondering but
waiting.

Looking back at him, Adam sighed
and shook his head.  “Long story.”

“I’ve got time.”

“Nah.  You’re working.”

“So come over tonight.  We’ll have
a beer, whine about women.”

“You’re going to whine about
Lori?”

“No.  Just women in general.”

“You’d talk about other women?”

“Okay, I’ll listen to you whine
about women.  One in particular.  You can tell me why Barb has your short and
curlies all knotted up.”

Adam sighed again and rubbed his
forehead.  “Nah.  Thanks mate, but I think I’ll give it a miss tonight.”

“Okay.  But the invite’s there. 
It’s always open, you know that.”

“Cheers.”  Taking a deep breath,
Adam swung around.  “Catch you around.”

Matt watched him walk away.  Oh,
he felt for his friend.  Something was going on, something that had the usual
calm, controlled cop tied up in proverbial knots.  As of yet, no one really
knew what was happening, but they did know the cause.

Barb the blondie was a thorn in
Adam’s side.  It just remained to be seen why.

Hamish stuck his head around the
door.  “Hey, Matt!  Emergency call.  We’re on.”

The day was busy, surprising for a
small town.  A visitor staying at the Peeron Motel had a heart attack, a kid at
the school broke his leg after slipping off the monkey bar, and a car
travelling along the highway had a tyre blowout which resulted in it skidding
onto the gravel side of the road and flipping over.

By the time he got home he wanted
a shower, food, and to snuggle with Lori.  Unfortunately, all he got was the
shower and food before he headed over to the Mackay house.

“I’m sorry,” Lori whispered when
she opened the front door before he could even ring the bell.  “Harriet’s
here.”

The sobbing came from the
kitchen.  Ali could be heard talking, interspersed by watery replies from
Harriet.

“Okay.”  Definitely not a place he
wanted to be.  “Right.  Can I come across later?”

Lori grinned.  “You sound so
uncertain.”

Matt glanced in the direction of
the kitchen.  “Have you told Ali about us?”

“There’s a woman crying in my
kitchen, and you’re worried about Ali?”

“I never said I was worried about
her.”  Catching her around the waist, he pulled her up against him, dropping a
kiss onto the tip of her nose.  “I’m just wondering if I can sleep over.”

Pink crept into Lori’s cheeks. 
“She’s staying over at Ghost’s tonight.”

“Is that a yes?”

Her smile was sweet and shy. 
“Yes.”

“Oh, boy.”  He gave her a hard,
fast kiss, licking deep and hot before steadying her on her feet.  He grinned. 
“Why, Miss Mackay, is that your hands under my shirt?”

She smiled dreamily up at him.  “Uh-huh.”

“Are you fiddling with my manly nipples?”

“Mmmm.”

“Cool.”  He leered.  “Later you
can diddle with my-”

His words were cut off by her
hands clasping his cheeks, yanking him down as she rose on tip-toe to give him
a hot, sensual kiss that practically had the soles of his shoes smoking.

By the time she drew back, his
shaft was hard, his blood was sizzling, and he’d forgotten all about her
visitor.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t. 
Placing one hand on his chest, she licked her lips and peered up at him sultrily
from beneath thick lashes.  “I have to go.”