Free Grave Homecoming (A Maddie Graves Mystery Book 1) by Lily Harper Hart Page A

that’s not true,” Maddie said, shifting uncomfortably. “I would hate to think I was stuck in time.”
    “Being stuck in time isn’t a bad thing, Miss Maddie,” he said, his tone teasing. “Especially when you look that .”
    “Like what?”
    “Like you stepped right off of a runway,” Todd said.
    “Oh, you’re quite the flatterer.”
    “You’re worth the flattery.”
    The duo made small talk for a few minutes, Todd telling Maddie about the car dealership he’d opened on the outskirts of town three years before, and Maddie carefully stepping around the end of her nursing career. The conversation was light and comfortable.
    “So, I can’t say I’m not surprised to find you still living in Blackstone Bay,” Maddie said. “I thought for sure you would hit a big city by storm and never look back.”
    Todd pursed his lips together and shrugged. “Blackstone Bay is home. It’s a great town.”
    “It is,” Maddie agreed. “That’s why I came back.”
    Todd narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “Is that the only reason you came back?”
    “I’m not sure what you mean,” Maddie hedged.
    Todd shifted his gaze to the police station across the road. The single-story building, red brick and black roof, was bright beneath the afternoon sun. Maddie hadn’t even realized where she was. Well … mostly.
    “I still don’t know what you mean.”
    “So, all of those rumors about you and Nick Winters in high school were wrong?” Todd asked.
    “I’m not sure what rumors you’re referring to,” Maddie said. “We were friends. What else was being gossiped about?” Maddie had already gotten an earful from Christy, but she was mildly curious if Todd would be forthcoming or coy.
    “The ones where you and Winters were out fornicating in the woods every night of our high school career.”
    Well, so much for him being coy. “Like I said, we were just friends.”
    “And what about now?” Todd asked.
    “Now we’re … acquaintances.”
    “Oh, so all the people on the streets saying that Winters was glued to your side after you discovered a dead body in the alley between the hardware store and the diner were exaggerating?”
    It was a pointed question. “He was doing his job.”
    Todd held his hands up in mock surrender. “Okay. I was just asking. I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes.”
    Maddie wrinkled her nose. “What toes?”
    The smile that moved across Todd’s face was a mixture of play and prey. “Well, since I’m going to ask you out to dinner, I want to make sure I’m not poaching on anyone’s … property.”
    Maddie’s mouth dropped open. “I … um … .”
    “I’m going to take that as a yes,” Todd said, not giving her a chance to come up with an excuse to bow out. He reached over and brushed a strand of Maddie’s flyaway hair away from her face. “You’re kind of cute when you’re nervous.”
    Maddie squared her shoulders. “What makes you think I’m nervous?”
    Todd grinned, letting his dimple come out to play. “Oh, you’re not? Good. I’ll pick you up at seven.”
     
    “I CAN’T do this,” Maddie said, her voice rising an octave. “I don’t want to do this.”
    “You can do it, girl,” Maude said, holding a floral dress up next to Maddie’s face and then shaking her head in disgust. “Why does everything in your closet look like the Amish should be wearing it?”
    “There’s nothing wrong with that dress,” Maddie complained.
    “Maddie, you’re twenty-eight years old,” Maude said. “You shouldn’t dress like you’re fifty. Don’t you have anything that shows off your body?”
    “No.”
    “Everyone calm down,” Christy said, breezing into Maddie’s upstairs bedroom with a pile of clothes over her arm and a makeup case in her hand. “I’m here. Everything is going to be fine.”
    Maddie wrinkled her nose. “How did you get in?”
    “Everyone knows you keep the key in that ceramic turtle on the front porch,” Christy said, looking Maddie up