Free Lilac Avenue by Pamela Grandstaff Page A

town,” Hannah said. “If I haven’t removed a raccoon from their attics , I’ve found homes for their kittens or rounded up their lost dogs.”
    “You shouldn’t have any trouble then,” Claire said.
    “It’s in the bag,” Hannah said. “What’s up with you, pussycat?”
    “The usual craziness,” Claire said, as she sat down opposite her. “Plus my father now thinks my mother is having an affair with Doc Machalvie.”
    “It could be true,” Hannah said. “Doc Machalvie is a silver fox.”
    “You know it’s not true,” Claire said. “It’s just a new phase of his dementia. The trouble is he really believes it, and he’s obsessing about it.”
    “If he mentions it to me, I’ll set him straight,” Hannah said.
    Police Chief Scott Gordon came in, took one look at Hannah, and pretended he was going to leave. He always put Claire in mind of a minor league baseball player; at least that’s how she had cast him in her imaginary movie. He had caramel- and gold-colored hazel eyes with long, thick curling lashes, and although his auburn hairline was receding, he had strong enough facial features to compensate for it.
    Today he had on his summer police uniform, which consisted of a navy blue Rose Hill Police Department T-shirt, khaki pants and work boots. His muscular arms were tan, and he had a scruffy five o’clock shadow that made him look a tiny bit wicked. There was something about a man wearing a holster with a gun in it that just got Claire’s blood moving. She was imagining him with his shirt off when she caught herself. Ashamed, she reminded herself that he was engaged to her cousin Maggie.
    “You’re not still mad,” Hannah said. “I said I was sorry.”
    “You’re a menace,” he said, pointing at her. “You disturbed my peace, with malice aforethought.”
    “What did you do?” Claire asked Hannah.
    “She got somebody to call Maggie, pretending to be Sister Mary Margrethe,” Scott said. “She said June dates were filling up fast, so Maggie needed to reserve the church for our wedding.”
    “That’s just wrong,” Claire said to Hannah. “You should never poke a bear.”
    “The joke’s on all of you,” Hannah said. “That was Sister Mary Margrethe and she went along with it. She got a huge kick out of it.”
    “How mad was Maggie?” Claire asked Scott.
    “On the face-flush scale she wasn’t quite up to code red scarlet, but it was close,” Scott said. “I had trouble convincing her I wasn’t somehow involved.”
    “If you leave it up to her , she’ll never set a date,” Hannah said. “What we need to do is plan a surprise wedding, and then trick her into showing up.”
    “I would prefer not to have to trick somebody into marrying me,” Scott said.
    “Give her an ultimatum, then,” Hannah said.
    “Because that’s worked out so well in the past,” Scott said.
    “What’s the hurry?” Claire said. “Aren’t you happy with things the way they are?”
    “I’m fine,” Scott said. “I’ll take her anyway I can have her. I’m in this thing for as long as we both shall live, with or without Father Stephen’s blessing.”
    “She needs to get it over with,” Hannah said. “The trouble is she’s stewing about it.”
    “That’s not good,” Claire said.
    “Get it over with, huh?” Scott said. “That’s just great.”
    “It’s not you who’s the problem,” Hannah said. “It’s Maggie thinking about dealing with her mother, who will want to control everything; it’s having a father in a wheelchair who will be too drunk to escort her down the aisle; it’s having to go up in front of a church full of people looking at her, judging her, and not being able to give them all the finger; it’s the five hundred decisions she’ll have to make and the five hundred people who will all have opinions about whatever she decides.”
    “I can see why she’s reluctant,” Claire said. “Sorry, Scott.”
    “I offered to elope,” Scott said. “She said