Thirty-Two and a Half Complications
Page 63

He released an exaggerated sigh. “Okay…the big guy with the tattoos and the earrings—he was standing next to the pretty girl—is Moose Mahoney. He works out at Weston’s Garage. The skinny guy next to him is T. J. Majors. He works with Moose. The other guy, the redhead, is Eric Davidson. He’s got a job as a manager at the Burger Shack. And then Lars Jenkins is the one who came up to you after your vision.”
“And where does Lars work?”
“He’s currently unemployed.”
My attention perked up. “So he’d need money?”
“Rose.”
“This is all information for Mason.”
“Maybe I should just talk to him myself.”
“No.” I shook my head. “He stayed home because he said he’s working on some big case he can’t tell me about. He’s anxious about this one, but he won’t tell me anything about it.” I gave him a smile. “He worked in the office at the farm all day yesterday, and then he was back at it this morning.”
Jonah’s smile twisted slightly. “Mason needs to find more balance between work and a personal life. I was hoping he’d find that with you.”
A band squeezed my heart.
“Oh, Rose,” Jonah exclaimed when he saw my face. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. It’s not a sign that he doesn’t care about you…it’s just his personality.”
“It’s okay.” I shook myself. I needed to stop worrying about my relationship with Mason. I’d done everything I could to make things right. And the perfect way to keep my mind off my relationship troubles was to focus on recovering my money. “So what did Lars used to do?”
Jonah gave me a look that told me he’d taken note of the change of subject, but he answered anyway. “Lars has an interesting past. He used to be a ranch hand in Texas.”
“So what brought him here?”
“A job. A farmer in northern Fenton County was starting a big cattle farm. He hired Lars to oversee it.”
“So what happened?”
“Lars has a temper, and one day he cracked and beat up his boss. He served some time, but then he returned to Fenton County.”
“So he doesn’t have a job now?”
“No, he’s currently living with a woman out at the Lazy Dazy trailer park.”
That was more information than I’d hoped to get. “Thanks, Jonah. You’ve helped more than you know.”
“From the look on your face, I think I’ve helped you too much. Tell Mason.”
“I will.” I grabbed Neely Kate’s arm and dragged her down the steps. Neither one of us said anything until we got into her car.
She hung her hands on the steering wheel, tapping the plastic with a pink nail painted with white polka dots. “Well, that was quite a morning.”
“I don’t even know where to start.”
She turned to face me. “I don’t know about you, but I have a hankering for the Golden Corral.”
I broke into laughter. “Miss Mildred might be there, and seeing us would sure send her teeth flying across the buffet.”
“Oh, my stars and garters!” she laughed. “I couldn’t believe my eyes when that happened!”
I stopped laughing. “She heard us, Neely Kate. She heard I might be pregnant and that I kissed Joe.”
Neely Kate released a huff and her mouth twisted to the side. “How bad could it be?”
“I don’t care about me, Neely Kate. I’m thinking about Mason. What if I destroy his reputation?”
“Mason will be just fine. And women like Miss Mildred only have power over us because we let them.”
I knew she was right, but I was still worried.
“I’m hungry,” she said, turning on the car. “What do you say we skip the flying teeth at the Golden Corral and get ourselves over to Big Bill’s Barbeque?”
My mouth dropped open. “Hot wings? Are you serious?”
She shrugged and started to pull out of the parking lot. “Ronnie Junior likes ’em.”
“Ronnie Junior?”
She shrugged again. “If it’s a boy. Maybe.”
If I were pregnant, Mason and I would have to discuss things like that too. It was an overwhelming thought, so I pushed it away, moving on to something over which I had more control. “We need to talk about my vision and try to figure out which one of those people was attached to it.”
“Let’s do it over lunch. Do you need to go home to Mason to check in before we visit Samantha Jo?”
The flutter in my stomach at the words home to Mason made my lips tip up, but the smile fell just as quickly. Part of me wanted to kill Joe for doing this to me, but the tension between Mason and me was partly my own fault.
“No, he’s busy with that case I mentioned. But I’ll call to let him know.” I pulled my phone out of my purse but the call went to voice mail after several rings. “Hey, Mason. I’m going out to lunch with Neely Kate before we go see Samantha Jo.” I paused. “I miss you and love you. I’ll see you when I get home.” I hung up, feeling sad.
“He didn’t answer.”
“No, and that’s not like him.” I frowned. “Maybe he decided to start the housing search before his momma gets here.”
“That was the plan all along anyway, right?” she asked. “For him to move out?”