One Foot in the Grave - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,3
knew where she was, let alone that she was safe. Marco and I had been searching for her, and it had nearly gotten me killed. Hence Max and Lula’s guilt over the whole Wyatt thing. But Wyatt had been keeping secrets from me long before he’d lied about Lula.
Max had made a big deal of distancing himself from his father. But now I wondered if they’d reconciled. Considering Bart Drummond knew who I was and had threatened to use it against me, I knew exactly how I felt about that.
The lunch crowd died down, and Bingham showed up at around one thirty to take Lula home to nurse her baby. He stood to the side of the doorway, scanning the tavern with his menacing gaze as though trying to figure out if anyone had intimidated or harassed his girlfriend.
Max rolled his eyes and headed to his office to catch up on paperwork, passing Lula as she walked out of the back. She ran over to Bingham, squealing with happiness, and launched herself into his arms.
His glare softened as he looked down at her, and I was amazed for the hundredth time that this deadly man, well into his forties, had such a soft spot for this twenty-year-old woman.
“See you tomorrow, Carly,” Lula said as she headed out the door.
Ruth glanced up from the table she was bussing. “Bring that baby around,” she called out cheerfully. “We need to see her. It’s been too long.”
Lula gave her a surprised look, which transformed into a wide smile. “Okay.”
I was surprised too, mostly because Ruth didn’t usually show any interest in Lula’s personal life.
As soon as the door closed behind them, I walked over to Ruth. “What was that about?”
She shrugged but didn’t look at me. “We haven’t seen her baby in weeks.”
I put a hand on my hip. “Since when do you have a thing for babies?”
She hesitated, then leaned closer and whispered, “Franklin’s makin’ noise about havin’ one.”
He’d also been saying they were going to buy a house, but so far that hadn’t happened. Whenever I asked Ruth about it, she always said they hadn’t found the right one yet and she didn’t intend to settle.
I stared at her in shock. “What? How do you feel about that?”
She shrugged again. “I’m not sure, but I’m not gettin’ any younger, you know? I guess my biological clock’s a-tickin’.”
“So you want to spend time with Lula’s baby to help you decide?”
“Yeah, I thought I’d hold Beezus and try her on for size.”
“You mean Beatrice?” I said, holding back a laugh.
She waved me off. “Beezus. Beatrice. Same difference.”
My brow lifted. “Lula and Bingham would probably beg to differ.”
A solo customer walked in, so I broke off to wait on him. After I placed the guy’s order with Tiny, Ruth and I headed behind the bar to count out the tip money from the lunch rush.
“We need to find a new waitress,” I said to her quietly. “This is gettin’ to be too much.”
She stopped counting the cash in front of her, then turned to me. “I haven’t minded, to be honest. I think part of me is afraid you’ll take off as soon as we hire someone.”
I snorted. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me.” Of course, technically speaking, I could leave. Last fall, I’d only stayed in Drum because my car had broken down nearby and I’d lacked the funds to fix it. But I had a new car—well, a new used car—and I could drive away whenever I pleased. Technically. Unbeknownst to anyone except Marco, Bart Drummond had summoned me to his house to blackmail me into sticking around Drum—if I left, Bart would give information to the sheriff that would incriminate my landlord and friend, Hank Chalmers, and lock him away for the rest of his life. Sadly, the information likely wouldn’t be hard to dig up given that Hank had once been the largest marijuana distributer in Eastern Tennessee. Bart seemed to think I could be useful to him one day, but I had no intention of letting that happen.
“Schedule those interviews,” I said with a sigh, “or I’ll hire someone myself. I need a day off.”
She frowned, then left the bar to carry a handful of dirty dishes to the kitchen.
While we were both pulling doubles, one or the other of us would get a few hours off in the afternoon, and it was Ruth’s turn today. So she headed off, and I kept busy enough until she