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.He glanced up at me."You're Diana Hudson."I nodded."Why you're a music legend around these parts now."I laughed."I don't know about that.""Sure you are.Your success has been a real motivator.Especially for the young people.For old guys like me this here's more of a hobby.""I'm so sorry," Carol said, leaning down inches from his face to get a better look."I just didn't see you."He waved his hand and got to his feet."Don't worry about a thing, Miss.I'm sure it was my fault—left my glasses at home tonight and can't see a thing.""You don't say? My name's Carol," she said, putting out a hand."Ted Griffin.Nice to meet you." I could see him getting a closer look at Carol and liking what he saw.He must have really strong glasses."You going to stay for the first set? I start at 8:30.""Of course," she said brightly."We wouldn't miss it."Mark groaned a little at the 'we,' but I wanted to hear Ted play.Ted thanked us and went to finish setting up.I gave Mark a smooch."Let's eat dinner here and listen to a couple of songs.Look how excited Carol is."Carol was holding her glasses in front of her face like she was at the opera to watch Ted set up on stage."He's cute," she murmured."Hi, Mark.Sorry about the entrance.""I'm used to it."I elbowed him."What do you think of Carol's makeover?Mark started when Carol turned to give him a good look at herself.She didn't look that bad.Especially at a distance."Looks like it worked," he said recovering."Ted seemed interested.""He did, didn't he?" Carol said, holding her glasses up and looking back at the stage again."I'm ready for a drink.""What the heck did you do to her?" Mark whispered as we followed Carol to the bar."I think she looks good.It's just her eye makeup got smudged, that's all.""She looks like Rocky Raccoon.And why isn't she wearing her glasses?" he asked.I sighed.Men didn't understand anything.Woody did a double-take when Carol ordered another drink, but wisely said nothing.We ordered sandwiches and chatted about Mark's new project and the renovations at the building complex where Greene's was housed."Do we have a move date yet for Greene's?" Carol asked."I don't know when I'm supposed to find the time to go looking for a temporary location, let alone pack and move.""Late November or early December.I'm still waiting on permits from the city.Good news is we signed Hunter Jack's to a long-term lease right before I headed down to see Diana in Florida."Carol gasped."I love that store! How cool is that Diana? We're going to be neighbors with Hunter Jack's."I wasn't a huge fan of the over-priced specialty store, but I was proud of Mark.Renovating the downtown waterfront block that housed Greene's Staffing and was owned by his Uncle Ed Greene, was the largest redevelopment project he'd managed.Unfortunately, the project meant temporarily relocating Greene's Staffing for six months or longer."I think we need to hire a local realtor and put the move in the hands of an expert.We just don't have the time right now."Mark nodded."Got to let go of some of the details, Carol.""I'll call Nancy at Annapolis Realty on Monday.She always uses us when she needs an office temp.I'm just worried about being able to find something we can afford downtown," Carol fretted.Just then Ted did a mike check and broke into Blake Shelton's "Sure Be Cool If You Did" about a guy running into a girl at a bar.I glanced over at Mark.He raised his eyebrows."Carol," I leaned over and whispered, "he's singing this song to you.""Oh, no," she said dismissively."Not a chance."Each time he sang about "falling," I giggled.Mark started laughing too."Guy's got a sense of humor.""Hush you two.I'm trying to listen.""Yeah, good thing her ears are working 'cause she can't see a thing." Mark laughed into his beer, spraying foam everywhere.The song ended, and the small audience clapped wildly."This song is for the lovely lady who knocked me to my knees over by the bathroom." He pointed towards the bar.The audience hooted.I yelled, "Woohoo!"Carol blushed."If I'd known a little makeup could have this effect on men, I'd have been wearing it years ago."She turned toward me, and I got a good look at her smeared eye makeup.Yikes! "Uh-maybe we should do a little touch up before Ted takes a break."* * *We ended up staying to see most of Ted's show.I had limited success with Carol's eye makeup, but Ted didn't seem to notice.He bought her a drink and chatted about his former life as the owner of an Eastern Shore residential trash company.He'd sold his fleet of ten trucks that serviced six thousand customers for enough to retire at fifty and play music."Who would've thought that the trash business would be such a good investment," Carol said dreamily.Ted shrugged."It wasn't.Don't get me wrong; I made a decent living, but there's no way I could've retired like this.One day out of the blue I got a call from a big corporate guy with an offer to buy everything.They were expanding their market share and wanted my route.""Amazing," she said, and I swear I saw her bat her eyes at him."Just goes to show that life's full of surprises.You never know what or who—" He smiled at Carol."—is around the corner."Mark rolled his eyes at that one and gave me a nudge.It was close to eleven as we walked back to my condo.It was a good fifteen minute walk at a brisk pace, but the night was so crisp and quiet that we took our time holding hands and talking amicably.As we turned up my walk, I pointed out Max looking down from my window.His fluffy white tail wagged when he saw us."He never wags his tail," I said."Must be you he's wagging at.""At least my presence is appreciated by someone.""It's because you feed him bacon.""Probably right about that."We glanced back up at the window.And this time saw two faces staring down at us.CHAPTER TWENTY-TWOAndre and Marsha met us at my door."You know your neighbor is crazy, right?" Marsha asked as soon as we walked in."Hadn't noticed," I said."What are you two doing here?"Marsha hooked a long red talon at Andre."His bright idea [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]