Page 33 of Then Came You
“Huh?”
“What kind of donuts do you like?”
“Oh. Cinnamon sugar.”
“Me too. Plain is boring, and powdered sugar—”
“Is too messy.”
“Exactly.”
When it was their turn, Sam ordered a half-dozen cinnamon sugared donuts and a half-gallon of cider. Gillian grabbed some napkins and paper cups off the counter, and then they took their treats outside.
They were walking toward a picnic table when a woman called out, “Hello, Gillian.”
Gillian looked up with surprise. “Oh. Hello, Stella.”
The gray-haired woman was flanked by two boys who might have been her grandchildren. Sam waited for an introduction, but none was forthcoming.
“I heard about what happened at your store. Such a shame.”
Gillian nodded. “Nothing was stolen, though.”
“I heard the police showed up.”
Sam expected Gillian to introduce him then, but she just nodded. In the meantime, Stella looked him over like a piece of fruit at the grocery store. Who was this woman?
When Gillian saw Stella staring, she suddenly said, “Oh. This is my friend, Sam.”
He was curious why she hadn’t mentioned that he was the officer who’d responded to the shoplifting incident.
“Stella is my next-door neighbor, and these are her grandkids.”
Sam couldn’t shake hands with Stella because his were full, but he smiled politely. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Stella said. She looked like she was about to say something else, but Gillian interrupted.
“Well, we need to get going. Enjoy the cider and donuts.”
Once they were seated at the picnic table, she let out a weary sigh.
“Something wrong?”
She plucked a donut out of the bag and set it on a napkin. “This is the one downside of living in a small town.”
“What’s that?”
“Running into people you know everywhere you go.”
Sam poured them each a cup of cider. “Some might say that’s a benefit. Everyone looks out for everyone else.”
“Stella’s a busybody. I swear she spies on me with binoculars.”
He chuckled. “Is that why you didn’t want to introduce me?”
She paused with the donut halfway to her mouth. “Sorry about that.”
He shrugged. “It’s no big deal.” But in a way, it was. He didn’t want her to feel ashamed to be with him. Would she have responded the same way no matter who he was, or was it because he was a cop? He couldn’t ask without revealing that he’d known Owen, and after witnessing Gillian’s reaction to Stella, he decided not to.
