Page 55 of Dead to Rites

“No, you see what you want to see,” I retorted. “As far as I can tell, you’re seeing your own story, and you’re putting me in it. I’m not running from anything. I’m just trying to find out who killed your friend.”

Not even a blink. “I know you are.”

“Then act like it.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment. Flannery, who’d been curled up on the floor near our feet, suddenly got up and walked out, as if even she didn’t want to be in the room with us.

“I’m sorry,” Jude said at last. “I overstepped. I should have asked instead of telling you what I thought.”

“Yeah, you should have.”

Another moment of silence. Then he said, in a curiously uninflected tone, “Will you still come to dinner tomorrow?”

There was a hell of a question to ask after what had just happened. I answered in the only way I could.

“I don’t know.”

Then I grabbed my purse and stalked out. The bell over the door rang as I opened it, far too cheery for what had just happened.

The evening air was cool on my heated cheeks. More than anything, I wanted my feet to carry me right past Copper State Cellars, all the way down the street and over to Park Avenue so I could go home and brood about my argument with Jude Marsh.

But Roz was expecting me back, and there was no way in the world I would bail on her on a Friday night, especially when business had just begun to pick back up.

So I gulped in some cold air, paused outside for a moment to gather myself, and went inside.

Chapter 14

The Thin Woman

Hazel could tell something was up when I came home the night before, but she didn’t say anything. Fridays at the bar were long, and I hoped she just thought I was tired and nothing more.

I wished that were the problem.

She wasn’t around when I came downstairs the next morning, and I didn’t go looking for her. Instead, I made a bigger breakfast than usual, scrambled eggs and two pieces of toast to go with my coffee, and then I took Chauncey for a long walk to clear my head.

But I didn’t text Jude, and he didn’t text me. That seemed to be all I needed to know about dinner tonight — in other words, it wasn’t happening.

I told myself I didn’t care. After all, things with Adam seemed to be progressing just fine. He’d left me a message yesterday while I was working to see if I wanted to go out to dinner again this coming Tuesday, so clearly he hadn’t been put off by the way we hadn’t kissed on our first date. I could go out with him and have another nice dinner, and most likely kiss him this time, because he was handsome and smart and kind, and it was stupid for me to be brooding over a former priest who had way too many opinions about my personal life.

Yes, that seemed to be the best way to handle things.

And yet, I couldn’t quite bring myself to text Adam back, even though I knew I should.

I went to the bar and got to work. If Marco noticed I was preoccupied, he didn’t comment on it. At least Roz wasn’t there — she would have taken one look at me and known something was wrong. We’d only been acquainted for a few weeks, but she was good at reading people, and I definitely didn’t need her delving into my issues right then.

At least we were busy enough that I could focus on the work and not think about the way Jude’s eyes had looked as he gazed at me the night before. No judgment, just a kind of sad understanding.

Who was he to lecture me about how I was handling the various losses in my life when he couldn’t even bring himself to tell me what had led him to leave the church?

But Marco did provide one interesting tidbit. We were talking about Father Frank’s vigil and the people I’d met afterward, and when I mentioned Terry Gallego, Marco’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Yeah, she and Wes Lindley have been dating for about six months,” he told me.

That confirmed what Roz had already said about the couple. “Oh?” I responded.

“Yeah,” Marco said. “They’ve been keeping it on the down-low, though. Diane isn’t a fan of the relationship.”

“Why not?” I asked, now genuinely curious. The couple were around the same age and went to the same church. I didn’t really see what the problem was.