Page 14 of A Perfect Target

Her gaze turned curious. “Besides, I could say the same about you. You’re pretty young to make the decision you’ll never marry again. You never thought about giving Sammy a stepmother or a little sister or brother?”

“Never,” he replied firmly. “I’m satisfied with it just being the two of us.”

She released a small burst of laughter. “Look at us…just two love-soured people sharing a meal.”

“For sure we’re a mess.” He grinned at her, and for a long moment their gazes remained locked on each other.

“Hey, Suzanna.” Two men approached the side of their booth. One of them was fairly thin with receding light brown hair and the other one was a bit stockier with black hair.

“Hey, you two,” she greeted them with a smile. “Seth, this is Boone Wilder and Ray Stedman, fellow teachers and friends of mine. And this is Seth Daniels.”

Seth stood and the men all shook hands. “I hear that you’ve been monopolizing most of Suzanna’s free time,” Ray said to him.

“It’s not me, it’s my son,” Seth replied. “Suzanna has been kind enough to spend some of her free time tutoring him.”

“This certainly doesn’t look like tutoring your son to me,” Ray said a bit snidely.

“We’re just enjoying a peaceful meal together,” Suzanna replied lightly. “And it looks like our food is coming right now.”

Sure enough, Regina was coming toward them carrying a large tray of food on her shoulder. “It was nice meeting you two,” Seth said.

“Good meeting you, too,” Boone replied faintly, and then the men left their booth and walked across the aisle to a two-top table.

“Here you go,” Regina said as she placed their plates in front of them. There was also a basket of rolls with shiny buttery tops. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Thanks, this all looks great,” Seth replied.

“Enjoy.” Regina then left their booth.

Seth looked down at his plate. The chicken-fried steak was large and half covered with mashed potatoes and gravy. There was also a serving of corn.

“The portions are certainly generous,” he said and then looked over at her plate. The meatloaf looked good and juicy, and she also had mashed potatoes. Instead of corn she had a serving of seasoned green beans.

She smiled at him, that wide beautiful smile that always fired more than a little bit of heat inside the pit of his stomach. “The portions are generous, and the prices are fairly low. That’s what makes this place so popular with everyone in town.”

“Speaking of popularity, I don’t think I won any points with your friends,” he said as he picked up his fork.

She laughed. “Please don’t worry about it. Since Davy’s death, several of the male teachers at school have become a bit overly protective of me.”

They began to eat, and as always, their conversation flowed easily. She talked about some of her friends at school, and he told her how he had made a couple of new friends.

“I was in the feed store yesterday and met Lucas Maddox. Do you know him?” he asked.

“Not personally, but I’ve met his wife, Mary, and his cute little daughter, Annabelle. Lucas’s cornfield was the location where the first human scarecrow was found.” Her eyes appeared to darken. “That was the very beginning of the Scarecrow Killer’s reign of terror.”

“And the police still have no clue who the killer is?” he asked.

“From what I’ve heard they have no clues at all. It’s just hard to believe that the killer is somebody who lives here, somebody people know and might like.”

“Well, Lucas didn’t mention any of that to me,” he said, hoping to change the subject. “He did tell me about his wife and daughter. We wound up talking for about a half an hour and made plans to have drinks together at the Farmer’s Club one night next week.”

“That’s nice,” she replied. “It’s always nice to have friends, and from what I’ve heard, Lucas is one of the good guys.”

“I imagine you know a lot about a lot of people in town,” he observed.

She laughed. “I do, but that’s the way it is when you grow up in a small town. Everybody knows everybody else’s business, and this café is a great place for information, disinformation and rumors to be spread.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he replied.