she seemed to debate her course of action. Finally, she said, “While that is very
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stunning, it might be too much in my little shop. A bit too overwhelming and out of
place.”
Her gaze lifted from the arrangement to meet Liza’s, who bit back the retort
lingering on her tongue. Taking the high road, she returned the vase to its shelf and reached for the tried and true.
Turning back to Lydia, she said, “This is probably better suited for you.” Though
the yellows and lavenders—and certainly the clear vase—would look boring as hell in
non-Techincolor Kansas.
“Yes,” Lydia said with a tight smile. “This is the one. Much more appropriate.”
“Of course.” Liza took the flowers to the cashier’s desk. Jess had given her a crash
course on the register and she rang Lydia up. “That’ll be twenty-one even.”
She handed over twenty-five dollars and said, “The rest is for Jess. I always tip her when she delivers. Stopping in feels like I’m cheating her.”
“I’m sure she’ll appreciate your generosity.” It was a bitch being civil, but Liza was trying to fit in here. Not cause too much of a scene, though she had half a mind to. How insulting to be the one providing service to Lydia and Lydia pointing out the tip was for Jess.
The money had nothing to do it. Liza didn’t give a rip about the four-dollar
gratuity. What rubbed her raw was Lydia’s blatant snub.
“Well, then,” Lydia said as she gathered up her purse and floral arrangement.
“Thank you for your time.”
Not her help. Her time.
Lydia turned on her sensible flats and walked off.
Liza watched her go. She couldn’t help but wonder if Jess always delivered the
flowers to Lydia’s shop, what had possessed Lydia to stop in today? She knew Liza
worked here now. Lydia had made the announcement yesterday.
Had her Royal Witchiness come in just to size Liza up?
* * * * *
After Jess returned, Liza walked down the sidewalk, rounded the corner and
headed toward Pietro’s for her lunch with Ginger.
She truly hoped she could help her new friend. Even in some small way. Ginger
didn’t deserve the moral persecution she was receiving. And good grief. This was the
twenty-first century! Hardly the Victorian age when, sure, sexy lingerie had been
frowned upon. But today? Sheesh. The reverend’s wife needed to update her views as
much as she needed to update her wardrobe.
Stepping into Pietro’s helped to take the edge off, which always seemed to come
with thoughts of Lydia. Today’s mouthwatering aroma hinted at a pesto basil sauce
with pine nuts that Liza hoped was paired with angel hair pasta.
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“You’re becoming my new best customer,” Ruby said as Liza strolled over to her
podium and admired her hunter-green apron. This one read, “Sausage Taster”. Liza
snorted out a laugh at it and wondered if Lydia would get the double entendre. Likely not.
“Something amuses you?” Ruby asked in her clipped tone, though her now-rosy
cheeks declared she knew Liza got the joke. Must be most people didn’t.
“Just enjoying the humor of your aprons.”
“I make ‘em myself. Want one?”
“I’d love one. You figure out the saying.”
She eyed Liza from head to toe, then said, “I’m on it.”
“I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”
“Need a menu?”
“Special.”
“Figures.”
Liza’s eyes scanned the lunch crowd and she said, “Looks like my lunch date is
here.”
Ruby frowned. “You stepping out on a Jack, honey?”
Liza could tell Ruby found that an offensive notion. She couldn’t help but laugh.
Nice that Ruby was so protective of him, but…seriously? “Would you?”
Ruby blushed deeper as she tried to shrug off the question nonchalantly.
Liza grinned. “I’m having lunch with a new…friend.” The word was a bit foreign to
her.
Leaving Ruby at the podium, she wound her way around the tables until she
reached the one Ginger occupied.
“I didn’t keep you waiting long, did I?” Liza asked as she sank into the chair across from the petite blonde.
Ginger glanced up from her menu, a big smile on her face. “Oh no! Not at all. In
fact, I just got here. You know,” she said in a conspiratorial tone, “I’ve never actually read the menu before. I always just order the special.”
Liza had to laugh. Ruby was right. What a waste of money on printing costs. Except
that last night’s sausage and peppers had rocked her world almost as much as Jack had with his tell-all.
Ginger closed her menu and pushed it aside. Ruby took their orders—and Liza’s
request for a glass of Pinot Grigio to go with the pesto basil pasta. She looked around the restaurant, hoping like hell the reverend or his wife—or both—were having lunch
and saw her enjoying a glass of wine in the middle of the day.
No such luck.
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“So,” Ginger said as she reached into her purse and pulled out a folded-in-half
piece of white paper. Opening it, she flattened the sheet on the table and said, “Here’s what I was thinking for my very first window display.”
Liza’s jaw nearly hit the table. “Wow,” she said. Aside from that, she was
speechless.
First of all, Ginger was a beautiful artist. The attention to detail in her drawing was astounding and the colorful picture she’d sketched with pastels was vivid and left
nothing to the imagination.
Which brought Liza around to her second point.
“It’s gorgeous,” she said of the display Ginger planned to emulate in her shop
window. “Sexy, elegant, a wee bit risqué,” she said with a wink. “But really, Ginger. If I walked by your shop and saw that teddy paired with the panties, thigh-high
stockings—love the velvet bow on the band, by the way—and slippers, all surrounded
by lace and satin and all these gels and oils and candles… I’d buy the whole display, set it up in the bedroom and seduce the hell out of Jack Wade.”
She laughed. “Something tells me you don’t need to go to all that trouble.”
“Oh,” Liza said, her cheeks burning. “So you’ve heard about us.”
“Everybody’s talking about it.” Her smile faltered a little. “I imagine the reverend’s not too happy about the two of you getting together.”
“What business is it of his?”