“Maybe she just never got around to changing her will,” I suggested.
Maddy smiled at me briefly. “Does that mean that you don’t think she was that enamored with me, either? Why not? I’m adorable.”
“Of course you are,” I said, “but it could explain why she kept you in her will after all these years. Were you serious about what you said to Rebecca?”
“Which part?” she asked.
“That you are going to fight for what is rightfully yours. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got your back either way. I’m just curious, I guess.”
“I guess that depends,” Maddy said. “If Sharon wanted me to have such a healthy chunk of what she had, I’d be betraying her by refusing it, at least in my mind. On the other hand, if she simply forgot to change her will and take me out of it, how can I accept anything in good conscience?”
“I totally get what you’re saying, but how can you possibly ever know?”
“I have no idea,” she said as she shook her head. “But I’m not touching a dime of any of it until I can figure it out one way or the other.”
“Are you open?” a man asked as he and his teenage daughter came into the Slice.
“Come on in,” I said. “Welcome to the Slice.”
“Thanks,” he answered, though he looked a little shaky as he did so.
Maddy seated them, but before I could make it into the kitchen, he rushed over to me. “I understand that you’re the owner.”
“I am,” I said.
“Listen,” he said, his voice softened so that his daughter couldn’t hear, “I was wondering if you had anything a little stronger than soda that you could slip into my Coke.”
I’d heard the request before, though not often. “I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t serve mixed drinks here.”
He frowned a little and then asked, “Is there any place around here that does?”
“Not at this time of day,” I replied. There was a bar on the outskirts of town, but I knew from general knowledge that they didn’t open until three. This guy had to be some kind of alcoholic. “Excuse me for saying so, but should you really be drinking with your daughter in the car?”
“Why do you think I need one?” he asked. “I’ve never had a drink in my life, but I’ve been teaching her to drive for the past two days, and suddenly I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.” He glanced back at his daughter, gave her a little wave, and then said to me, “Look at her, sitting there all innocent.”
I glanced in his daughter’s direction and saw a petite brunette who still had braces shining from her smile. “She’s adorable,” I said.
“You’d think so, but the truth is, she’s trying to kill me.” He said it with such complete sincerity that I had a hard time not believing him.
“Are you sure you’re not just exaggerating?”
“I’m positive. At first she was going for a heart attack, tailgating other drivers, running red lights, and generally being a hazard on the road, but when that didn’t work, she became a little more proactive. I swear, she claims she didn’t see the bulldozer, but it was clear enough to me to read the T-shirt on the guy who was driving it. If I hadn’t screamed in time, I’d be on the side of his blade instead of here with you.”
“Maybe someone else could teach her?” I suggested.
“Would you?” he asked as I saw a flicker of hope come across his terrified face. “I’d pay you, and I mean well. How much is it worth to you?”
“I didn’t mean me,” I said hastily. “But surely there are instructors at her school.”
He shook his head sadly. “None of them will ride with her. And before you suggest it, I tried private lessons, too. The word is out in this part of the state to watch out for her, and I can’t blame them one bit.”
“How about her mother, then?”
He looked visibly shaken by the suggestion. “Are you kidding? Where do you think she gets it? If one of them doesn’t get me, the other one will. Are you sure you don’t have anything strong to drink?”
“Sorry I can’t help you,” I said.
“That’s okay. I was foolish enough to believe that I might have a chance at all.”
Josh came in as we were talking, and the man focused sharply on him. “Could he teach her, do you think?”
“I don’t know,” I said, “but maybe you should . . .”
He never waited to find out what I was going to suggest, but he probably wouldn’t have liked it, anyway. I was going to say that it might do to wait a year or two, but it was clear by his daughter’s intent expression that she wasn’t about to take no for an answer.