Sneaking Around

by St. Klaire, Stephanie

  Regina slid a notebook across the table without a word. Molly exchanged a puzzled look when Regina nodded to her, then followed the unspoken direction and opened the notebook. Now who was clairvoyant and reading the ladies’ minds?

  “I don’t understand. What is this?” Molly asked.

  “Have you looked at Facebook yet this morning?” Ginger questioned.

  “Facebook? No. Not at all,” Molly fussed, her pitchy tone giving her away. “I don’t do...Facebook. Nothing good ever comes from that. I mean, who has that kind of time? Wait…why?” Molly paused, realizing she and Seth may not have been the only ones on Facebook shaking things up. She closed her eyes and asked, “Evelyn?”

  Letting out a deep sigh, Molly opened her eyes to an iPad — her iPad — sitting there, logged into Molly’s Facebook account. She wanted to question how they not only got the iPad, but how they managed to log into her account, then quickly let it go. There was a shift in priorities when Molly saw what had been posted. She could only handle one nosey old broad at a time.

  Of course, there it was. In an attempt to settle their score with Evelyn, Seth and Molly managed to provide yet another opportunity for her to capture them together instead. Evelyn wouldn’t be doing her Facebook following justice if she didn’t blast her findings on Facebook for the whole town to see.

  The picture was innocent enough. It was of Seth checking the lock on the door from the inside of her shop late the previous night. Then a picture of Seth leaving early that very morning…before the store was open. Evelyn painted it as a promiscuous scandal with her #RumorHasIt caption…

  Molly Anna Sexton is no Pollyanna — sleepovers with one of Pine Valley ’s finest? The coffee isn’t the only thing getting hot at Reading Grounds. It must’ve been a full night of mouth to mouth. Thank you, PVFD for resuscitating the stripper.

  “You see why you need the notebook?” Cady asked, as if all the pieces to the puzzle had just fallen into place. The ladies’ presence and notebook were supposed to make perfect sense — but didn’t.

  “No…help me out here,” Molly replied with a little more snark than she intended.

  “Excellent first round, honey. Loved what you wrote on Facebook last night…” Cady wore a pleased grin.

  She pointed to Ginger, who recited from memory, “‘Wilted flowers of Garden Society Chairperson a close second to the faux silk dollar store variety’.”

  “Brilliant, dear, just brilliant!” Prissy offered with enthusiasm and a cute little hand clap.

  “Oh, to be a fly on her wall when she read that!” Cady admitted through gritted teeth. “I’m sure her panties were in a tight bunch after that one! Her flowers? Brilliant!”

  “How did you know…?” Molly looked around, dropping her voice to a whisper. “How’d you know it was Seth and me? I mean, not that it was, but what makes you think…?”

  “Pfft. You’re overselling it, dear,” Cady replied. “We need to work on your…delivery.”

  “Oh, honey,” Ginger said sympathetically, “Evelyn Shirley doesn’t hold a candle to this one.” She tossed a thumb in Cady’s direction. “Nothing. I mean nothing gets by her.”

  Cady shrugged. “Technology is a grand tool.”

  “And she has nephews in Portland who are like spies!” Regina whispered with enthusiasm. “They’re like all those guys in books and movies. Their lives are so dangerous and delicious!”

  Cady rolled her eyes. “Okay, it helps…knowing people.”

  “They do all her dirty work,” Ginger giggled.

  Molly was speechless. Who knew small town USA had such dark and gritty secrets? And who were these nephews from Portland? It was like a James Bond movie in the making…AARP style.

  Molly shook it off and got back on topic. “How did Evelyn get this picture anyway? It was late last night, like really late. We had been…talking well past midnight. I didn’t even notice…”

  Cady and the ladies smiled as reality set in at Molly’s pause. Those puzzle pieces from earlier were settling into place.

  “Wait,” Molly started, her eyes pinned on the table as if the thoughts she was pulling together were resting there, “I have noticed her driving by shortly after closing. Many times, but never this late.”

  “Uh huh.” Cady nodded, and let her continue.

  “Now that I think about it…Evelyn seems to go by at around the same time, same direction, most nights.”

  “If it’s that often, it may behoove you to…look into it a bit, if you know what I mean,” Cady suggested. “In addition to your Facebook exploits, of course.”

  Caught, Molly thought.

  “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Molly’s words lacked as much confidence as the poker face she was trying to sell them. Her lips quivered as she tried to conceal the smile about to break through. Molly sat under the watchful stares around the table until she broke. “Okay! It was us! Seth and I are behind Rumor Also Has It.”

  A brood of cackles and knee slapping erupted at her admission until a few tears welled and sides pinched from the laughs they were sharing.

  “Oh, dear…that was a good one. Talk about a punch to the gut. Her flowers!” Prissy offered as they got ahold of their silliness and got back to the point of the impromptu meeting.

  “The notebook is full of information — things you won’t find online, dear. We have each known her most of our lives, if not our entire lives. There is information in that notebook that will surely set her britches on fire! The best part is she won’t know where it’s coming from because some date back decades!” Cady delivered with pure joy.

  “Oh, I see! Why…are you doing this for me? I appreciate it, I do! I just don’t understand.”

  “Because we care about you — and the boy. We want you to have a fair shake,” Ginger replied with a sweet smile and single hand over her heart, as if to hold in her emotion.

  Prissy smiled. “We don’t want her to scare you off…or him. Or him and you…together,” she giggled.

  “And because that Evelyn Shirley is a weaselly little snake in the grass and deserves to get a little taste of her own damn medicine too! You give it to her good, girl!” Cady said with a fierce tone and intention, shooting her fist in the air. “You’re karma!”

  Molly and Seth had allies, the best kind in this town. It seemed their first attempt failed, and Evelyn fired back with a solid shot, winning this round. It was okay, though. They were just getting started and still anonymous under the cloak of mystery. One thing was made clear as Molly scrolled through the day’s #RumorHasIt posts: Evelyn felt threatened and knew the new account was meant to bring her down. She was preparing for war — she was targeting everyone.

  Molly needed to call Seth. They had more planning to do. Maybe even a little recon work.

  Evelyn — one.

  Molly and Seth — zero.

  CHAPTER 4

  Seth picked up Molly shortly after dark for their first late-night stake-out. She had been sitting in the dark at Reading Grounds for several nights in a row while Seth was on shift at the fire station. A certain car driven by a certain mean-spirited old lady was the object of her attention. Sure enough, like clockwork, she passed by at the same time almost every night just as she had all the nights previous to their new plan. Now, if she could only determine a pattern in Evelyn’s routine. There didn’t seem to be rhyme or reason to it.

  Molly found a strange sense of pleasure sitting, under the cloak of darkness, hidden from her arch nemesis, able to take her own pictures of late-night shenanigans without Evelyn suspecting a thing. She couldn’t use the pictures, though. It would be obvious where they were taken from and who was taking them. No, she didn’t need to blast them on Facebook to feel gratified. Molly enjoyed having an upper hand. A solid plan Evelyn hadn’t a clue about. Game on. Time for a stake out.

  Seth chuckled at the sight of Molly when she pulled the door to the shop closed behind her and locked it. She was dressed head to toe in black. She even sported a
black beanie that held her two long braids. She took late-night undercover agents with bloodhound skills to a whole new level. Looking both ways, she launched from the shadowy outside wall of her shop where she had paused and sprinted to Seth’s running vehicle.

  “Go, go, go!” she whispered as she slapped the dash.

  He laughed at her sudden paranoia. “Why are you whispering? Nobody can hear us in here.”

  “You don’t know that! Evelyn is everywhere. We can’t get caught, or we hand her the whole game, trophy and all!”

  “Trophy?” He laughed. “There’s a trophy involved now?”

  “Well, no…kind of. We need to win this!”

  “Okay, whatever you say, boss. Let’s go catch an old lady!”

  “Shhh, not so loud!”

  “We’re in a car!” He laughed.

  “A car she probably has bugged,” Molly defended. If Cady O’Reilly had connections, it was entirely possible Evelyn did too. “Let’s get out of here before she sees us and this backfires! She’s always watching.”

  Molly spent the rest of the drive sitting low in her seat watching the side view mirror. She didn’t want to risk being followed — playing secret ops with Seth suddenly made her paranoid. You never knew if Evelyn had a geriatric gang of her own roaming the streets. People probably worked for her out of fear.

  Seth pulled onto the street opposite of Evelyn’s and parked the vehicle under an overgrown tree that shadowed the glowing street light. They would hide from anyone’s radar under cloak of darkness. Nighttime super sleuthing made them feel like stealthy clandestine spy ninjas when they settled in with a clear shot of Evelyn’s house. All the lights were off at the end of her cul-de-sac ahead. Now they just had to hurry up and…wait.

  “Were we followed?” Seth asked sarcastically.

  “Why, what do you see?” Molly slid farther down in her seat, peering over the dash.

  When Seth laughed, she gave him the side-eye with a snarky glare before tilting her head to the side. “Ha-ha! And no, we weren’t…followed.”

  “Then why are you so jumpy?” he asked.

  “Because I’m afraid of getting caught!” she said honestly.

  Seth shrugged. “Caught doing what? We aren’t doing anything wrong.”

  “I don’t know…stalking?” she answered.

  “How would anyone know we’re stalking? We could just be…pulled over looking for directions.” Seth knew full well he wasn’t convincing her of anything, but he enjoyed the reaction.

  “Directions, where?” She sat up and looked around. “There’s exactly four neighborhoods in this town, and Main Street sits in the middle. We barely have a stop light! A little hard to get lost here,” she defended. “We’re clearly stalking.”

  “Maybe it’s car trouble we’re having.”

  “Or maybe it isn’t since, again, small town. It wouldn’t take this long to get help. Besides, your flashers aren’t on.”

  “Good point.” He reached for the emergency light button. “Better put those on if we’re going with car trouble.”

  Molly quickly grabbed his hand before he could engage the emergency flashers and paused when her hand filled his. They sat in silence for a moment, staring first at their connection, then at each other. The air grew thicker between them, and each breathed a bit heavier.

  “Uh, no…I mean…” Molly started, slowly withdrawing her hand, “may as well hang a neon sign that says, over here, Evelyn!”

  Seth pulled his hand back, but kept his eyes on Molly a bit longer than he should have. “Yeah. I’m just messing with you, Molly.”

  She let out an exaggerated gasp that had an accompanying smile, lightening the mood. “We don’t want to be outted by Facebook.”

  “You posted it on Facebook. Oh my God…” he said, reaching for the ignition “We better hurry and get out of here. She’s probably taking pictures from those bushes over there.”

  Molly jumped, focused on the bushes in question, searching for movement. “Wait. What? No! I didn’t put anything on Facebook.”

  Seth let out a boisterous laugh. “I’m still just messing with you. You make it far too easy. Calm down. We aren’t going to get caught tonight. We got this.”

  Molly smiled and eased back into her seat, focused on their target. Binoculars were passed between them through a long stretch of silence as they stalked their prey. Molly jumped when Seth finally spoke again, offering her something to drink and a snack. Remembering she forgot to eat a suitable dinner, his timing was appreciated, as was the small cooler he pulled out from behind the seat.

  To her surprise, his choice of snack was a gourmet sandwich from Savory Sweets Bistro that included their famous German potato salad. Her favorite. He must’ve had help ordering because there were several of her favorite drinks as well. Once the cooler was put back in its place, Seth pulled out a pastry box that smelled like post dinner heaven to taunt Molly with.

  He carefully thought of everything, as if this were a date at a drive-in and Evelyn Shirley was the star of the B-list movie of the evening — a movie so bad, they wished they had a case of rotten tomatoes to toss at her.

  They each ate in silence, taking the occasional glance at one another, but mostly staying fixed on their target. It was approaching the time Molly typically saw Evelyn cross town. Until she did, they sat, pondered, and each enjoyed the presence of their friend…maybe a bit too much because Seth had to crack the windows and let the cool fall air in. It was too hot in his SUV.

  They were pulled from their thoughts when the front window lit up and the porch light went on, soon followed by the garage door opening. Molly scooted closer to Seth to get a better look at what was going on down the street since a few dangling branches hindered her view. When she moved over, Molly was so close, their bodies touched, sending a bolt of heat straight through her. She looked at him, caught off guard by the sensation, assuming he felt it too given his proximity and deep, seductive stare.

  Undeniable chemistry lingered between them like a forbidden attraction. Seth’s crush began the day he set eyes on Molly; hers on his first visit to her shop. They were friends, though, each thinking the other only saw and desired said friendship. Tonight was a game changer. This wasn’t just friendship, nor was it only a physical attraction. It was something they couldn’t identify any more than it was something they could tame — at the moment, neither wanted to anyway.

  Seth tilted his head and leaned in for a sweet kiss. With their lips finally locked, sending another wave of heat, everything suddenly felt right. What started as timid and soft quickly escalated. Seth held Molly’s face as he kissed her hard and full of intention — and she let him.

  Until there was a loud rap at the window, startling them out of their heated, lust-filled stupor that sent Molly back to her side of the SUV. A flashlight illuminated the interior, blinding them as it landed on each of their faces. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who was standing outside the vehicle. Especially when they each noticed the headlights that snuck up on them in the side view mirrors. Jasper O’Bannon.

  “Evening, Sheriff,” Seth said sharply to Jasper, who also happened to be Hunter’s brother. Hunter was Seth’s boss. This was going to earn him shit for days at the fire station, he could count on that.

  “Evenin’. What are you folks doing out here?” Jasper said with a sarcastic tone and smirk while flashing his light around in the vehicle, taking inventory of the scene. “Got a call about a peeper. You out peepin’, Spangler?”

  “Just out for a drive…” Seth fired back with his own cocky stare.

  “Well, Spangler, this here is parking, not driving. So…you out parkin’ tonight then?” he asked before turning his attention to Molly. “Hey there, Molly. How are you tonight? You here of your free will, darlin’?”

  “Oh, for Christ’s sake, Jasper…are you fucking kidding me? Of her free will?” Seth shot back, clearly irritated.

  “I am, Sheriff,” Molly voiced with her best smile and sugary voi
ce. “We were just out for a drive. Seth was kind enough to pull over so I could dig something out of the cooler safely from the back.”

  Trying not to give up their gimmick, neither could help but notice Evelyn Shirley had backed out of her driveway and was heading their way. Of course, she noticed the sheriff’s car and his bright light from a block away — Evelyn had a strange sixth sense about this stuff. Rolling to a stop at the intersection, Evelyn paused long enough for Seth and Molly to see a flash from inside her car. A picture. Great. #RumorHasIt had a new article coming.

  “Seems someone was a bit worried about a suspicious parked vehicle sitting out here. Cat burglar and peeping tom was mentioned,” Jasper informed them.

  Evelyn fucking Shirley. He didn’t even have to say it. She noticed his patrol car from her dark house because she was watching for him!

  “Well, unless you need to cite me with some sort of infraction,” Seth said, smothered in sarcasm, “we’ll be on our way. It’s getting late.”

  “Yeah, yeah…this is just a warning, Spangler. Next time, I won’t be such a nice guy,” Jasper added. “Take the lady out on a real date, man. A cooler? On the side of a street in the middle of the night?”

  “It’s not a…” Seth didn’t finish, because it was pointless. He was going to be the ass end of every fucking joke at the station for weeks, compliments of Sheriff Asshole.

  “By the way, it’s illegal to block a fire hydrant in Pine Valley.” Jasper grinned. “What’s with you fire boys? Miss the job that much on your down time? You gotta visit all the hydrants like a dog pissing on his territory?”

  Cutting Seth off, Molly said, “Hey, tell Shayna I said hi! I’ll see her at book club!” It was her last-minute silent plea to get Seth off the hook before he said something that got him in trouble — and to get them out of there and back on Evelyn’s tail.

  “Book club…” Jasper shook his head and flashed his cocky grin. “She doesn’t even come home with books half the time…” And that was that. He walked back to his car, laughing all the way.