Executive Dirt: A Sedona O'Hala Mystery Read Online Free PDF

dividing her bright-eyed curiosity between us.
    Her mouth formed a little round “oh” before she remembered her manners. She stepped back and waved her hand at the living room. “Don’t just stand there! You should come in. Oh, dear.  We took the cake to Sean’s house! I didn’t think about Sedona having company.”
    “Thanks, Mrs. O’Hala, but I have to head home.  Early morning date tomorrow.”  His smile was forced.  “We do have a date, right?” He searched my face as if something had changed.
    “Of course!”  He wasn’t thinking of canceling, was he?
    “Well, there’s no need to run off,” my mother pattered. “Hmm.  I’ll make another cake.  Or you can come for breakfast if you’re making plans for early!” She beamed.
    There was no answering happiness on my face. “Mom.”
    She sniffed. “Oh, all right.  I’ll mind my own business.”
    Before I had a chance to tell him about Steve stopping over, Mark gave a perfunctory wave and strode off the porch.
    Great.  Now I had another problem to solve and once again it was Huntington’s fault.  I turned around to find Mom watching me.  From the thoughtful look on her face, my best guess was that a lecture full of not-so-helpful hints was coming my way, despite me trying to keep my private life private.
     
    * * *
     
    Dad hopped out of bed at five a.m. the next the morning, announced to the world at large that it was time to get started and took himself out back.
    Mom was used to the morning flurry and ignored it.  Since I had a seven o’clock date, one that I had originally thought would start last night and continue blissfully from there, I was less than pleased with this new arrangement. 
    I stumbled out of bed, showered, dressed for hiking and scrambled some eggs and bacon. Dad had somehow managed to have a load of limestone bricks delivered yesterday while Mark and I were delivering the phone to Radar.
    Dad whistled while arranging the bricks alongside rolls of weed-blocking burlap. Maybe the neighbors would find the noise a cheerful awakening. His trilling was almost birdlike if you ignored the fact that it was interspersed with the clank of large rocks being plunked down. Yup, that was Dad, a springtime horde of melodic ostriches.
    I packed sandwiches for later and then brewed tea and coffee.
    Mom wandered in when the smell of coffee drifted through the house.
    She peered into the backyard.  “It looks like he’s planning two beds?  Did he okay that with you?”
    I waved my hand.  “If I installed a rocket launching pad back there it wouldn’t stop him at this point.  He’d just shift it aside.”
    She shook her head. “You should have hidden those plants, you know. He never could mind his own business when it came to gardens. Do you want me to help you pick out a sewing machine? To go with the serger?”
    The doorbell rang, saving me from throwing myself into the washing machine and trying to drown myself. I grabbed the backpack with our packed lunch.  With my free hand, I extracted Mark’s foil-wrapped egg sandwich from the toaster oven.  “Gotta go!” I yelled, giving Mom a quick peck on the cheek.  “There’s eggs and bacon in the oven in the covered dish.”
    I ran for the door, grateful that Mark had arrived fifteen minutes early.  After his reaction last night, I was thrilled he had shown up at all. I opened the door and rushed out, bouncing sideways off of his broad chest when he was unable to move out of the way fast enough.
    He caught hold of my arm to keep me from falling. “I take it you’re ready to go?”
    Mom ignored my antics and greeted Mark.  “Sedona made eggs.  Have you eaten?”
    Mark smiled. “I think so.”
    He got the answer right without even checking with me first.  Maybe it was the wild desperation lurking in my eyes or the fact that my feet were dancing in their hurry to depart.
    “Well, I do hope you’ll be able to stay for dinner.”  Mom winked at me as though I had any say