Landry's Law Read Online Free PDF Page B

circles on his palm. “Not at all,” she assured him. “I was just distracted for an instant. Please, continue.”
    Bill’s fit body seemed to swell inside his designer silk jacket as a result of her suddenly rapt attention. And Bill wasn’t the only one to notice. In the reflection she could see that both Junior and Seth had swiveled on their bar stools and were openly watching them.
    Bill, thankfully, was oblivious. He continued hismostly one-sided conversation even after their entrées were served. “At first I was going to go the jewelry store route, but if you grow up in a small town, you either love it or hate it,” he explained.
    “I’ll guess you hated it,” Savannah said.
    Bill nodded and then waved in the direction of the bar. To Savannah’s utter mortification, Junior was leaving. Actually, the mortification was because, apparently, Seth was staying. Nothing like having the sheriff as your babysitter on a date.
    “You’re nice to Junior,” Savannah opined with genuine admiration.
    “He had it rough,” Bill said. “He’s always had that lisp and those glasses. The kids were cruel to him growing up, which was exactly what he didn’t need. Especially after his dad died in a hunting accident when he was about thirteen.”
    Savannah remembered that there were no photographs of Olive’s husband around. Perhaps losing someone she loved suddenly had been so painful, Olive preferred not to display them. “Children can be nasty to one another.” She repressed her desire to recall some of the hateful things she and her siblings had said to one another over the years. All chances for her to apologize had ended six years ago.
    “Don’t look so depressed. Junior took most of it in stride and he always had Olive to rebuild his self-esteem.”
    “Still,” Savannah commented, “it must have hurt to have every kid in town ragging on him.”
    “Not every kid,” Bill corrected. “Seth made sure of that.”
    “Seth—as in Sheriff Seth?”
    Bill nodded, but his mood seemed to sour. “The same Seth who is sitting over there watching us.”
    It was Savannah’s turn to blush. “I think he thinks he’s doing his job.”
    Bill snorted dismissively. “I had a couple of reservations about this evening, but now that I’ve met you, I can’t believe for one minute that you’re some sort of serial killer.”
    “Thanks. You’re a minority, though.”
    “That’s why I left town as soon as I could. The gossip mongering in this town makes Peyton Place seem like the friendliest community on earth.”
    They both laughed. Then Savannah asked, “Were you ever the subject of gossip?”
    “Sure. When I was seventeen, the whole town knew I lost my virginity before I did.”
    Savannah laughed again. She was beginning to relax. Bill’s sense of humor was a wonderful salve on her frazzled nerves. “I think you’re exaggerating.”
    “A bit. But I got labeled as a—” he made quote signs with his fingers “—pillager of Jasper’s crop of young women.”
    “Seventeen is pretty young.”
    Bill made a noncommittal move with his shoulders. “I got lucky all of two times when I lived here. The pillagers were the sainted Landry brothers. But no one dared disparage a Landry. Not in Jasper.”
    Based on his sudden frown, she realized Bill wasn’t fond of their lookout. “I guess boys will be boys,” Savannah quipped, hoping to lighten the tone of the conversation.
    “They weren’t boys, they were a herd,” Bill countered with open hostility. “It wasn’t like you could have a beef with one of them. If you made one Landry mad, they all showed up to dole out some attitude adjustment.”
    “I’ve met Sam and his wife. They seem awfully nice.”
    Bill downed the remainder of his drink. “I don’t know why I’m complaining about them now. That was more than twenty years ago and they all seem to have settled down. At least, that’s what my mother used to claim in her letters.”
    “Enough about Landrys,”