Miz Scarlet and the Bewildered Bridegroom Read Online Free PDF Page B

hint of spice, I hurried down
the two flights of stairs just as Huckleberry and January barked to
announce a new arrival at the front door.
    “I’ve got it!” I
hollered over my shoulder. The last thing I wanted was for the
dinner guests to join us for a meet-and-greet in the
vestibule.
    “Well, don’t you look
nice,” said the cheerful man on the porch. Kenny leaned forward and
gave me a warm kiss on the lips as he grasped my hand. “Mmm...you
smell good, too.”
    “Gee, thanks.” I
started to step past him, but he maneuvered me back
inside.
    “We’re not in that much
of a rush, Scarlet. I want to say hello to your
mom.”
    “You do?”
Just my luck.
“I’d hate to miss the opening credits.”
    “Nonsense. We’ve got
plenty of time.” With that, he strode down the hallway purposefully
on those long legs of his, rounded the corner, and continued
towards the dining room.
    “Kenny! How nice to see
you! Pull up a chair.” The Googins girls offered him strawberry
shortcake, which he promptly accepted.
    “Crap! Now we’ll never
get out of here alive,” I groaned to my canine companions as they
waited for me to make a move. “Come on.”
    Reluctant, even
resistant to the notion, I forced myself to trace Kenny’s route
into the dining room, accompanied by the dogs. My date was now
sitting between Laurel and Lacey, coffee mug in hand, deep in
conversation with the group. The little glob of white on his upper
lip looked suspiciously like whipped cream.
    “Kenny says he’s
available for Scrabble tomorrow night, Scarlet, so count him in for
dinner,” my mother informed me. “Florence and the good doctor have
suggested that we can do a round robin.”
    “Have
they?”
    “I haven’t played
Scrabble in years, but it sounds like fun.” Dr. Van Zandt hoisted
both thumbs in the air. “I’m in.”
    “That means we have
five players for two boards. Too bad we don’t have three more,”
Lacey announced. All eyes seemed to turn in my direction at the
same time. “Scarlet, are you doing anything tomorrow
night?”
     

Chapter Four --
     
    I was pretty sure no
one would accept the old “have to wash my hair” excuse, but my mind
seemed to freeze up as I scrambled for an answer. Desperate, I
glanced over at Kenny, who gazed expectantly at me. How could I say
no?
    “I guess I’m
available,” I heard myself say. “Count me in.”
    “Too bad we’re leaving
in the morning,” said Robin Johnson. “Scrabble’s our thing. Maybe
next time we’re in town we can play.”
    “We can ask Myrtle and
Willow to join us,” Lacey suggested. Myrtle was a distant Googins
cousin, who lived down the road with her daughter. “And as a last
resort, we’ve got Bur.”
    Ask Bur, the man most
likely to make up words out of thin air? Great! I’ll spend the
entire game challenging every combination of tiles he places on the
board. Won’t that be fun?
    “Splendid,” said the
retired medicine man, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his
nose. “I shall look forward to it.”
    “Well, now that’s
settled, please excuse Scarlet and me. We’re off to the movies,”
Kenny told the group, hopping up from his seat. As he did, I caught
him winking at Lacey. That’s how I knew she got to him -- it must
have been at the gas station.
Of
all the low-down, sneaky, conniving....
    I waited until we were
in the hallway, on our way to the front door, before I tossed out
the hook to catch my unsuspecting fish. “So, does this mean you
approve of the Googins girls’ plan?”
    There it was, just as I
suspected, the dead giveaway -- a slight misstep in his gait and an
avoidance of eye contact. Kenny’s always been a fairly honest guy.
My brother, Bur, used to call him Mr. Goody Two Shoes in high
school.
    “What?” He paused a
moment, his hand on the knob of the front door, and by the time
he’d turned it a few seconds later, I knew he’d constructed his
response. I thought it rather lame. “What are you