Lemon Meringue Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen #4)(62)

Norman walked over to greet her the moment she walked in the door. At first Hannah was puzzled by the relieved expression on his face until she realized that he'd been talking to Delores. No doubt her mother had been asking him all sorts of personal questions about why he was building such a big house and if he had any plans for the future. "Mother's been giving you the third degree?" she asked.

"You could say that"

"Then it looks like I got here just in time."

"In more ways than one," Norman told her with a smile. "Bill and Mike went to pick up the pizza and they should be back any minute."

"Did you say they were bringing pizza? "

"Yes, and your mother ordered a low-cal one for you."

Hannah started to frown. "That's got be a contradiction in terms. How could a pizza be low-cal?"

"Maybe they put on low-fat cheese?"

"That wouldn't do it. There's still all that wonderful crust, and the spicy sauce, and pepperoni, and sausage, and olives, and anchovies, and..."

"Hold it," Norman said, handing her his handkerchief. "You're drooling."

Hannah took it and made a show of wiping her face even though she knew he was teasing. "Pizza is one of my very favorite things and just one bite would blow my diet."

"Don't you think you've lost enough weight? You're looking positively skinny."

"I am?" Hannah stared up at him with a look that was at least a first cousin to adoration.

"I really didn't think you needed to lose any weight in the first place."

LEMON MERINGUE PIE MURDER 209

"You didn't?" If they'd been alone, Hannah would have grabbed him and given him a big kiss. As it was, she felt grateful tears well up in her eyes and she covered her embarrassment at being so emotional with an attempt at humor. "How's your eyesight?"

"Twenty-twenty ... as long as I wear my glasses."

"Glasses? But you're not wearing any ..." Hannah stopped and gave him a stern look. "You're kidding, right?"

"Not entirely. I do need to wear glasses, but I switched to contacts a couple of years ago."

"Here comes dinner!" Delores called out from her post at the window. "Bill and Mike just drove up. Who wants to run out and help them carry the pizzas in?"

"I do." Hannah turned on her heel and headed for the door. If she couldn't eat the pizza, at least she could get in a couple of good sniffs while she carried it in to the table.

After dinner, Hannah carried in the box of assorted cookies she'd brought and Delores got out the rest of the dessert. Her mother's contribution was a huge tub of ice cream with a whole array of jarred toppings from the Red Owl. Hannah took one look at the fudge sauce and wished she had a full complement of talismans to ward off evil. Since she had nothing, not even a necklace of garlic to protect her, she grabbed Michelle while everyone else was munching cookies and building sundaes.

"Will you walk out on the dock with me?" Hannah asked her. "We need to talk."

"Sure. I ate so much of that low-cal pizza, I don't have any room left for dessert."

"What was on it anyway?" Hannah was curious. Since there had been a big tub of salad, she'd filled up on that.

"Skim-milk mozzarella with sun-dried tomatoes, shredded chicken breast, and asparagus tips. The crust was low-cal too because it was thinner than their regular crust."

"So you had to eat twice as much to fill up?"

210 Joanne Fluke

Michelle started to grin. "You're right. I usually eat two pieces and tonight I ate four."

Just as Hannah and Michelle were about to go out the door, Andrea saw them and rushed up. "Do you want some company? I'm passing on dessert, too."

"Come on then," Hannah told her. "We're going out to sit on the dock."

"Oh, good. I'm going to dangle my feet in the water. I ran all over town today and my ankles are swelling."

"You two go ahead," Hannah said. "I'll get the mosquito repellent and meet you down there. They're really bad this time of night and they'll eat us alive."

Hannah sprayed on her repellent as she walked down the steps to the dock. Once she got there, she tossed the spray bottle to Michelle and handed the lotion to Andrea. "I remembered what you said about aerosols, so I brought you some lotion."

"Thanks, Hannah." Andrea slapped at a mosquito that had already discovered her arm. "Doc Knight's got a real thing about it while I'm pregnant. I can't use hair spray, or perfume, or even cooking spray."

Hannah laughed. "I don't think there's much danger with the cooking spray."

"That's true," Andrea conceded good-naturedly. "Bill uses it for his eggs in the morning, but he always waits until I leave the kitchen."

"I thought you cooked breakfast for him." Michelle looked surprised.

"I used to, the first year we were married. I made scrambled eggs every morning, but Bill decided I burned too many frying pans. Now he makes his eggs and I do the toast."

Hannah felt like asking how much toast Andrea had managed to burn, but she curbed the question and turned to Michelle. "You gave Lisa a ten-dollar bill today, didn't you?"