Raspberry Danish Murder (Hannah Swensen #22)(10)

“It’s not too late,” Michelle pointed out, returning to her own stool. “You can always call him at the clinic.”

“I know. It’s just that Norman is going to want to take us out for something to eat and . . . well . . .”

“You want to be alone.”

“Yes. I know I’ll be tired and I don’t think I’ll have the energy to be good company, if you know what I mean.”

“I know exactly what you mean. I’m like that during finals week. I don’t want to see anybody, including Lonnie. I just want to relax and get a good night’s sleep. Let’s stop at the Corner Tavern for a hamburger on our way home. It’s tiring to drive in blowing snow, especially if it comes straight at you. If we stop to eat, we’ll have a break halfway home.”

“That sounds good. We’ll do that, Michelle.”

“Except we’ll have to leave here at five-thirty. We need to be back at the condo by seven-thirty.”

“You have a date with Lonnie?” Hannah guessed.

“No. P.K. filmed another advertisement for the Thanksgiving play. He said that since it’s for the Lake Eden Players, the big boss said they’d run it tonight. It’s going to air between eight and eight-thirty.”

“He just filmed it today and they’re running it tonight?”

“Yes. He was going to go straight back to the station, edit it, and turn it in. I don’t know if I should believe him, but he said that it was no trouble at all.”

Hannah took a sip of her rapidly cooling coffee. She didn’t really want it, but she wanted to be sure that what she was about to say would be received in the right way.

“What?” Michelle asked, noticing the thoughtful expression on Hannah’s face.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Michelle, but I wonder if P.K. is beginning to develop . . . feelings for you.”

Michelle looked surprised. “You mean you think that he might be falling in love with me?”

“That’s exactly what I mean. I just wasn’t sure how to say it. It’s fine if you feel the same way about him, but it could become a problem if you don’t.”

“I don’t, and if you’re right, it might become a problem. P.K.’s a friend, but that’s it.” Michelle stopped speaking and began to look worried. “You don’t think I’m using P.K., do you? Because of the commercials he does for the plays I’m directing?”

“No, I don’t. You wouldn’t do that, Michelle. I’m just hoping that P.K. doesn’t perceive your interest in him as something more than it is.”

“I see what you mean. I’ll have to be very careful that I don’t give him any encouragement on the romance front. It just never occurred to me that he might be developing those kinds of feelings for me.”

Hannah gave a little shrug. “I could be wrong. I just thought I sensed something. And as your big sister, I wanted to warn you.”

“Thanks. Now that I think about it, you could be right, Hannah. Just last week, P.K. told me that he was engaged to the girl he’d been dating since high school, but they’d broken up. I asked him why, but he said it was still painful and he didn’t really want to talk about it.”

“Okay.” Hannah got up and gave her sister a little hug. “It’s like Great-Grandma Elsa used to say, Forewarned is forearmed. Let’s forget about it for now and concentrate on what we’re going to bake next. We’ve got a lot of cookies to make and a lot of bowls of dough to mix up before we can drive out to get those burgers.”

“And fries.”

“And onion rings. And stop it right now, Michelle. I’m getting hungry and we still have a couple more hours to go!”

*

“Just what I wanted!” Hannah said, biting into her juicy, mustard-, mayo-, and pickle-laden burger.

“Oh yes!” Michelle said with a happy sigh as she dipped a crispy French fry into the side of blue cheese dressing they’d ordered. “I’m really glad we stopped here, Hannah, and it’s not just because of the food. It was really nasty out there.”

“I know. The snow was blowing so hard, it was almost impossible to see the side of the road. Let’s hope it lets up a little while we’re eating.”

“Here are some complimentary onion rings,” their waitress announced, placing a paper-lined basket on the table between them. “They just came out of the fryer. I haven’t seen your mother at the Red Velvet Lounge lately, Hannah.”

“Maybe we’ll all come in for lunch on Saturday,” Hannah said, smiling up at the waitress, who also worked at the restaurant in Delores and Doc’s condo building. “Thanks for the onion rings, Georgina.”

“Don’t thank me. Thank the fry cook. He put up that order by mistake and I nabbed it for you two. How’s Ross doing, Hannah? I heard that KCOW-TV sent him out to do a special program. Where is he, anyway?”

“The last time he called, he was in New York,” Michelle jumped in before Hannah was forced to tell the lie that their whole family had devised. She turned to Hannah. “You didn’t hear from him today, did you, Hannah?”

“Not yet,” Hannah responded truthfully.

“Well, when you talk to him, tell him we’re all really curious about that program he’s doing.”