Hidden Summit (Virgin River #17)(46)

“Church rummage sale,” she said, lifting it with one finger and handing it over the bar to Jack. She propped the fire extinguisher on the bar stool beside her, as if it was her date. “I don’t think he’ll be back for it. Too bad they’ll never get what it’s worth. I’m sure it’s expensive.”

She turned toward the door just in time to see Conner and Paul enter the bar together, no doubt having seen Greg. She lifted her drink toward them in a little toast.

“She did it again,” Paul said to Conner.

“That’s my girl,” Conner said to Paul.

Eleven

Leslie hated to sacrifice time with Conner, but she couldn’t wait to get home and call her mother. She asked him to give her an hour, then if he wanted to see her later, the price of admission was takeout from the bar.

“Why didn’t you tell me Greg’s been pestering you?” she said when she got her mom on the phone.

“Oh, I thought I mentioned…” Candace said.

“I knew he called or something to ask where I’d gone when he couldn’t find me in Grants Pass, but I had no idea he’d continued bothering you.”

“Well, I knew it wasn’t your doing, Leslie. I didn’t want you to worry about it. And I thought I finally got rid of him.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“Oh, really since you moved,” she said. “At first I thought he was only stopping by because he wanted to know where you’d gone, but then when he kept it up after he finally knew where you were, I was a little confused. I finally told him, in a nice way, that he just couldn’t drop in on us anymore. I said it was a requirement that he call ahead. In which case I always said we were just on our way out. But the doofus just kept calling.”

“What is up with him?” Leslie asked.

“Well, at first he said he didn’t want his relationship with us to be lost just because the marriage was over, but I knew that wasn’t true. The conversation always came around to you very quickly. He wanted to know how you were. So I told him you had never been better, that you were seeing a wonderful man and were so happy.”

“When did you do that?”

“Just last week,” Candace said. “Why?”

“He came down here to Virgin River. Again!”

“What on earth…”

“He wanted the details about this man I’m seeing. He wanted to help me through the rebound crisis because he’s certain I’m devastated over losing him.”

Candace laughed into the phone.

“What’s funny?” Leslie asked.

“He has such a high opinion of himself, that’s what’s funny. How’d you get rid of him?”

“I shot him with the fire extinguisher. This time I got him good.”

“That’s getting to be quite a habit, isn’t it, sweetheart? I just had the scariest thought—you might be getting more like your parents....”

She sighed. “That wouldn’t be all bad, especially if I could have as much fun as you do. I’m going to get a fire extinguisher for the house. You know, if I weren’t afraid of the message it might send to Greg, I’d call Allison and ask her if she can keep him home.”

“Hmm. Maybe the new marriage isn’t working out so well—have you thought of that? He has far too much time on his hands.”

“Oh, please be wrong,” she said. “I need him to be happily married and not my problem.”

“There was a time such a thought—that his marriage was on the rocks—would have filled you with joy,” Candace reminded her.

“Well, I’ve discovered something very important over the past couple of months. The only thing worse than feeling rejected and devastated is feeling like a damn fool.”

The second week in May, Conner received a message from Brie to give her a call when he had a minute. She told him she had information for him and to come to her house around six in the evening, by which time she expected to be done working for the day. To kill time, he went to Jack’s for a beer.

If Conner had any fantasy of flying under the radar in Virgin River, it was gone by now. He was made as the man in Leslie’s life. It only took one bartender, one cook, a couple of local guys sharing a pitcher and one general contractor whose loose lips had the story all over town. Within a week of Greg’s visit and the fire extinguisher dousing in the bar, it was a legend. Virgin River, he realized, loved a good story. They had plenty of them, too. There wasn’t a lot of entertainment in town besides those stories, and they lapped them up.

“Small town,” Jack said. “We live for stuff like that.”

“And the latest story on me?” Conner probed.

“Nothing all that interesting. Just that you’re gonna have to get Leslie away from her ex-husband to have her.” And then Jack grinned.

Conner eyeballed him for a moment while he considered the grim truth—that he had much more interesting facts still under wraps. “You people,” he said, shaking his head, “need to get a life.”

“This is the life, man. As a rule we like as little excitement as possible.”

Conner could relate to that.

“Where is the little lady tonight?” Jack asked.

“I believe tonight is yoga night,” Conner said.