A Catered Fourth of July Read Free Page A

that.”
    â€œHe looks. I can too.” Bernie clasped her hands over her head and stretched. “I mean, it’s not as if I’m going to sleep with the guy.”
    Libby smiled. “God knows everyone else has.”
    Bernie brought her arms down and stretched out her calves. “Not everyone, just half the female population of Longely, including Juno.”
    â€œWhy do you say that?” Libby asked.
    â€œDevlin’s comment about he and Hilda being old friends.”
    â€œSo?”
    â€œSo Juno owns Hilda.”
    â€œShe does?” Libby asked.
    â€œYup. All I’m saying is connect the dots.”
    Libby shook her head. “I just don’t get Devlin’s appeal. I mean he’s good-looking, but not movie star good-looking.”
    â€œIt’s easy,” Bernie replied. “He likes women and he’s available. Maybe it’s as simple as that. Young. Old. Rich. Poor. Fat. Thin. Married. Single. You can’t say he isn’t democratic.”
    Libby rubbed her bottle of water over her face to cool herself off then took another drink. “I’m surprised some enraged boyfriend or husband hasn’t shot him yet.”
    â€œThat’s so nineteen hundreds. Anyway, if we were talking about that kind of stuff, my money would be on a discarded lover, the female being the deadlier of the species when it comes to matters of the heart, in addition to having a longer memory.” Bernie paused for a moment. “At least in my experience.”
    â€œTrue.” Libby harked back to the homicide cases she and her sister had been involved in, not to mention her lingering homicidal thoughts concerning her old boyfriend, Orion.
    Bernie laughed. “Good thing for Jack, he’s pretty nimble. Not to mention energetic.”
    â€œHe has to be. Otherwise he’d have died of exhaustion a long time ago.” Libby pointed to the meadow where Longely’s citizen reenactors were beginning to congregate. “They’re starting.”
    Bernie brushed a strand of hair out of her face and repositioned her bobby pin. “I guess we’d better finish setting up. The ravening hordes will be here soon.”
    Libby scanned the area. “Certainly not a horde. Hardly even a group. And it’s definitely too hot to raven anything. We should have served a shrub like I wanted to.”
    â€œLibby, no one knows what a shrub is.”
    â€œWe could have written a sign and explained.”
    â€œThat it’s a drink made with vinegar?”
    â€œAs well as blueberries and sugar, and that the colonists used to drink it back in the day in the summer, and that it’s supposed to be not only cooling but healthful.”
    â€œI don’t think anyone would have touched it,” Bernie said.
    â€œWell, we won’t know now, will we?”
    â€œIt certainly would have been a conversation piece,” Bernie said, rethinking her stand.
    â€œExactly.” Libby swatted away a mosquito. “Maybe we can do it next year.”
    â€œHopefully there won’t be a next year. Or at least if there is, we’ll get paid.”
    Libby thought of their balance sheet. “I certainly wouldn’t say no if the council offered.” She paused for a moment then said, “Remind me. Why did we make so much food?”
    Bernie answered promptly. “Easy. We were going on the head count Rick Evans gave us.”
    Libby surveyed the group of spectators one more time. “I would say he was a little optimistic.”
    â€œJust a tad. Not that I blame anyone for not coming. I mean, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have to. It’s too hot. Would you?”
    â€œUnfortunately, yes,” Libby promptly replied.
    â€œI mean if Marvin wasn’t in it.”
    â€œThen no. Absolutely not.”
    â€œMy point exactly.” Bernie stifled a yawn. “I’m not sure that I would be here even if Brandon