Carolina Moon

there. I just hope they catch this one, catch him and hang him by his toes and cut off his—”
    “Ah—” Lips twisted into a pained smile, Dwight squeezed her arm and rolled his eyes toward his son. “Little ears.”
    “Sorry,” she said, as Luke decorated his dandelion puff hair with the best part of an Oreo. “Honey, Lissy’s going to stomp you into the ground till your ears bleed if you bring her boy home in that shape.”
    “I oughta get points for bringing home groceries.”
    “You get minor points for that, we’re talking major here. For major, try jewelry.”
    “Well, you’d know.” Dwight scratched his head. “Actually, I was thinking of hunting her up a present, take her mind off her worries. Thought I’d stop by the drugstore and find some perfume.”
    “They haven’t got anything special in there. Old-lady scents mostly. You go by Tory’s place, and you’ll find what you’re looking for. Put a smile back on Lissy’s face.”
    Dwight took a good look at Luke, who was now happily coating the red plastic handle of the cart with black Oreo goo. “You think I’m taking this bull calf in that china shop?”
    “You got a point there.” The plan that formulated in her mind pleased her very much. “I’ll tell you what we’ll do, Dwight. You give me the money, and I’ll go on in and find something that’ll make you a hero. When you’re done marketing, and scrape a few layers of cookie off your Luke, you just come by, and I’ll run it out to you.”
    “Really? You wouldn’t mind?”
    “I was going by anyway. Besides, what are friends for?” She held out her hand, palm up.
    “Good thing I just went to the bank. I got cash.” Delighted, he took out his wallet, counted bills into her hand. When he stopped, she simply stared balefully at him.
    “Cough it up, Dwight. You can’t be a hero for under two hundred.”
    “Two hundred? Jesus, Faith, you’ll take all but my last dollar here.”
    “Looks like you’ll have to go by the bank again.” She snatched the bills out of his wallet while he winced. “That’ll give me more time to find just the right thing.”
    “What about your groceries here?” he called after her.
    “Oh.” She waved dismissively. “I’ll come back later on.”
    Dwight blew out a breath, put his nearly empty wallet back in his pocket. “I think,” he told his son, “we’ve just been hosed.”
    It was perfect, Faith decided. She could go in, pick Tory’s brain, and do a good deed. Then it was only a hop and skip down to Wade’s office. She’d have time to decide whether to punish him for making her imagine him imagining sex with Sherry Bellows.
    It couldn’t have worked out better.
    This time she took Bee out of the car, snuggling, cooing. “Now, you’re going to be a good girl, aren’t you, so mean old Tory won’t complain. You sit like a sweetheart and I’ll give you a nice chewy bone. That’s Mama’s baby.”
    “Don’t you bring that dog in here again.” Instantly Tory was out from behind the counter, ready to block Faith as she came in.
    “Oh, stop being so pissy. She’s going to sit right here like a doll baby, aren’t you, Bee honey.” She lifted one of the puppy’s paws, waved it, while they both stared at Faith with equally innocent expressions.
    “Damn it, Faith.”
    “She’s just good as gold. You watch.” She dug out the bone first, as insurance, then set Bee down, pressing her rump until it hit the floor. “Besides, what kind of welcome is that when I have a mission, and cash,” she said, pulling out the wad of bills.
    “If that dog pees on my floor—”
    “She’s got too much dignity for that. I’m doing Dwight a little favor. Lissy’s feeling poorly and he wants to cheer her up with a nice present.”
    Tory blew out a breath, but she calculated the number of bills Faith was cheerfully waving. “House or body decoration?”
    “Body.”
    “Let’s have a look.”
    “Good thing Dwight ran into me. Men don’t have a clue about such things most of the time, and Lissy’s taste is all in her mouth. And it’s not so keen there.” Faith paused at the display case, lifted her eyebrows. “Was that a snicker?”
    “I have too much dignity for that.”
    “You ask me, you’ve got too much dignity for your own good. Let’s see that necklace there, the one with the pink topaz and moonstones.”
    “You know your rocks.”
    “You bet your ass. A woman wants to know if some man’s trying to pass off a