"That's only half of it. She implied that Janie was fat! You don't think she is, do you?"
Norman shook his head. "Janie's big, but she's not fat. And she'd look great on camera. That excuse Connie Mac gave about how Janie could hurt her sales is a crock. Julia Child didn't look thin on any of her cooking shows, and her cookbooks were bestsellers."
"That's right," Hannah said, wishing she'd thought of that in time to tell Connie Mac. Then she remembered what Norman had said as they walked out the door, and she turned to him with a question. "You said you wanted to kill Connie Mac. What did she do to you?"
"What are you doing for the next eight hours? If I tell you everything, it'll take all night."
Hannah laughed. "Maybe you'd better give me the abbreviated version."
"Connie Mac was an hour late for her appointment with me. Janie apologized, but Connie Mac didn't say a word. And then Connie Mac ordered me to take her portrait in the dining room and I was all set up in the parlor."
"So you had to move all your equipment?"
"Oh, yes. Six times. She kept changing her mind. And then, when we were finally finished and I'd already packed up all my camera gear, she decided she needed one more series of shots sitting behind the first mayor's desk."
Hannah frowned. Ezekiel's desk was a valuable antique and Delores had secured the area around it with museum- style velvet ropes. "Mother didn't let her do it, did she?"
"Of course she did. Connie Mac sweet-talked her right into it."
"Really!" Hannah was surprised. She'd thought that Delores would be the one person in town that Connie Mac couldn't sway. "So how long did this photo session take?"
"An hour and a half, and it seemed like months. By the time we finished, I was ready to bash her head in with one of Mrs. Jordan's rolling pins."
"It's a good thing you didn't. It might have hurt the rolling pin." Hannah smiled up at him and reached out to take his arm. Norman covered her gloved hand with his and they crunched through the snow together on the way to their cars.
"I haven't seen you for a while," Norman said, escorting her to the driver's side of her truck. "I've missed you, Hannah."
"I've missed you, too."
"How about some dinner? We could drive out to the inn. At least we know she won't be there."
"True, but I'd probably fall asleep with my head in the soup," Hannah said, stifling a yawn. Today had been a full day, and the strain of being pleasant to Connie Mac and baking ten times as many cookies as usual had taken its toll.
"Do you have another date?"
"No way. I'd really like to have dinner with you, Norman, but I'm just too tired. Can I take a rain check?"
"Sure, but you still have to eat. Do you want to stop by the Corner Tavern? That would be quicker."
"Not tonight. I just want to go home and crawl into bed with a glass of wine and a toasted sardine sandwich."
Norman made a face, "That doesn't sound very nutritious."
"It's not as bad as you think, Sardines are protein, and I always use the ones in ketchup sauce, That takes care of the vegetable. And the buttered toast provides the fat and the carbohydrates. It's a very well-balanced sandwich, if you think about it."
"I'd rather not." Norman unplugged her electrical cord, wound it around Hannah's bumper, and opened the door of her truck for her. As she slid into the driver's seat, he said, "Hannah?"
"Yes, Norman."
"Let's try to get together more often, okay?"
"Sounds good to me," Hannah said, reaching for her seat belt and buckling it.
"I was thinking about it last night and I realized that I was cutting off my nose to spite my face."
"What do you mean?" Hannah asked.
"Whenever our mothers start trying to push us together, I rebel like a teenager."
"So do I," Hannah admitted. "Mother suggested that I call you today, and I didn't. It wasn't that I didn't want to call you, it was just that I didn't want to give in to her."
"That's exactly what I mean." Norman looked very serious. "I think we should stop letting our mothers influence our behavior. We'll do what we really want to do, even if they suggest it first."
Hannah nodded. "That's a great idea, but there's one drawback."
"What's that?"
"It requires that we act like adults."
Norman chuckled. "Do you think that we can handle it?"
"Of course. The next time Mother suggests I call you, I'll call you."
"Good for you," Norman said, looking pleased.
"And then, when Mother starts preening because I followed her advice, I'll just stick my tongue out at her."
* * *
"Why don't you order something different, Andrea?" Hannah suggested, closing her menu and handing it back to the waitress. "You always have baked chicken."
"I like baked chicken."
"Whatever," Hannah sighed. "At least try Sally's cream of radish soup. It's wonderful."
Andrea shook her head. "I'm sticking with the Caesar salad. It's perfect with baked chicken."
Hannah shrugged and gave up the fight. She'd come out to the inn for dinner after all, but it hadn't been her choice. The phone had been ringing as she unlocked the door to her condo, and it had been Andrea in an absolute panic, Could Hannah please have dinner with her? Janie had canceled, Bill had paged her to say he'd be late, and she'd been sitting at a table in the dining room all alone. After a few minutes of pleading, Hannah's sisterly compassion had won out.
"They have excellent wine by the glass, Hannah." Andrea interrupted her thoughts, "Would you like me to pick out a nice chardonnay for you?"
"No, thanks. I'm so tired, it would knock me right under I the table."
Andrea had the grace to look slightly guilty. "I probably shouldn't have called you, but I just couldn't face sitting here all alone. You understand, don't you?"
"Yes, I do," Hannah said. As the most popular girl at Jordan High, Andrea had always been surrounded by admirers, She had grown accustomed to being at the center of attention, and the prospect of eating dinner in a restaurant alone was anathema to her.
"Oh, good! There's Bill!" A happy smile spread over Andrea's face and she stood up to wave. "I thought they'd be much later than this."
"They?" Hannah glanced over at the entrance and felt a delicious tingle when she spotted Bill's partner and boss, Mike Kingston. He towered over Bill, who was almost six feet tall, and most of the women in Lake Eden said that Mike was the best-looking man in town. With his dark blond hair and rugged physique, he reminded Hannah of the capable, fearless early settlers who had carved out a niche for them- selves in the Midwest.
"Don't they look great in their uniforms?" Andrea asked.
"Yes, they do," Hannah responded, hoping she didn't sound too breathless. Mike always had this effect on her. Then she realized that Andrea hadn't been surprised to see Mike, and her eyes narrowed. Andrea and Bill were always trying to set her up with Mike. "Did you know that Mike was coming?"
"Bill said he was going to ask him, but I wasn't really sure."
"Did you plan this dinner to throw the two of us together?"
"Of course not!" Andrea looked perfectly indignant. "I invited you this morning, remember? And Janie was supposed to be here, too. I just thought we could all have a nice time together."
Hannah still wasn't sure that Andrea hadn't played matchmaker. After all, she'd learned from an expert, their mother.
"Smile, Hannah," Andrea urged. "You want Mike to think you're happy to see him, don't you?"
Hannah smiled. That part was easy. Seeing Mike always made her smile.
Two hours later, Hannah unlocked the door to her condo for the second time that night and headed straight for the phone in the kitchen to exercise a little damage control. Once Mike and Bill had joined them, one thing had led to another with surprising rapidity. Sally had moved them to a secluded table by the big rock fireplace, the ambience had been romantic and intimate, and Mike had flirted with her outrageously. Hannah had stayed much longer than she'd planned, and that had turned out to be a big mistake.