Pecan Pie and Deadly Lies (An Adams Grove Novel) by Nancy Naigle Page B

are.”
    He nodded. “True. Thanks. I’m going to go get changed into some dry clothes first though.”
    Kasey stepped out toward the driveway and peered outside. “I thought I heard someone drive up. Riley’s here.”
    Cody got out of the car and put the keys in his pocket. “I guess this is it for a while then?”
    “Guess so.” She stepped back. “I really hope it all goes well with Lou and that y’all have so many fireworks you set off a smoke alarm.”
    “Wow, you know how to put pressure on a guy.”
    He walked back to the bus wishing he were going to be the one riding with Kasey to northern Virginia instead of Pete.
    “Not a good day for a bike ride, is it?” Pete teased.
    “Not so much.”
    “Kasey and Riley are getting ready to go pick up Jake. She said she’ll be ready to roll as soon as they get back.”
    “Thanks. I’ll be ready,” Pete said.
    Cody closed the door to his room behind him. Trying to think positive about the trip, he tossed a change of clothes in his duffel bag. He changed into a charcoal gray shirt with diamond-shaped snaps and tucked it into his jeans. Then, he grabbed his custom Bailey guitar and pushed the cowboy hat down on his head, before heading back out to the garage to get the T-bird.
    He backed the car out into the driveway and adjusted the mirrors, then punched the manual buttons to find a radio station. The first one he pushed was a sports talk show.
Good taste, Nick. Women. Cars. Radio stations. We probably would have been friends.
He typed Lou’s address into his phone for directions.
    Right at a two-hour drive. Not bad.
    Once he got on the interstate it was smooth sailing. The car handled nicely and it was kind of a cool feeling to know that the nods and looks he was getting were for the car and not for him.
    He took the US-64 bypass exit toward Raleigh, and now that he was starting to get closer he found himself feeling a little nervous about being on Lou’s turf.
    Maybe you really can’t go back
. When he and Lou were a couple, times had been lean. He was just barely making ends meet playing smoky bars and doing session work whenever he could get it. Back then going up to the local ice cream shop for a lime sherbet freeze was a celebration. One they didn’t afford often. Mostly it was at home with the generic stuff. Still good memories though.
We’ve come a long way.
    That was a good memory, though. He hadn’t had a sherbet freeze in years. He swung the car into the next strip mall and parked in a spot toward the middle of the lot so no one would bump the car.
    Feeling good about the idea, he tugged his hat down and jogged up to the grocery store. He took a cart and started heading for the frozen food section to get lime sherbet, then over to the soda aisle for a bottle of lemon-lime soda. He passed up the brand name and went for the generic store brand. That’s all they could afford back then. It seemed like a fun thing to do, and a nice memory to relive.
    Aisle six had no one waiting so he wheeled the cart up to the counter and put his things on the belt. The woman ringing him up never even made eye contact with him. She looked like she wasn’t having a very good day the way she swept the items across the scanner and then dropped them into the plastic bag.
    “Do you mind if I get a paper bag for that?”
    She looked up at him like he’d asked her to strip and dance naked on the belt.
    “Do you
have
paper bags?” he asked.
    She sighed, locked the register, and slogged around the end of the next aisle to get one.
    “Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. You can just put the plastic bag right inside there.” He smiled his famous smile and she softened a little. “You’re an angel.”
    That did it. She smiled.
    He handed her a twenty and she counted back his change.
    “You have a great day, ma’am.” With the grocery bag tucked in the passenger seat, he started the car, reset the GPS, and turned back on the main road. He’d been driving for