The cynical, tough, loner reporter act of his was mostly facade, maintained for reasons of his own—possibly just habit—but that was something Riley would have to acknowledge before he could make a decision to change. If, in fact, he ever found anyone who made him want to change.
Chapter Fourteen
It was close to lunchtime Friday morning and the streets of downtown were already busy. People who worked in the banks and other businesses still located in the aging business district were leaving their offices for their lunch hours, quite a few headed for the popular Rainbow Café.
Standing on a sidewalk only a few short blocks from that dining destination, Riley resisted an urge to follow them. Except in passing, he hadn’t seen Teresa since he’d taken her to her door last Saturday evening. He needed a bit more time before he saw her again for an extended period.
On an impulse, he entered the corner candy store, located in an oddly shaped old stone building that had been renovated only a couple of years earlier. The candy store owners had struggled for the first year after they opened, but the addition of a line of gift items such as specialty teas and coffees, porcelain teapots and fruitscented candles had been a clever and profitable idea. Riley stopped by whenever he was in the area because he had a fondness for gourmet flavored jelly beans, and Sweets ’n’ Treats had the biggest selection around.
The store’s owner, Angelina Santiago, looked up from her work with a smile when he entered. “Hóla, Riley. ¿Cómo estás?”
“Bien, gracias, Angelina.” Having just exhausted his Spanish vocabulary, he switched to English. “How’s your family?”
Her English was much better than his Spanish. “All well, thank you. Tomas is coming home from college next week for Thanksgiving weekend. I can’t wait to see him.”
Riley was already reaching for a plastic bag to fill with jelly beans. “And how are the wedding plans coming along?”
Angelina’s broad face beamed. “My daughter is going to have a beautiful wedding. It will be December twenty-second. Her attendants are going to wear dark green dresses and carry red and white flowers—very Christmasy.”
“Sounds nice.” Riley dumped a scoop of sour apple jelly beans in the bag, then added scoops of watermelon and peach flavors.
“So when are you going to be a groom, hmm? I’ve heard you’ve been dating the new waitress from the Rainbow Café. I have seen her. She’s muy bonita.”
He nearly dumped a scoopful of strawberry-cheesecake flavored candies on the floor. He just managed to get them into the bag. “I’m not dating anyone. And I’m certainly not planning a wedding.”
“Mmm. We’ll see. I’m a little psychic, you know.”
“So you’ve always claimed.”
“I feel big changes coming on for you.”
He added cappuccino, cinnamon, chocolate malt and piña colada jelly beans to his already bulging bag. “You know I don’t believe in psychic powers, Angelina.”
“But do you believe in the power of love?” she retorted whimsically.
“I believe in the power of root-beer flavored jelly beans,” he said, dumping yet another scoopful into his bag.
“You fight all you want, Riley O’Neal. Love usually wins in the end.”
He set the bag on the counter to be weighed. “You just concentrate on your daughter’s wedding and let the rest of us happy bachelors be. Do you have any of those chocolate pecan patties I like so much?”
“Of course.” She turned to a shelf behind the counter, selecting a box from the assortment arranged there.
Riley’s attention was caught by a display of lollipops in battery-powered musical holders. They were colorfully decorated with instantly recognizable figures—Disney characters, comic book superheroes and perennial kid favorites like unicorns and dinosaurs. He picked up one of the unicorn figures, pressing the button and listening to the high-pitched electronic melody that resulted. Maggie would like this, he thought. And Mark would probably get a kick out of the one that looked like…
He quickly set the trinket back in the display. He’d come into this store to buy candy for himself, not for Teresa’s kids.
Angelina set the box of chocolate pecan patties next to the bag of jelly beans. She glanced at the display he’d been studying. “Will there be anything else?”
“No,” he said, a bit more firmly than he’d intended. “What do I owe you?”
Her dark eyes glittered with amusement he suspected was at his expense, but she rang up his purchases without commenting further on his personal life.
He left the candy store and headed straight for his car. He had a column to write that afternoon, and he planned to lock himself into his apartment until it was finished. He didn’t even glance at the diner as he passed it.
Two hours later, he was sitting in front of his computer, his mind as blank as the monitor in front of him. A sizable dent had been made in his bag of jelly beans. He was beginning to feel a little queasy from his sugar lunch.
He’d heard Teresa arrive home five minutes or so ago. She was early; h