fall in line

he has to refrain from rolling his eyes at that. “i thought someone needed a tow here but i must’a got the wrong house.”

“Nope, no towin’ needed here. Oh, but if it’s someone close by, could you try not to make a whole lotta noise? Thanks,” Janet replied, stepping back, fully prepared to shut the door and go back to bed.

“Watermelon and peach? Is that even legal,” the brunette laughed. “‘M gonna haf’ta take your word for it and give it a try –if there anybody who knows a good combination of custard, it’s you.”

“Trust me, my mom might give you the same odd look she gave me when I first started gettin’ it, but it’s worth it,” nodding her head, she spoke again. “Before I went off to Florida, I spent all my free time in there. I always have been a sucker for anything sweet.”

“Oh my. Do you work third shift or something?” She shrugged off the thank you with a soft smile, she opened the basket that had individually wrapped muffins in it, “Do you want blueberry or banana nut?” She paused before suggesting, “You can have one of both if you want. As my apology for waking you up.”

“Paperwork doesn’t really have a curfew,” she shrugged as well, rubbing her eyes as Dixie spoke, “Banana nut is just fine, thank you,” she spoke, shooting the other a smile, “Oh, don’t worry about it. I have to be up in...” Looking down at her watch she spoke again, “2 hours, anyways.”

“To see if you wanna go get waffles? I need a waffle date. If I show up there alone one more time they might run a ‘friends wanted’ ad in the newsletter for me. I’ll pay.” 

“A waffle date? Can’t we have our waffle date, in say, two hours from now?” Janet asked, one of her brows raising, “Besides, didn’t I hear you were hanging around one of those Abernathys? Why not ask them?”

“Nah, too much effort.” Came Dean’s effortless reply. He was long used to people complaining about his bare chest, and still made no plans to change it. “Huh, wonder what’s up with the mail person then.” It’d been a growing problem that his things were ending up at the wrong house, and other people’s stuff was ending up at his.

She had always thought Dean Matthews was too much of a flirt. Janet was sure that girls were impressed by whatever he seemed to be putting out, but the same couldn’t be said about her. She found him to be childish, ironic considering he was older than her. “Well, I’m damn near ready to file a complaint with how often everyone’s mail is gettin’ displaced these days.”

“Look, I don’t wanna be out here this early either, but have you seen this dog runnin’ round?” Dot pulled out a picture, a little yorkie with pink bows in her hair. When she came beck to Frostford, she never expected this to be what her detective skills were used for.

She leaned forward, her vision blurry from now having her contacts or glasses on, examining the picture of the dog. “No, I haven’t... I thought you were supposed to be a detective?” Was Frostford that boring of a town that the cops cases consisted of missing animals?

“I just wanted to give you this, Janet!” Honey reached her hand out, holding a container of freshly baked cupcakes, a wide grin on her face. “I’m makin’ some more for your mom, too!”

“Oh, this is real sweet, Honey, I just wish you’d been sweet after 9 am,” Janet smiled, taking the container from her friend. Her name truly was fitting, there were few people in town sweeter than Honey Jefferson. “I’m sure my mom will appreciate it too.”

“Sorry about that,” Taylor said, trying to get Bo Duke to come on so she can finish her walk, but instead he found herself on Jane’s front porch, sniffing at her flowers before trying to sniff at her. “My dog is trying to flirt with you, and I’m tryin to get him back so we can finish our walk.”

“Ha, he’s probably smellin’ Magnolia on me. My dog, not the flower. ‘S alright, I can’t blame you for your dog, especially when he’s this cute,” she knelt down, giving Bo Duke a scratch behind his ear as she replied to Taylor

“How about if I come bearing gifts?” Willow gently rattles a bag of chocolate chip muffins and holds out a cup of coffee for Janet.

“Didn’t you want to do breakfast today? Or did I make that up?”

“Alright, I forgive you,” Janet shot Willow a smile, eagerly taking the cup of coffee and bringing it to her mouth, a sigh of relief escaping her lips after.

“Some of us have already been here for two hours, Janet…  I wanted to know if you want to come into Court with me tomorrow, but maybe not then.”

“Right, yes, sorry Vivian. I’d love to go to court, if the offer still stands. I stayed up finishing up the paperwork for Friday’s case.” Janet wasn’t a kiss ass by any means. She proved her worth through her dedication, and the sheer amount of good work she did for the firm.

“That’s exactly why I brought this over for you in the first place,” Ava commented, and held up the drink for Janet to take. “I remember how you used to get with our late night study sessions.”

“Oh, you’re an angel, I swear,” Janet smiled, taking the cup from Ava and bringing it up to her mouth. “I honestly don’t think anything has changed, I’m still stayin’ up late doin’ work. Except now it’s actual work, instead of homework.”

“I made this cold brew experiment. I brewed it for over 24 hours, now I haven’t slept in three days. I’m making stops at everyone’s houses because my roommate is officially sick of me. So uh, what’s up? Wanna go for a run?”

“Three days, you haven’t slept in three days? I think I’m exhausted for you, Joni. I slept 4 hours last night, and I already want to go back to bed. Well, did you at least bring any of this cold brew or am I goin’ to have to make my own caffeine for this run?”

“I wondered if you could spare a few moments to talk about our lord and savior Jesus Christ. Just kidding, actually, this was delivered to my address by mistake.” Daniel held out a padded enveloped to her that showed her home address. “I didn’t want to just leave it by your door and have it get lost.”

“Yeah, if you did that, I might’ve just gone and slammed the door on your face,” she replied, shooting Daniel a little smile, “Thank you though, Gosh, the mailmen in this neighborhood just keep on puttin’ mail in the wrong spots, that’s the second time this week.”

“I’m not fallin’ for this again. Last time you said that I showed up at night and you went ‘Boone, what could you want from me at 8:30pm’. Grab your yoga pants, we’re going. I need someone who can keep up with me but won’t distract me.”

“Who’s to say that I won’t just close this door and go right back into bed?” She’d do that to some people, but probably not Boone. She couldn’t slam the door on someone who was basically a puppy dog. Pausing for a moment, she rolled her eyes, opening her door wider so he could let himself in, “Fine, give me five minutes.”

“Maybe some damn hospitality. I came by for my brother. Something about some court documents he needed.”

“I’ll save the hospitality for the Abernathy siblings I actually work for. I have them right here,” Janet replied, leaning back and picking up the thick folder on her counter table, passing it over to him, “There, is that all?”

“Thank you, Siri,” Mia said firmly, mouth in a straight line for only a second. “How’s that goin’ for you?” She asked her, head tilted. “Cause I tried that. Actually I tell myself every January 1st that m’gonna cut down on cussin’ cause I keep gettin’ in trouble with the kids but–” she shrugged one shoulder. “Let those DAR gals clutch their damn pearls if they want, fuck that, they ain’t as innocent as they act.”

“I’m here all day,” she shot back, a little chuckle escaping her lips. “Considering I told my alarm to ‘shut the fuck up’ this morning, I’m doing pretty well,” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “Please, they’re teenagers. They curse way more than we do,” Janet pointed out. “I swear if my mom wasn’t already so involved in the chapter, I would’ve left years ago. There’s only so long I’ll bit down on my tongue for.”