Manic in Christmas River: A Christmas Cozy Mystery (Christmas River Cozy Book 6) by Meg Muldoon

in the used flatbed truck Warren had bought her back in January after she’d decided to leave Scotland and move to Christmas River with him.
    Warren sank back down onto the bleacher like a busted Jack-in-the-Box.
    I leaned back, smiling to myself.
    “And what’s so funny?” he said, noticing.
    I shrugged.
    “I don’t know,” I said. “Just something about the way you sank back down in your seat when you saw Aileen pull up. Trying to show her that you’re on your best behavior. Don’t you think she already knows who she ran away with by now?”
    Warren tossed a couple of peanut shells in my direction.
    “Pish-posh, Cinny Bee,” he said. “I’m the most well-behaved man this side of the Christmas River.”
    “I guess that’s relative to who’s standing on the opposite bank.”
    Daniel threw a ball that looked more like ball three, but thanks to Harold’s poor judgement, was declared a strike. That strike was quickly followed with another, bringing the count to 2 and 2.
    “Anyway, Aileen knows exactly who she married, in case you’re wondering,” Warren said, watching her cross the parking lot. “She doesn’t mind if I get a little vocal at a baseball game.”
    To some, Warren and Aileen’s relationship may have seemed like a whirlwind romance. They’d gotten eloped back in February out in Las Vegas after having known each other for only seven months. In fact, their decision to get married had been so sudden, we still hadn’t had a proper reception for the two of them. But despite the quickness of it all, they seemed like a perfect fit for each other. In addition to being the most knowledgeable beer brewer Warren had ever met, Aileen was a woman who wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. Especially when it came to Warren himself – something I knew the old man pretended to be exasperated by, but something I also knew he secretly liked. He liked a woman who was feisty, and in that department, I got the feeling Aileen could give him all he could handle.
    But Aileen was also down-to-earth, caring and loving. And when she looked at Warren, I could tell she was just as smitten with him as he was with her. She took good care of him too. She’d limited his beer intake – something he complained about to no end, but something that was good for his health nonetheless. She also had him exercising regularly and on a diet that was heavy on kale and spinach. Warren often accused her of conspiring to turn him into a rabbit. Aileen would just laugh in her deep Scottish brogue and tell him she’d always wanted a pet bunny.
    The two of them loved each other deeply.
    “Ball three!”
    Mark Bellingham, the Christmas River police officer at bat, grinned brightly, knowing he was only one ball away from an easy walk down to first.
    “Dammit, Harold,” I mumbled, mostly to myself.
    The man had to be going blind to make that call.
    Daniel ran up and muttered something to Deputy Owen McHale, who was acting as the Lawmen’s catcher, before heading back to the mound.
    Then Daniel readjusted his cap, wiping away sweat from his matted hair. He stared straight ahead with a laser look of concentration that could have clear-cut a forest. He nodded at Owen, and then a second later, he let a fast and low ball fly at the batter.
    It was too tempting for Bellingham. The young man fell for it hook, line and sinker, swinging hard, confident that it was headed for beyond the fence.
    He hit nothing but air.
    “You’re out!” Harold shouted.
    I clapped wildly and started whistling. Daniel looked across at the crowd, finding me. He coolly tipped his cap, as if he’d orchestrated the entire sequence for maximum drama. The teams traded out positions, with Norma Welles, the Pohly County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher, first up at bat.
    “I can’t say I know much about baseball,” Aileen said, coming over to our side of the bleachers. “But it seems to me that your husband’s mighty good at it.”
    I smiled, and stood up to greet her.