you’re carrying a bushelful.”
“I had such a nice life before I was bombarded with all of this. I had wonderful memories. I had this fantasy that my mother gave up her life so I could live. In my mind she was a martyr. Her picture—well, not really her picture—was on the mantel. My whole damn life was a lie. If that wasn’t bad enough, then I find out not only was my mother alive all those years when I hungered for a mother, but that she was a thief. I hate feeling like this. I don’t know if I can…I just want it all to go away, but, like my dad said, that isn’t going to happen. I have to deal with it.
“In addition, I have to deal with you and the dogs. Before I do anything else, I have to square that away. So let’s get to it. What are we going to do in regard to Cecil?”
“I do my best thinking in the shower. Do you mind if I take one in your bathroom? By any chance, do you have a razor?”
“Everything you need is in the downstairs bathroom in the linen closet. I’m going to take my own shower. I sure hope you come up with something.”
“Yeah, me too…. Who am I kidding?” Jeff mumbled to himself as he made his way to the bathroom.
Olivia was the first to return to the kitchen. She’d dressed quickly, in jeans and a bright yellow long-sleeved shirt. While she waited for her houseguest, she got out her soup pot and a frozen chicken from the freezer. She worked like a robot as she added frozen stock and water to the huge pot. She pared vegetables and proceeded to chop with a vengeance. Everything was simmering nicely when Jeff entered the kitchen, the four dogs at his heels.
“Smells good.”
“It gets better as it cooks. I love the smell. One of my friends used to say our house always smelled like celery and parsley. I think it was a compliment.”
“Our house always smelled like apples and cinnamon. Mom did a lot of baking. It was nice to smell when we came in from school. It still smells like that.”
Olivia looked out the window. “Let the dogs out, okay? While you’re out there, you could sweep off the patio before the snow piles up again. You need to earn that dollar I paid you.”
Jeff looked at his hostess. Really looked at her and was stunned. She’s beautiful, he thought. And she smelled so good! She smells like soap and water, green grass and flowers. He thought then about the woman he’d been with the night before. She’d smelled like nothing he’d ever smelled before. A hair-spray smell, a makeup smell, a perfume smell, and a deodorant smell. For a split second he couldn’t remember her name. Then it came to him. Melanie. Melanie something. A paralegal from his law firm. They’d gone out for a drink at the end of the day with a few coworkers and somehow ended up at his place, which hadn’t been his intention at all. Everyone at the office said Melanie was a manipulator. They were right. He’d never been a one-night-stand kind of guy. Hell, he wasn’t much of anything in the romance department. He was married to his job. It worked that way when you put in sixty to seventy hours a week. Any leftover time was spent sleeping and eating. Just another way of saying he was a dud, romantically speaking.
“They aren’t going to attack me, are they?” He wondered why his voice sounded so strange. It looked to him like Olivia was wondering the same thing. He marched to the door and opened it. The dogs barreled through, barking and squabbling, almost knocking him over. Olivia tittered behind her hand.
The phone rang. Probably her dad calling to see what was going on. She almost said, “Hi, Dad,” but changed her mind and simply said, “Hello.”
“It’s Clarence, Olivia. How are you this snowy morning?”
Olivia winced. “Fine, Clarence. How about you?” Please, please, don’t regale me with details of your latest tax cheat.
“Fine. I’m fine. I was wondering if we could get together this evening. I could pick up some Chinese or maybe some Italian. What do you say?”
Olivia crossed her fingers and fibbed. “Gee, Clarence, my dad is in town. I have to spend time with him. Can we make it some night next week? I’ll cook.” As an added incentive, she continued, “I’ll even make you a pie.” She had to get off the phone before Jeff came back into the house.
Clarence laughed heartily. Olivia shuddered at the sound. “Well, I can’t turn that down.” Didn’t think so, Olivia said to herself. Cheapskate.
“Okay, it’s a date. I’ll call you on Monday to set up a time. I have some great stories to tell you. You aren’t going to believe some of it.”
“Oh, I’m sure. Okay, Clarence, call me Monday.” I need to get Caller ID. Olivia made a mental note to call the phone company first thing Monday morning, then uttered her good-bye and hung up the phone. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Clarence. As a friend, he was okay. But he was incredibly boring, and, as a suitor, which was what Clarence wanted to be, he was sadly lacking. She saw him from time to time because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. She really had to break it off with him. Maybe she could do that gently over the pumpkin pie she would bake him next week. She shivered at the thought of an IRS audit if Clarence didn’t take rejection well.
As Olivia gulped her coffee, her gaze fell on the tall man wielding the broom on the patio. The dogs were trying to catch the broom and the snow at the same time. She could hear the lawyer laughing through the closed door. He looked like he was having fun. For some reason she felt buoyed at the sight and sound of him.
The moment Jeff opened the door, the dogs bounded through and headed for the laundry room. Jeff followed, reached for a towel, and dried them off the way he’d seen Olivia do it. He looked up and grinned. Olivia felt her heart start to melt. Then it hardened immediately when she thought about the chirpy voice she’d heard the night before.
“Did I earn that dollar? Where are the treats? I have these,” he added, scrutinizing the Milk-Bones Olivia handed him. “That’s how we can tell. Cecil won’t eat these. He wants those bacon strips.” Olivia laughed as all four dogs gobbled the treats.
“Guess that shoots down your theory. Come on, sit down. We have to figure out what we’re going to do about Cecil.”
Jeff felt his heart start to flip-flop in his chest. “Look, if I go to my boss and complain, he’s just going to give Cecil to someone else to take care of. That’s the unknown. Everyone is in the same position I’m in. Too many hours at work, not enough hours in the day. Most apartments don’t allow dogs. It’s best, I’m thinking, if we keep this between us, with Cecil’s best interest being our main goal. It’s obvious he’s happy here. He likes the other dogs. Since we don’t know which one is which, here’s what I think. If you agree to dog-sit him, the stipend is yours. I know you said you don’t care about that, but fair is fair. It’s the best situation for Cecil, considering the circumstances. I’ll try to make it out here a couple of times a week plus weekends to do my share. In return, I’ll help you with your…your situation. If you want me to. If you want to drive to your…to the house you inherited tomorrow, I’ll go with you. I need to see the information she said is in her wall safe in regard to the robbery. What do you think?”
What did she think? It sounded like a win-win situation. Still, she didn’t want to appear too eager. It was best for Cecil. She couldn’t argue with that. She wondered if they would be breaking any laws but was afraid to ask. It would be nice to have some company, some legal company, when she traveled the forty or so miles to the nearby estate Adrian Ames had left her.
Olivia brought her gaze up to meet Jeff’s. He had incredible brown
