Lib Novel Page 60
“See?” Satisfied, Cleo turned the heat to low, stirred a last time, then covered the pot. “Interesting. Every time I run errands you’re here alone—if not alone-alone.”
“And what happened today?” Sonya tossed back.
“Something you handled,” Cleo pointed out as she set the timer on her phone. “You don’t think I can do the same?”
“It’s not that. I just—”
“You’re going to make me think this isn’t my home, too.”
“Oh, that’s a low shot!”
“Why aim high?” Cleo stuck the phone in her pocket.
“Why don’t we—”
Trey broke off at two hot female looks. He held up both hands, stepped back.
“I’ll be gone longer than your errand runs. I can at least coordinate the visit to Ogunquit to the next time you plan to go into the village.And you could hang out there longer. Maybe have lunch with Anna, or scout out painting spots.”
Once again, Cleo planted a hand on her hip—a sure sign she’d dug in.
“You arrange the trip for when you can arrange it, and I’ll either go with you or stay here and take care of myself. Just like you do when I’m not here. We take care of each other, Son. But we both have to stand up for ourselves.”
“Will you call Trey or Owen if something happens?”
“Like you did today?” Now Cleo waved a hand for peace. “Well, you nearly did, so I’ll do the same. If something happens and I’m really frightened, I’ll SOS. Promise.”
“All right.”
“Good. Now let’s go rattle that bitch’s cage.”
Four phones blasted out “Times Like These.”
“Foo Fighters.” Owen shook his head and grinned. “If she wasn’t married, either way too young or way too old for me, depending, Clover’d be the girl of my dreams.”
Chapter Nine
When Sonya thought of the Gold Room, she thought of blood on a white wedding dress, of a woman crying out as she froze to death in a snowstorm, or another desperately birthing her twins before her body gave out.
She thought of murder and madness.
As if he read those thoughts, Trey took her hand. “It’ll be fine.”
He spoke so matter-of-factly as they climbed the stairs, she almost believed him.
But.
“As Han Solo and others have said, I have a bad feeling about this.”
“You have to believe the Force is with us,” he countered. “It’s always with the good guys.”
Behind him, Owen mimicked Darth Vader breathing, and got a punch on the arm from Cleo.
“Hey, I’d take Vader over Dobbs anytime.” Owen glanced back as they started past the library. “Hold on a minute.” And walked in to study Sonya’s mood board.
“That’s the Ryder thing? Got your multigenerational representation,” he said. “Smooth. Smart. You know what you’re doing.”
“Most of the time.”