“Don’t stay up too late, Dad, and take the vitamins I sent with you. Love you, bye.” She grunted as she hung up the phone. “Sometimes I feel like the parent.”
I laughed. “I know exactly what you mean. Hey, do you think I could use your phone to call my parents? I just want to let them know everything is great. Is there a number I could give them to reach me at if they need me for something?”
She handed me her phone. “Of course. They can use my number. I’ve always got my phone on me—” she smiled. “In case my dad needs me for something.”
“We really have to get our dads together,” I said. “Something tells me they’d get along perfectly.” As I made the call, a statuesque woman with auburn hair and high cheekbones strutted behind us out toward the pool house. Finley glanced back at her and the woman looked our way, but there was no greeting or acknowledgement exchanged. Like Jude, she disappeared into the pool house.
“Hey, Mom, it’s me.”
“Eden, I miss you already.”
I could hear Janie crying in the background. “Is Janie all right?”
“Yes, she and Sophie were fighting over a toy. Sophie has been a total grump since you left. How is it?”
“Great. I’m having fun.” With Finley sitting right next to me, I couldn’t go into much detail. Mom would have loved to hear about it too. “I wanted to leave a number in case you need me.”
“You call us if you need to come home,” Mom said with a wishful hitch in her voice. “Dad’s out looking for a job, but I’ll tell him you called.”
“Kiss the girls for me. Bye, Mom.” I hung up. “My poor Mom. She sounds like someone who just lost her best friend. I guess in a way it’s true. My sisters are cute, but their conversation topics are rather limited.”
Finley smiled. “How old are they?”
“Sophie is six and Janie is four. I love them, but I confess, it’ll be nice to hang with people my age for a change.”
“Good.” Finley relaxed her head back against the chair and turned her face to the sun. “Then this should work out well.”
I looked back at the pool house. There was no sign of Jude or the woman who went inside. There was no way a guy like him would stick around once he was off house arrest. “Yeah, it should be great.”
Chapter 6
Finley and I had spent the rest of the afternoon deep in girl talk. Cole had returned from the hospital dazed and sleepy on pain medication. He’d gone straight up to his room, and Jude hadn’t emerged from the pool house again. I could only assume that the woman was his girlfriend, but Finley never said anything and it was none of my business to ask. Aside from the tension with Jude the day had gone well.
I reached across the counter for the bottle of red pepper flakes and sprinkled some more on my slice of pizza. “You’re right; these flakes do add a certain touch of diner-like elegance to a frozen pizza.”
Finley wiped the side of her mouth with her pinky. “Told you so. Of course, if it weren’t for Jude and his inability to turn off the charms and magnetism,” she quipped, “we’d be eating some awesome quiche or cheese soufflé right now. Tanya was a talented chef.”
I lifted my brow at her. “Seriously?”
“Well, except for that whole spit thing.”
I laughed. “I can just imagine your brother’s face when he walked in on that. Lucky for him his timing was good.”
We both fell silent and simultaneously put our pizza slices down. “Lost my appetite, how about you?” Finley asked.
“Yeah, I think I’m done too.”
Tiny hooves clattered across the kitchen floor, and Some Pig trotted from around the counter where Finley had poured some food into a dish. He stared up at us and wiggled his snout a couple of times.
“All done with dinner?” Finely leaned down and kissed the tip of his head. “Sleep tight.”
Then Some Pig turned and trotted out of the kitchen, curly tail raised high in the air.
“Dinner always makes him sleepy,” Finley explained.
“Was his earring inspired by a pirate movie?” I asked.
“No, but at the farm they’d tagged his ear, and he had an ugly hole there to remind him of the awful place he came from. So I put an earring in one day just for fun. Man, did he squeal like a pig when I tried to take it back out.”
“I think it suits him.
“Apparently, he thinks so too.” She picked up the plates and put them in the sink. “Hey, I know,” she said enthusiastically, “let’s go down to the theater and watch a horror flick. Ooh, let’s watch the original Halloween.”
“Is that the creep in the hockey mask?”
“Wrong psycho. But I think the Michael Myer’s mask is even creepier.”
“Sounds fun. I don’t see many movies, and when I do, there are talking starfish and singing mermaids. But I’ve got to ask— are all of your pets feeling content with their names right now?”
Finley smiled and took my arm to lead me down to the theater. “I think they’re all satisfied at the moment, but I don’t blame you for asking. I once had a parrot and after one night in the theater, he insisted we call him Hannibal.”
We stopped in front of a shiny silver door. “You have an elevator. There’s a friggin’ elevator in your house.”
Finley tapped the down button three times and the doors opened. “Kind of eccentric, I agree.” We stepped inside and the door slid shut. “And now for your listening pleasure— elevator music.” She hummed loudly and I joined her until my laughter prevented it. After an extremely short journey down, the door slid open. I followed her down a dimly lit hallway to a set of ornately carved wooden doors. She pushed a switch and the door opened.
“Holy shit.” I looked around in awe. “I thought it would be a nice couch in front of one of those really big television sets. This is a theater. Actually, this is way nicer than any theater I’ve ever been in. And I’ll bet I won’t be leaving here with a piece of spitty licorice stuck to my butt or a candy wrapper on my shoe.”
Finley started down the richly carpet aisle and pointed to a pair of seats in the front. “These have the best view.”
I sat down in the plush chair. “And there won’t be any kids running between the rows or annoying people kicking my seat or rattling loud wrappers or crunching popcorn loudly.”
Finley laughed. “Wow, you’ve really had some traumatic movie experiences.” She walked up to a control panel and pressed some buttons. The monitor in front of her lit up. “So is Halloween all right?”
“Sure. I haven’t seen too many movies, so anything is good.”
The movie started up and the surround sound shook the room. Finley sat next to me and reached over to the arm of my chair. She hit a button and the chair reclined back as the legs lifted up. “There’s a popcorn machine if you want any snacks.”
“I’m still full from pizza. This chair is so comfy, I could easily sleep in it.”
“I fall asleep in here all the time.” She laughed. “One day, I came down here to watch a movie and halfway through I heard this weird snoring sound. I looked back over the seat. Cole was fast asleep in the chair behind me with a bowl of popcorn spilled across his chest. He’d slept in here all night, and I hadn’t even noticed him sitting there.” Her phone buzzed and she glanced at it and answered it. “What?” She rolled her eyes. “I’m in Paris standing on the Eifel Tower, where do you think I am, Sir Nosy? We’re in the theater.” She paused. “As I mentioned this morning, the lack of prepared food is your fault. It would figure the one time you decide to be virtuous had to be with the chef. Find your own dinner. We’re busy watching people get slashed.” She put down the phone. “Man, that boy is needy today. He needs to get that thing off his ankle before he drives me crazy.”
“I guess he’s probably itching to get out of here, huh?” I had to make a concerted effort to dampen the hopefulness in my tone.