It was time to face the music, whatever tune might be playing today. I looked up my dad’s home number and punched it in.
“Hello?” The voice was Betty Jo’s, and she was strung tightly.
“It’s Aurora,” I said. “I have Phillip.”
“Oh thank God!” Betty Jo burst into tears. “Phil, pick up the other phone. Phillip’s at your daughter’s!”
“Is he okay?” my father asked.
“He seems to be fine. He’s asleep right now.” I hesitated, then decided Phillip’s adventures were his to relate. “I told him I was calling you.”
“How did he get there? What-did you ask him to come see you? We checked his computer, and we found out he’d been sending you E-mails.”
Strike. I rolled my eyes, though no one was there to get the effect. “Then you know that I didn’t invite him here. I would never do that without talking to you first. As far as I can tell, this was completely his idea. He said there was trouble at home.” Counterstrike.
There was a long period of silence, way over there in California.
“Well, not to get into it now,” my dad began, and Betty Jo said sharply, “He walked in on Phil while Phil was sticking it to another woman. Well, not even a woman. A girl.”
This was more than I wanted to know, but it did explain Phillip’s extreme reaction. I was willing to bet Phillip knew the girl.
“You two have to work out your own problems. I don’t want to hear the graphic details,” I said flatly. “Let Phillip stay here for a while, okay? I’d love to have him, and this house is big.”
“But you have a boyfriend now,” Betty Jo protested.
“If you’re accusing me of setting a bad example by perhaps sleeping with my steady friend from time to time, well, I think Phillip already knows about the birds and the bees. Especially in view of what you just told me.” Hell, he already engages in sex, I thought.
“He would have this week off for Thanksgiving anyway,” Betty Jo said. For once, she sounded subdued. “So, maybe if he could stay for a week… we may work things out, at least decide what we’re going to do.”
“That might be a good thing,” my father said cautiously. “Thanks, Doll.”
I hated being called “Doll.” But he’d always called me that, and he wasn’t going to change now.
“If you need longer, he can go to school here,” I said, as if accomplishing that would be a snap of the fingers. Of course, I hadn’t the faintest clue how to enroll a teenager for school, but how hard could it be?
“Okay,” said Betty Jo. “Okay.” She sounded as though she were trying to persuade herself that this was a good idea. “I can’t believe he went all the way across the country on his own. When I think of what could have happened to him…”
“Roe, thanks,” my father said. For the first time, he talked to me like I was an adult. “I know you’ll take care of him. I bet he just needs someone to talk to.”
“I’ll bet that’s it,” I said, trying to sound reassuring. “He’ll be fine. I’ll watch out for him.”
“No new murders, right?” my father asked nervously.
Not since this morning.
“No, Dad,” I said, as if that was silliest idea I’d ever heard. “Ha ha ha.”
“Say hello to your mother for us,” Betty Jo said, a sop toward courtesy. “And have Phillip call us himself the minute he gets up.”
“He has a lot to answer for,” my father said grimly.
“So do you!” Betty Jo told him. “Good-bye, Roe.”
I was so glad to end the conversation, I almost danced.
Chapter Three
The rest of my family was probably wondering where I was. I made a face in my bedroom mirror. When I’d gotten up that morning, my most pressing problem had been whether or not my only pair of intact panty hose was clean.
While Phillip slept, I’d checked Robin’s itinerary and then called him at a store called Murder by the Book, in Houston. The young man who’d answered the phone had been very civil about getting Robin to the phone as soon as he’d been convinced I actually knew Robin and was not a crazed fan who’d dreamed up a clever way to talk to him.
“Did you win?” I asked him.
“No,” Robin said, though he sounded cheerful. “But the panel was standing room only, and my signing line went out of the room. Awards are nice, but sales are better.”
“How’s your signing at the bookstore going?”
“Just about to get under way. I’m signing with Margaret Maron, and the store is jam-packed.”
So he had a group of people waiting for him.
“I just have some things I had to tell you,” I said anxiously.
“You’re all right?” His voice was suddenly sharp. “Your stepfather okay?”
“I’m fine, Robin,” I said, my voice soft. “And John is healthy. But John David’s wife, Poppy? She got killed this morning.”
“In a car?” he said cautiously.
“No, she was murdered.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry. From your voice, I’m betting you found her.”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Shall I come home right now?”
“Bless you for offering. But there’s more.”
A long pause. “I’m listening,” he said, just when I was about to ask if he’d hung up. “Did you get arrested?” He wasn’t entirely joking.
“My brother Phillip is here.”
“Your brother? Oh, sure! The little guy who was staying with you all those years ago! Hasn’t he been living in Pomona? What’s he doing in Lawrenceton?”
“He’s at least five eight or nine now,” I said. “And he got here by running away from home.”
“Uh-oh. You talked to your dad and the new wife?”
“She’s not so new now, and my dad cheated on her. Phillip walked in on this little episode,” I said. “That’s supposed to be the reason he ran away, but I’m finding that a little, I don’t know, extreme.”
“So, what do you think the real reason is?”
“Maybe time will tell. He’s going to stay here for at least a week.”
“Hmm. Okay.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said. “He needs this right now.”
“No problem. If you don’t need me instantly, I’ll just do two more signings tomorrow, one in Austin and one in Dallas, and then I’ll fly home from there.”
“I sure will be glad to see you,” I said. “But you keep up with your signing schedule.” I was flattered and delighted that Robin would offer to do that, but at the same time, it scared me. Had we rushed into this comfortable intimacy? I had just adjusted to being alone in my widowhood when Robin had unexpectedly returned to Lawrenceton. It hadn’t taken long to resume our relationship of a few years ago. Though I hadn’t yet brought myself to discuss my doubts with Robin, I had been thinking the past couple of weeks that we might have hurried things too much. But the minute Robin had left for his convention, I’d missed him. Now I found myself looking forward to his return, not only for the pleasure of his physical presence but because I’d be glad to have his support and his insight- especially in matters regarding Phillip. After all, Robin had been a teenage boy once upon a time.
“I have to go sign some books,” Robin said gently.
The doorbell chimed. “And I have to go answer the door,” I told him. “Just let me know when you’re coming in, and I’ll pick you up at the airport.”
“I left my car there so I could bring my mother back with me,” he reminded me. “Her plane gets in right after mine. I’ll call you when I’m back.”