by Lisa Freed
Stalking to the bathroom in search of some Tums, I looked at my image in the mirror. Hard, angry hazel eyes blazed from a face gone pale with shock. He had told me he would be back in a week. Had he really left to return to Greece? What other lies would he spin then?
My image’s mouth turned up in a wicked grin. Two could play at this. Hopefully, Derek would have more information by the time Mateo decided to pop up again and I could watch him squirm.
I frowned. He had always been interested in Victor, but why? How could he or Brianna have known Victor’s spirit would return to seek revenge someday? And what benefit was it to Mateo to try to form a relationship with me?
And fool that I was, I led him right to Victor!
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
I wasted a good thirty minutes after my conversation with Derek just being outright enraged that I had been played. Nobody wants to be taken advantage of and that’s exactly what Mateo had attempted to do. Thank goodness I didn’t let it get further than kissing!
The air around me hissed with tension even as a boiling heat engulfed me. Staggering to the kitchen, I hit the ice machine, scooping up the blocks of soothing ice in my trembling hands and running them along my forehead and neck. Almost instantly the ice turned to liquid in my hands, splattering down onto my shirt and the floor. Again, and I again I hauled more ice against me, each time the cubes lasting longer than the last had before melting. My skin cooled and the odd hissing ceased.
Fanning myself with my hands I felt wet but so much better. What had just happened? Stripping off my soaked shirt, I went into the laundry room and tossed it into a basket near the washer. I patted at my bra and the straps were fairly damp as well. That went into the basket too. Walking topless back upstairs to my bedroom, I felt in control and almost normal.
The sight of Aunt Prudy lounging on my bed with Maverick jolted a startled scream out of me as my arms crossed defensively in front of my chest. “Aunt Prudy!”
“Get dressed, I’ll wait.” She gave me a wink and turned her back.
Grabbing a clean bra and a sweatshirt, I quickly got dressed and marched around the side of the bed to face her. “What’s going on?”
“You lost your temper and your abilities went haywire,” Prudy supplied with a wicked grin.
“Oh.” That hadn’t been what I was asking about but it was good to have an answer to that sudden surge of unbelievable heat I had just experienced. Though odd, I had more pressing issues on my mind than myself. “I was hoping you could help more with the whole Mateo thing.”
The grin disappeared and she fiddled with her pair of tiny silver half-glasses.
“You know what’s going on,” I forged on despite her silence. “I keep thinking I need to call Mateo and demand to know what his deal is.”
“No!” Prudy snapped, her large eyes growing bigger with concern.
“Then what about Brianna? Despite being a murdering cheater, she’s also a mom. Mateo has always been interested in Victor, perhaps he’s helping Brianna get her son back?”
Uncharacteristically, Prudy remained quiet.
I continued on with my rambling trying to work things out. “But no, he was interested in Victor when he was still possessing Lance’s body and the Greek low-level drug dealer. All well before Adrian was involved. Mateo might be a more powerful psychic than me but you can’t read a ghost’s mind.”
Working on a pesky hangnail, I spun back around to the bed. “So, this leaves us back at square one. Way too many questions and not a single answer. I need to call Mateo.” I pulled my phone out of my back pocket.
“Teresa, you put that phone away now!” Prudy’s voice was cold as ice as she rose off the bed to move toward me.
“Aunt Prudy, I’m just so tired!” I moaned. “For a psychic, I’m pretty clueless about this whole thing and I hate it!”
The chill left her voice and the warm loving tone I remembered from childhood returned. “That’s because you’re a good person and shouldn’t be mixed up in this mess,” she huffed. “Let Victor and Mateo work this out between them. It will be better that way,” she implored, her eyes serious and still as she looked into my face.
I took a step backward. “What do you mean?”
Prudy turned from me and walked over to Maverick. “Such a good boy he is. Notice that he doesn’t mind me like he did Victor.”
She had a point but it was also a very obvious attempt to change the subject. “Aunt Prudy….” My voice shook with frustration.
Prudy looked at me once more. “Oh pooh, your detective is finding it all out for you anyway. There is history between the two families and Mateo is acting upon that.” Her expression turned grim. “But he has no business involving you in this mess.”
Holding out her hands, Prudy advanced until she was almost touching me. “Please, let it go for today. Spend some time at the rescue, play with your cats, catch a movie with Parker or make John’s dreams come true and go kiss him silly.”
My mouth dropped open in shock.
Prudy laughed. “Oh, stop! You know that’s what he wants! A nice, decent man. What’s wrong with that?”
My arms crossed defensively across my chest. “I’m not getting into that right now.”
“Very well, get into something else then, but leave Mateo alone.”
I shoved my phone back into my back pocket. “Fine, okay, you’ve made your point,” I muttered.
My left buttcheck began to vibrate.
“Oh crap, that’s your parents. Good luck with that!” Prudy said.
“What?” I gasped, pulling out my phone to see that she was right, it was my parents. When I looked up again Aunt Prudy was gone without even a goodbye after that grim warning.
No way did I want to answer the still vibrating phone but hey, why not trade one drama for another?
“Hello.”
“Teresa! Where have you been?” My mother’s voice boomed her accusation.
“Greece? Why?” I grinned. Might as well enjoy myself.
“Oh, well, your father and I have been trying to reach you. It’s been so long since we’ve seen you. You never visit.”
And whose fault was that? I wanted to snap back. They had moved to Colorado seven years ago when I was only seventeen and a senior in high school. Leaving Megan and me with no notice. Megan had barely been twenty-three at the time and had simply carried on caring for me and the house with the help of Aunt Prudy and her money. Not that our parents being in another state was much different, they had rarely been home anyway.
But me mentioning any of that would have gone over my parents’ heads. So I remained silent.
As the silence stretched out, I half hoped my mother would just hang up. But I wasn’t that lucky.
“Well, anyway, we want to see you! After visiting Megan and seeing our darling granddaughter, Autumn,”
“Amber,” I corrected.
“Yes, Amber, a dear girl. We cannot wait to catch up with you. Now Megan wouldn’t give us your address, some nonsense about you moving and it getting misplaced.
Thank you, Megan, for that, I breathed.
“Yes, been very busy but in a few months or so we can get together,” I began only to have her cut me off.
“No, no, we were hoping to see you tomorrow. We’re already in Delaware.”
The phone dropped from my hand, my eyes helplessly following its downward progress as it hit the area rug and bounced a few times before landing screen down. I scrambled after it, holding it up and feeling vastly relieved to see no cracks or damage.
My mother was shouting my name, “Teresa! What was that noise?”
“Sorry, my phone slipped.”
“Your address?” she barked.
In a tiny voice, I gave John’s addressed and prayed he would help me.
“And we don’t eat dairy, meat, or any animal products anymore so keep that in mind when you plan lunch. Bye, dear.”
Wait! What? I was left staring at my silent phone. The nerve of them! I fum
ed.
But I had no time to stew, quickly I hit John’s number, tapping my foot as I listened to it ring. When it went to voicemail, I let out a tiny, tight scream which I immediately cut off when it beeped. I left him a brief message, “I need your help. Please call ASAP!”
Perhaps that was a bit too dramatic but anything with my looney parents caused me major stress. Aunt Prudy too as she had hightailed it out of here knowing it was them calling. And they remained clueless about how dreadful they were. Grrr!
I did the old trick of counting backward from ten to help calm me down and then debated what to do next. As much as I loved Whisker Kisses, I just didn’t feel like going in today. Then it hit me, I was expected in tomorrow! I could cancel the lunch with my parents. Oh yeah, happy dance time!
In the middle of my jig, I stopped. It was just putting off the inevitable. And worse, what if I told them I had to work and they insisted on stopping by there instead? Nope!
Out came my phone and Sandy’s cheerful voice was soon giving a perky hello in my ear.
“Sandy! Hey, I didn’t have any pickups tomorrow, did I?”
“Give me a sec,” she said and I heard the rustle of papers on her end. “Nada, T. You’re good.”
I gnawed on my lower lip for a beat then proceeded. “I’m going to need someone to cover for me tomorrow, my parents want to visit…”
Sandy cut in, “Your parents? That’s great! Yeah, don’t worry about it. Ashley’s coming in and you know Aaron will pop by. I’ll ask if he can stay for a few hours.”
“That would be great! Hey, what’s Ashley in for?”
Sandy’s loud laughter shredded my eardrum, and I pulled my ear away from the phone as fast as I could. “She’s might have a few homes lined up for the black cats after Halloween. Including the two sisters you have. How sweet are they?”
Pursing my lips, I debated on that one. Yes, there had been zero issues with them but also pretty much no interest in much interaction either. Oh well, not all cats got along with everyone at the shelter they had apparently been lovebugs for most of the staff. “That’s great,” I said bypassing the question.
“Hey, Sandy, that reminds me, can you ask Ashley how the two cats that suffered the degloved tails are doing please?”
“Want her to call you when she gets in?”
“Not necessary, plus I don’t know what the rest of today will be like. Oh, and tell Aaron to behave!”
That overzealous laugher rang out again but this time I was prepared and moved the phone far away from my face.
“Will do, good luck with your parents’ visit tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Sandy!”
We disconnected and then I was left to myself again. After doing a spot check to locate my three furry terrors I went upstairs to the first guest bedroom where Billy and Jean, the sister cats were. Both were in the window and didn’t even glance my way when I entered. Shrugging, I checked on their food, empty. “Little piggies,” I commented.
After filling their food, I cleaned out the water and gave them fresh then grabbed a bag and a pair of gloves from under the sink in the bathroom so I could clean out their litter boxes. Once done, I walked over to them. Glancing out, I saw the Jameses powerwalking down the street, Mrs. James in another loud tracksuit and poor Mr. James in his forever attire of scuba gear. Billy and Jean both swerved their heads to keep the pair in their sight.
“Bad luck?” I mused out loud, giving each a scratch. “More like feared for your abilities.”
Both girls meowed in agreement, making me laugh.
I went over to the chair and plopped down. To my surprise, they both turned and looked at me before jumping down from the windowsill and leaping into my lap. “Well, this is a nice change. Did you know that Dr. Ashley is finding you homes?” Both purred and I continued, “After Halloween.”
My phone started vibrating in my back pocket again and without thinking I jumped up to answer it, in the process dumping both Billy and Jean down on the floor. Neither liked that and clung to me to slow their descent.
“Owww!” I squawked pulling my sweatshirt up to examine the damage, while the annoyed cats milled around my feet giving me nasty glares of feline outrage. They were the wronged parties here and I better not forget that.
Examining the eight or ten scratches down my stomach, many of which were weeping blood, I really did have a hard time accepting any additional blame for this. “Let’s say we’re even,” I muttered letting my shirt fall against my skin again only to hiss when the cotton material scraped against a few of the more tender marks.
My phone continued to buzz angerly as I snatched it out of my pocket. John’s name was on the display, thank goodness!
“John!”
“T, are you okay? What’s going on?” His voice sounded breathless with a slight edge of panic.
His concern tugged at me and I felt bad for worrying him. “Hey, I’m fine just super stressed! Can I use your apartment tomorrow?”
His puzzlement bounced to me through the phone. “Ummm…. I guess. What’s wrong with your place? Are the cats okay?”
Bless him for thinking of the cats!
“John, you are the best!”
He laughed the same old dorky laugh that he’d had as long as I’d known him. “Well, we already knew that. But seriously, what’s going on?”
I sighed, not even bothering to turn away from the phone. “It’s just my parents.”
“Your parents?” John’s tone changed from concerned to puzzled.
“They’re coming to visit me tomorrow,” I said, not offering any further details.
“And how does my apartment fit into that?”
“Well…” I drew the word out, “they don’t know about my house and the money,” my voice dropped as I whispered the last two words.
“What was that? I think our connection is breaking up!” John bellowed into my ear.
Wincing, I pulled away. That made twice today that my poor eardrums had been abused. “No need to yell!” I yelled back before continuing at a normal volume, “They don’t that I have money and I would like to keep it that way.”
“Oh,” John paused for a few beats. “That I can understand.”
Before I could continue, he added, “Probably better that way. They would want to blow it on a potato-powered bicycle or something lame like that.”
I laugh-snorted, John knew my parents well and wasn’t a fan.
“Listen, I’m working right now but will be home tomorrow catching up on sleep. What time do you need my place for?”
“They expect me to feed them lunch but hopefully not too much longer than that. Apparently, they’re currently vegans.”
Now it was John’s turn to laugh. “The way your dad used to scarf down McDonald’s cheeseburgers, I doubt that was his decision.”
“Who knows...”
“And who cares,” he finished for me. “So should I hang out at your place or…?”
I felt bad, he was always helping me out of jams and here the poor man was coming off a long shift and I was kicking him out of his apartment. “I don’t want to be a bother,” I began.
“Nah, it’s fine. I would rather not be part of that reunion anyway. How long has it been?”
“Senior year,” I said quietly.
“Ouch, and they don’t see anything wrong with that?”
“Nope. In fact, Mom even tried to guilt-trip me about not visiting.”
A few colorful curses flew then in a reasonable tone John said, “Okay, scratch that I’m staying to tear them a new one.”
“Thanks, John,” I said with real feeling, “but not worth it. They are so selfish and clueless. Better I hear whatever they want to tell me, smile, keep my mouth shut, and hope they go another seven years without a visit.”
“Sorry, T.”
I resettled into the chair and both Billy and Jean jumped into my lap again. Idly stroking Jean’s head, I stared off out the window at the gray sky. “It’s okay, John.”
“Just wasn’t in the cards.”
“Hey,” John’s voice perked up taking on his normal friendly tone, “change of subject, but speaking of cards how would you feel about taking on your Madam T persona for one of the firehouse parties?”
“I thought after what happened at the carnival, they never wanted me back?” I asked suspiciously. “Like it was my fault being called out on a decades-old murder caused the ancient jerk to have a heart attack?! Dude totally had it coming.”
John laughed. “Yeah, but the captain doesn’t know any of that nor would he believe it.”
I shifted slightly in the seat, my legs were falling asleep under the weight of the two cats. “True.”
“Anyway, after the positive letter from that couple, the captain has changed his tune and would like you back.”
“No, thanks,” I said while uncoiling Jean from her sister and gently placing her down on the floor.
“T, not to call in favors…”
“John, no!” I moaned lifting Billy down from my lap.
“Come on, it will be less work than the carnival,” he wheedled.
Feeling rather trapped, I had just asked for use of his apartment, I asked, “What does it entail?”
I could hear John’s smile through the phone. “I’ll get you the details, gotta run. Let yourself in tomorrow and change the litter will ya?
Standing and stretching, I muttered, “I suppose.”
“Bye, T!” he said before ending the call.
Despite the weak blackmailing me into a repeat performance as seer extraordinaire Madam T, I really did owe John. Most especially for not calling me out on bagging on him for dinner and only seeming to call lately when I needed something. I would have to remedy that once this whole mess with my parents and the Mateo/Victor/Adrian saga was over. Though that sounded like something I had said recently over the Lance/Victor mess too.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
