“In the flesh,” she replied.
“What are you doing here? I thought you left.”
“I did. But Mr. Blake was a friend of my family.”
She looked at Jess, and Jess could barely suppress a sob.
Father Makarios strode back through the doors. “I’ve set up the substitute canter at the podium. I’m afraid that’s the best I can do.”
The students heard their cue in that statement and grabbed their offerings before lining up to proceed.
Jess hung back and Jil took her arm. “What’s the problem?” she whispered.
“The canter’s stuck in traffic or something,” Jess replied. “I’ll be playing a cello solo of ‘His Eye is On the Sparrow.’”
Jil frowned. “How long till the hymn?”
With a quick glance at the clock, Jess replied, “About twenty minutes. Maybe twenty-five.”
Jil looked toward the door. “I’ll see if I can locate her.”
“Would you?”
“’Course.”
Jess paced and wrung her hands until she had no choice but to walk down the aisle behind Mitch’s coffin. She was the widow. She had a role to play. Myra was already waiting in the front pew and Jess slipped in next to her as the pallbearers lifted Mitch up onto the platform.
For the opening prayers and hymns, she continually checked behind her to see if the canter had arrived, but no.
And then, as suddenly as the service had started, the priest was performing a blessing and it was time for the offertory.
Jess walked over to the podium, her heart hammering so loudly she was surprised it didn’t thump over the microphone.
She warmed up a bar, trying to stop the trembling of one hand.
This was it. The canter wasn’t going to make it. Tears clouded her vision, and she blinked fast, trying to see the music. She couldn’t fall apart right now. She couldn’t.
She lifted her bow and played the first chord.
Beside her, heels clacked on the podium. She glanced sideways and saw Jil standing beside her.
“Is she here?” she whispered.
Jil shook her head.
Jess took up her bow. Damn. What a failure. Her eyes filled with tears again. This was the one request he’d made and she couldn’t even give it to him. With a shaking hand, she played the introductory bars, then heard the microphone beside her click off its stand.
Jil began to sing.
“Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come?”
For a second, Jess almost stopped playing. In the acoustics of the church, Jil’s voice was a rich, melodic hum that balanced and flew on the wings of Jess’s cello. A gift she’d never before heard Jil share. She almost missed the next note, but forced her attention back onto the page and kept playing.
The mourners stared as Jess and Jil worked their way through the song, Jil following her lead—a musical partnership that stunned Jess even as she played through to the end.
She set down her bow, and Jil stepped down from the podium beside her, finding her seat several rows back.
“Let us pray,” the priest intoned.
* * *
Jil handed Jess an empty glass before curling up next to her on the couch. The fire was on full blast in the hearth, winter having decided to overstay its welcome as usual in Ontario.
Zeus grunted and made his way up onto the middle of the couch, wiggling and huffing until he’d found his perfect spot.
“Careful of the champagne,” Jess said, holding the bottle high out of reach.
They had the laptop open on the coffee table, watching Ramone’s YouTube channel views tick upward every minute. At the current rate, it would go over a million in the next few minutes.
Jil passed her the bowl of popcorn.
“Which video is this?”
“The one where he reenacts what happens underwater when you fire an extinguisher, then shows his shark bite.”
Jess pointed at the screen. “It’s happening. Look. Get ready!”
Jil picked up the bottle of champagne and unscrewed the tie.
“One more view. Okay, now!”
Jil popped the cork and it hit the ceiling.
Zeus barked as bubbles fizzed all down Jil’s arm and onto the couch.
“Shit. Pass me that—”
But Jess was already mopping up the mess with a tea towel.
Jil poured them each a glass and they toasted Ramone.
“So Padraig says you’ve been busy.”
“Indeed. I was working on two cases at once. Quite a revelation.”
Jil kissed her hand. “Because you’re brilliant and we couldn’t do without you, obviously.”
“Well, Padraig needed me to help him catch a thief, which I did, thank you very much. Mostly using what you taught me from our resident thief at St. Mag’s.”
“Ugh. Asshole who stole your ring?”
“Exactly. So I have to thank you partially for that one. Also, I think Padraig was missing you. He said at least three times that he wished you were over in Ireland with him.”
“Did he? It sounds like he’s really retiring.”
Jess took a sip of her wine. “I know.”
Sadness clouded Jil’s face. “What am I going to do without him?”
“You could buy him out,” Jess suggested quietly. “You have the money.”
Jil shook her head. “I know. But what would I do without him? Who would back me up?”
Jess held out her glass. “I’ve been thinking…I’d like to. I think I’d be good at it.”
Jil sat back. “Really? You would work with me? And live with me?”
“Yeah. I think we’d be a good team, don’t you?”
Jil pulled Jess closer to her and snaked her arm up the front of Jess’s shirt. In a second, she’d taken it off her, and Jess reached over and pulled Jil’s tank over her head. They lay together, kissing in the light of the fireplace, the soft blanket entwined around them as Jil’s fingers entwined Jess’s hair.
On Jess’s tongue, Jil tasted the Burgundy. “My house sold today.”
“Did it?”
“So now this is actually our loft.”
Jil pulled back and smiled. “We’re going to be a hell of a team.”
“Nothing was the same without you,” Jess whispered.
“Same.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t…”
Jil propped herself up on her elbow, tracing a line down Jess’s sternum, between her breasts and over to circle one nipple.
“What?”
“Let you in. Let you help. I just…I had to finish what I started. And I disappointed him so much in our marriage that I couldn’t…”
“Bring your new lover to his bedside? I understand.”
“You do?”
“I do. I will admit that I was hurt. And that it took me a while to get it. But I do now. I’m sorry there was a time I wasn’t in your life. That you were so confused and heartbroken. But I’m here for you now and that’s not going to change.”
Jess kissed her again and ran her hands up Jil’s back.
“Welcome home.”
Zeus hopped down from the couch with a grumble and flopped down on his dog bed.
Jil chuckled. “Sorry, buddy.”
But Jess’s mouth was busy making her forget having ever been away from home, and she closed her eyes as her head started swimming.
“I love you, Jillienne Kidd.”
“I love you too. Partner in crime.”
About the Author
Stevie Mikayne is the author of UnCatholic Conduct and Illicit Artifacts, both finalists for the Lambda Literary Award. She holds an MA in creative writing and is currently pursuing her PhD from Lancaster University (UK). Toting their laptops and photo blogging equipment, Stevie and her small family are on a 437-day adventure that involves seeing their native Canada, traveling on a shoestring budget, homeschooling their five-year-old daughter, and spending time in their second home, Curacao, where a lot
of the research for this book was done. You can follow them at BungalowToBohemia.com.
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