Finely Ground

by Jennifer Templeman

  “Why is now different than any other time?” Joe wondered.

  “Technically it’s not, but I’m feeling enough in a fishbowl already because of Garrison, and having Janice looking for a weak spot will only make it worse.”

  “What kind of weak spot would your mother search for?”

  “Just the usual, ‘why haven’t you don’t anything new with your hair’ or ‘you know your birthday is coming up, which means you’re going to pass another year without a husband,’” Ellie quoted.

  Joe looked at the clock over the door behind them. “When would she expect you there?”

  “Pre-dinner drinks are served at five, followed by dinner promptly at six and some kind of aperitif for dessert,” Ellie shared the usual schedule.

  “Does anything take precedent over that schedule?” Joe questioned.

  “I can usually argue my way out of the pre and post drinks, but if I want something like this from her, she’s going to want me there for dinner at a minimum so she can parade me around all the men she knows are single and within a decade of my age,” Ellie explained, wishing it wasn’t true but knowing she wasn’t over-exaggerating.

  “What if you showed up with a man already?” Joe asked, leaning in slightly and covering her hand with his.

  “You have no idea what you’re saying,” Ellie warned him. “Janice will spend the whole meal interrogating you.”

  “You mean there’ll be information she’ll want from me that might be important enough that she would answer your questions quickly to get them out of the way?” he rephrased.

  “Technically, yes,” Ellie agreed. “And I love the way your mind is working, but I can’t ask you to do this.”

  “I don’t think you did ask; I volunteered,” he reminded her. “And if you call now, we can leave in thirty minutes, which should put us there in time for the first course of dinner.”

  “Why would you do this?” Ellie needed to know.

  “It would help you,” he replied nonchalantly before a slight grin came over his face. “Plus, they say if you want to know more about a person, you have to meet their parents.” Joe pulled her closer. “And I want to know all about you.”

  ****

  It took three rings before Janice answered.

  “Hey, Mom. It’s Ellie.”

  “Ellie, dear, so nice of you to call,” her mother cooed. “What is it I can do for you?”

  “Why do you ask that?”

  “It’s not Thursday,” Janice reminded her. “When you call other than your weekly obligation, it’s usually because you need to tell me something or have a question.”

  It was irritating that her mother was right, because she really wanted to argue the point. She decided to try throwing her a bit of a curve instead. “Actually, I was wondering if you were interested in some company for dinner.”

  “Of course.” Janice’s whole tone changed. “I’d love to have you. If you can be here soon, we can have drinks first.”

  “Mom,” Ellie said quickly, desperate to take control of the conversation once more. “I can’t get there that early, but I can meet you at the club at six, if that works.” Then she paused before saying, “And we’ll need a table for three.”

  “Three?” Janice repeated. “Who will be joining us?”

  “I have a friend I’d like you to meet.”

  “Of course,” Janice answered, still reserved. “Any friend of yours is welcome anytime.”

  “Great, Joe and I will see you there,” Ellie told her before saying good-bye.

  As Ellie moved to disconnect the call, her mother was repeating Joe’s name and demanding to know if this was the man who owned the coffee shop.

  When Ellie walked out of the office, Joe was showing Nicole something about one of the machines behind the counter. Nicole was nodding along like a bobblehead, taking in everything he was teaching. As he finished, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a single key, which he gave to her along with a piece of paper. “I’m not coming by tonight, so I’ll open for you in the morning,” Joe called out, moving from behind the counter to stand by Ellie.

  Joe nodded for Ellie to follow him and led her to his office, where he shut the door the completely, an unusual thing for him to do. He moved over to a closet Ellie had always assumed held supplies of some sort and opened it to reveal not only the expected cups, beans, and presses, but also a small rod with several articles of clothing on hangers. He reached in and pulled out a shirt with three ties looped around the shoulders. “Do you have a preference?” Joe asked, holding the ties out for Ellie to look.

  “Janice’s favorite color is blue,” Ellie advised, pointing to the one in the center surrounded by a gray and red tie.

  As if it was the most natural thing in the world, Joe turned his back, unbuttoned his shirt, and pulled it off. Underneath he was wearing a white tank top, which allowed his shoulders and the definition of his arms to be on full display. There was a whole lot of muscle hidden underneath his dress shirts, and while he seemed to be focused on the selection of what to wear next, Ellie took a moment to appreciate the view. For a guy who spent so much time inside a store, he was remarkably well tanned. Ellie was so distracted watching the roll of his shoulders that she missed him turning around and only looked at his face in time to see him smirking. In that moment, he looked like his cousin, with the confident expression of a man who knew he was being checked out.

  “You’re good for an ego, Ellie. You really are,” he told her, not in an apparent hurry to cover up. Now that she could see his chest, she noticed a scar on his shoulder.

  “What happened?” She looked at the mark, and when he looked down as though expecting to see a tear or stain, she stood up and boldly walked over, touching the only noticeable blemish to his perfect skin. It was warm and smoother than she thought it would be. “What happened?” she repeated much softer.

  “Last mission ended with a sniper getting the better of me,” he confessed, looking at her hand against his skin.

  “The hunter became the hunted?” she wondered.

  “Something like that,” he replied coyly.

  Ellie took a moment to move her fingers around the bumped skin, wondering how many near misses he had evaded before this one finally hit its target. After a moment with the only sound between them being the clicking of the clock on the wall, Joe took an unsteady breath and wrapped her hand in his. “If only we didn’t have to meet your mother…”

  “It always feels like there’s an obligation or an if only…” Ellie replied, looking at an expression on Joe’s face she didn’t understand.

  “There won’t always be,” he promised.

  “When?”

  “I don’t know, but I trust it’s true,” Joe nearly whispered, his voice low and gravelly. “And when it happens, I think we’ll both be ready for it.”

  There was a stillness between them, and Ellie found herself yearning for this moment, when there were no cases weighing on her mind and no obligations to meet someone; she wished for the courage to put her lips where her fingers were. Instead, they stood there, each still and caught in some kind of spell, where the tension between them grew.

  Joe was the first to move as he squeezed the hand he’d been holding against his shoulder. “If we’re going to meet your mother, we should get going.”

  As much as she wanted to cancel, she knew Janice would hound her with no limit until she brought Joe to meet her. “You don’t have to wear a tie,” she told him.

  He smiled softly, “Yes, I do,” he disagreed. “And before you say it, the sleeves will be buttoned at the cuff because I’m not explaining a tattoo to your mother the first time I meet her either.”

  Ellie took a step back and let Joe finish the process of pulling on a crisp white shirt, tying the perfect knot on the first try. Then he took off his boots and slipped on a pair of loafers. Ellie slipped out to freshen up in the ladies room, ensuring her lipstick was fresh and her hair was still pulled back. Years of living under
her mother’s critical eye made her look more closely at her appearance before she let Janice see her.

  When Ellie came out, Joe was waiting with his shirt tucked into a pair of dark dress slacks he hadn’t been wearing a few moments ago. “How big is the wardrobe in that closet?”

  “I haven’t hit Narnia, if that’s what you’re wondering, but I do keep the essentials to go places after work without having to go home.”

  “Prepared for anything,” Ellie teased. “You’re like a Boy Scout.”

  “Let’s see if it helps you get the information you need from the famous Janice,” he replied smoothly.

  Doubtful any plan involving her mother could go that smoothly, she allowed herself to be led from the coffee shop to Joe’s waiting black truck. If the evening went well because of his Scout-like preparation, then Ellie would be willing to buy the whole table of goods the next time the young boys had a fundraiser in front of her grocery store.

  Chapter 14

  Ellie tried to keep her face neutral, but a loop of how many things she hated about this club was playing in her head. She had preferred her father’s company, so it never made sense to her, but knowing that her mother would spend all weekend here while she would stay with her father made her resent this place even more. Janice never seemed to miss her daughter, because she had the socialites here to keep her occupied. Then, during the week, Ellie had felt she was constantly being compared to the other girls her age with parents who attended here. In places where Ellie missed the mark, it was a continual battle of Janice trying to force her to change and Ellie digging in her heels to be who she was. Coming back tonight was like reliving those battles.

  “This isn’t even my case and I’m enduring this place,” she mumbled as Joe walked around and took her hand in his.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, looking around as though he thought there was some sort of unidentified threat nearby.

  “I’m fine,” she lied, not fooling Joe based on how his eyes narrowed and his lips tightened. “Fine might be a stretch, but I really don’t like being here. It’s full of less-than-pleasant memories for me, and we’re meeting my mother, which is rarely a good time.”

  “But I’m here this time,” Joe pointed out. When Ellie didn’t relax, he explained, “And I don’t like these country-club types any more than you do. Together we’ll blend in, do what we have to in order to get the information you’re after, and then on the drive home, we’ll compare notes about the absurd things we saw among the wealthy and slightly intoxicated.” He pulled her arm a little to get her walking once more. “Come on… When you think of it like that, it might be fun.”

  It did sound better than the inquisition she’d been preparing for, so she decided to try to relax so that her tension didn’t give Janice something to jump on right away. As they walked in, a man in a suit near the door where the valets were standing pulled his jacket back marginally. To anyone else, it would have appeared he was adjusting his coat, but the quick glimpse she got of his badge and the slight nod he gave when she looked him in the eye let her know he was identifying himself as a member of her mother’s detail. Strangely, it made her feel better to know the Bureau had a presence here. If nothing else, that reminder might help her to keep it professional, even if Janice had one of her pushy nights.

  “May I help you?” the maître d’ greeted her, as though she had wandered in from the street.

  She resisted the urge to remind him that she’d been coming here for thirty years with her mother and instead said, “We’re here to meet Janice Michaels for dinner. She’s expecting us.”

  “Ah yes, right this way,” he said, lifting his chin marginally, spinning in a move so smooth Ellie wondered if he’d waxed the bottoms of his shoes, and then lifting his hand in the air at his shoulder with his wrist slightly bent.

  “I’m wearing the same shoes he is, but I’ve never managed those kind of moves,” Joe whispered in her ear before they followed the host.

  “I think his are a lot lighter than yours,” Ellie teased back, getting a glimpse of what he’d said in the parking lot. With someone who saw the characters around them as she did, the night might be a lot more fun.

  Due to their banter, when they reached the table in the bay window that Ellie knew her mother preferred, Ellie was smiling.

  “Ellie,” Janice called out, standing and reaching to hold her daughter by the shoulders before kissing her cheek. As she stepped back and dropped her hands to take Ellie’s, she began her inspection. “Let me get a look at you.” Her mother had dressed for the evening and had on an elegant pants suit with heels higher than a woman her age should be attempting. The light smell of bourbon that clung to her mother like perfume did nothing to lessen Ellie’s fears that one day, those shoes would end up seriously injuring Janice.

  “Something is different about you,” Janice spoke, bringing Ellie’s attention back to the present. “Did you do something to your hair?”

  “No,” Ellie replied, curious as to what her mother was going to finally criticize.

  “Well, it’s not your clothes, because that is a standard black-and-white Bureau special if ever I saw one,” Janice said, looking at Ellie’s suit. “And those shoes… Oh, Ellie, how hard would it be to wear some modest heels instead of the soft-bottom flats?” Janice fiddled with the buttons at the front of the jacket Ellie was wearing and then shook her head. “Something is different, and I’ll figure it out in time. Perhaps it has something to do with the handsome man standing behind you.”

  Taking the hint, Ellie stepped to the side and gestured to the man patiently waiting. “Mother, this is Joseph Phillips. Joe, this is my mother, Janice Michaels.”

  “Mrs. Michaels,” Joe said, stepping forward, taking Janice’s right hand in his, and bending slightly to kiss her knuckles. “I’ve heard so much about you that it’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”

  Ellie was convinced if they didn’t sit down immediately, either her mother would swoon or Ellie herself would throw up.

  “Joseph, it is so nice to finally meet you. Unfortunately, you have me at a bit of a disadvantage; while you may have heard something of me, I know very little about you, other than you must be extremely important to my daughter or she never would have brought you here.”

  “I like to think I am,” Joe replied, moving to pull out Janice’s chair for her and scooting it in after she’d sat down. “Then I’d know we are in the same place.”

  “Well, you can’t wait for Ellie to tell you much,” Janice warned. “My daughter loves her secrets—just like her father did. If there’s something you want to know, you have to jump in and ask it ten different ways until she finally gives in and answers.”

  Joe looked at Ellie and raised an eyebrow. She knew there was a question there, but she had no idea what it was supposed to be. “Mom, you remember the last time I came home, I told you about the man who owned a coffee shop?”

  Janice nodded.

  “This is whom I was referring to.”

  “How marvelous,” Janice announced. “Ellie dearly loves coffee, so you’ll have her as long as you can keep her well-watered.”

  It was hard to sit quietly and not object to being spoken of like some kind of livestock.

  “When Ellie told me she wanted to come and see you tonight, I jumped in and rudely asked if I might come along,” Joe said, bending the truth. “I’ve been eager to meet you and hoped once she had her questions answered that the two of us might share a drink and get to know each other.”

  If Ellie weren’t watching it with her own eyes, she never would have believed it were possible for Janice to melt. Yet, every word that Joe spoke had her eating out of his hands.

  “Of course.” Janice reached across the table and briefly touched Joe’s hand.

  Ellie had seen her mother do that gesture hundreds of times, yet she found when it was Joe’s hand being touched, she didn’t like it. Her mother was nearly thirty years Joe’s senior, and it was repulsive to think o
f Janice grabbing the hand that had been holding Ellie’s just moments before.

  Sitting back in her chair, Janice picked up her glass, which contained a dark beverage that Ellie knew wasn’t iced tea, and looked over at her daughter. “What questions did you have for me?”

  “Do you know John Pemberton?” Ellie stated simply.

  “The name is familiar,” Janice answered while not hiding the fact that she was looking over every inch of Joe. “Why do you ask?”

  “He’s a member of the club, and I interviewed him because of a case I’m working on,” Ellie shared, getting her mother’s full attention. “Something about him was off, like he was hiding something, so I did a little digging and discovered he has a successful business, yet he’s living on debt and is a member of this club. I figured there had to be a backstory and hoped because of his connection here, you might know it.” Remembering a well-timed word never went amiss, she added, “I know it’s asking you to share gossip, but I don’t know anyone as well connected as you with the news around here, so you were my best hope.”

  Janice repeated the name several times. “I’m better with faces than names. Do you have a picture?”

  Ellie pulled out the black-and-white copy she’d printed from the newspaper coverage of the charity event and slid it across the table. Janice picked it up and moved her arm farther from her face, tromboning until she got the distance right to see the picture clearly without putting on her glasses. “Oh, I remember him now. He was a little old for you, if I remember correctly, so I didn’t pay him too much attention.” Then she set the picture down and looked at Joe. “A mother worries about her only daughter, so I’ve been trying to keep eligible men capable of understanding Ellie’s unusual career choice around so that she would have options. Now that I’ve met you, I can see why she would never give them any attention.”

  “Mom!” Ellie called out, pointing to the picture still in her mother’s hand.