Jessica Conant-Park - Cook the Books

Ade and Owen hugged me good- bye, and Ade promised to call me the next day. Kyle took my hand in his and politely kissed me on the cheek, thanking me again for all of my help. Suddenly, my condo was empty and disturbingly quiet. I’d been alone for only a few minutes when the emptiness overwhelmed me. I wanted nothing more than for Josh to call back. It didn’t matter how many people I crammed into my condo or how much fun we had or how temporarily distracted I got. The truth was that I missed Josh so much that it hurt. I picked the phone up and started to dial his number, but stopped just before I hit the Talk button.

I set the phone back into the cradle and got ready for bed.

Idragged myself up the stairs after a tough day at the mental health center. Especially because I was drained, it was an incredible relief to see Adrianna sitting in front of my door. She handed me a coffee in a foam cup.

“Thank God,” I said. “How’d you know I needed you and caffeine, in that order?”

Ade stretched out her hand, and I lifted her up. “I know this Josh thing has you shook up. Thought you could use a friend. Besides, Owen is home reading to Patrick, so I thought I’d escape the house for a bit.”

After I unlocked the door, turned on a few lights, and threw the mail on the coffee table, we both headed for the couch. “He’s reading to him? How cute!”

Ade snorted. “Yeah, he’s reading from a seafood encyclopedia. Patrick loves it. He stares at his daddy. One day he’ll be fussier about what books he listens to, but for now he loves the sound of Owen’s voice, and he couldn’t care less about the literary subject matter.” She grinned. “Owen is the best. I can’t imagine a better father.”

I kicked off my shoes and sank into the cushion. “I’m so happy for you. I was going to ask if everything was all right between you two. There seemed to be a little tension last night over his job and the apartment.”

“Oh, that,” she said dismissively. “Yeah, his job is sort of crappy, and we’d love to live in a big fat house in the suburbs, but I’m nuts about him. I really am. And you know,” she said as she leaned into me, “we were pretty damn happy when we got the doctor’s okay to have sex again. Let me tell you, no one wants to have sex when she’s humongously pregnant. And then, after the delivery? Please, I thought that no one was ever getting close to that region again. Who knew? Now that we’re both get-tin’ some lovin’… Well, it’s a happy household.” Ade got such a dreamy look on her face that I couldn’t help laughing.

“I’m glad to hear it, but considering that I think of Owen as a brother, I’ll pass on any graphic details.”

“I think you just don’t want to know because you’re not getting any yourself.”

“Hey!”

“Well, it’s true. Or maybe you’re not ready?”

“I’m ready.” I scooped up Gato and sat him on my lap. “Ready-ish.”

“Liar! You are so not over Josh.” Ade smirked happily. “Good.”

“Good? It’s not good. It sucks. I hate to admit that I’m not over him. After he totally ditched me and flew off to Hawaii? I can’t still be in love with him.”

“But you are,” Ade said gently. “And from what you’ve told me about that hot- and-heavy make-out session you two had the other day, I’d say he’s still in love with you.”

“Josh only came back to Boston because he thinks Digger’s death was a murder.” I ran my hands through my hair and sighed. “He didn’t come back for me.”

“Actually, I don’t know if that’s true. Josh called me today,” Ade confessed. “He wanted to know what you thought was going on with Digger before he died.”

“He called you?”

“Yup. He was in a rotten mood. Partly because of Digger, partly because he’s staying with Snacker, whose girlfriend is there all the time, and partly because of you.”

“What did he say about me? What did he say?” I demanded.

“He didn’t have to say anything, Chloe. I know Josh pretty well, and I know that he was fishing for details. Asking me how you were, what you’ve been up to, that kind of thing.”

“Did he say anything about hearing Kyle last night when he called?”

“No, not specifically, but he wouldn’t ask about you if he didn’t still care. I could hear it in his voice.” Adrianna cocked her head to side and looked at me. “Chloe? Why didn’t you go to Hawaii with Josh?”

“What?”

“Why didn’t you go to Hawaii?”

I rolled my eyes. “Ade! People don’t just drop their lives and run off to Hawaii for the hell of it.”

“It wouldn’t have been for the hell of it. It would have been for you. For you and Josh.”

“I have responsibilities. School, for one. My whole family is in Boston. And there’s you and Owen and Patrick. I wasn’t about to leave all of you,” I insisted. “Oh my God! You think I should have gone.”

She shrugged. “You said no awfully quickly.”

“He asked awfully quickly,” I spat back. “He asked me to go with him and left the next day.”

“True. But you could have met up with him. You didn’t have to leave that minute. And there are other graduate schools in the country, including in Hawaii, I’ll bet, and plane rides home and phone calls and e-mails.”

“I cannot believe you. So you wouldn’t have cared if I’d just left?”

“Of course I would have cared, dummy. I would miss you like crazy. We all would. But you and I will always be best friends, no matter where you are.”

“Hawaii is not exactly an option now, is it? I said no, and we broke up. What’s done is done.”

“It’s not done yet, Chloe,” Ade said as she put her hand on my arm. “You don’t get that many chances at truly mind-blowing romance. I almost lost Owen once, and I thank God every day that I didn’t. He is without a doubt the love of my life. And I think Josh might be yours.”

“Well, he’s not. Stop talking like we’re fated to be together or some nonsense like that. More important than my stupid love life is what happened to Digger. So, Josh is asking around about him? I only had one short phone call with Digger a few days before he died, and I didn’t get the sense that anything was wrong. I mean, sure, he was working like crazy to get the restaurant ready to open, but that’s nothing unusual. The only weird thing that’s happened is that his girlfriend, Ellie, was all heartbroken and depressed about Digger’s death one minute and then furious and hateful about him the next. Somebody else might know more, but I hadn’t really been in touch with Digger since Josh left. Division of friends and all that. You can tell Josh that.”

“Tell him yourself.” Ade winked at me and set her coffee down. “I’m starving. Got anything to eat?”

“Yeah, help yourself,” I said distractedly.

Adrianna got up to get us a snack, and I poked through the mail. I couldn’t believe that Josh had called Adrianna. She was my best friend, and he knew damn well that she’d tell me about their phone call. I set aside a few bills to pay and scanned a menu for a new Vietnamese restaurant that had just opened. There was also a formal-looking envelope that had my name and address practically embossed in red lettering. I ripped it open, wondering whether someone I knew was getting married. The ivory note card inside, which was covered in the same fancy lettering as the envelope, turned out to be an invitation to the opening of the Penthouse. The date was the coming Friday: short notice. But Digger’s death must have thrown a major wrench into the restaurant’s plans. I dropped the invitation in my lap. Ellie had obviously put me on the guest list, and my name hadn’t been removed after Digger’s death. Well, I was always happy to support a new restaurant, and the food was sure to be good; Digger had presumably been replaced with someone equally gifted in the kitchen.