Софи Келли - Paws Аnd Effect

I stared at him wide-eyed and more than a little aggravated. “What did I do that for?” I gestured at the door with one hand. “What did you do that for?”

Simon straightened up. There was a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead. “What exactly were you going to do once you were face-to-face with Ernie?” he asked.

“None of your business,” I retorted.

“I can pick you up and have you in the parking lot in less than a minute,” Simon said, straightening one sleeve of his suit jacket.

I made a fist, folded my arm and held up my elbow. “I can hit a lot harder than I just did. And I can scream loud enough to be heard in the back row of the Stratton Theatre—from here.”

“He won’t tell you anything,” Simon said flatly.

“I wasn’t going to walk up to him and say, ‘Hey, did you kill a woman out at Long Lake?’”

He almost smiled. “I didn’t think you were that stupid. But if he gets even a hint of what you suspect he’ll surround himself with a flank of lawyers and you’ll lose your chance to find out whether Ernie was involved or not.”

I felt something sour at the back of my throat. He was right. “I can’t just do nothing, Simon,” I said, making a helpless gesture at the door with one hand.

“Twenty-four hours.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Give me twenty-four hours. If you’ll wait that long I’ll get you a meeting with him if you still want it.”

“How do I know you won’t just go warn him about what I suspect?”

“Oh c’mon, Kathleen.” He held up both hands in exasperation. “I know you don’t know me very well but I think you know me better than that.”

I wanted to believe him. I wanted to trust him. “What do you mean by you’ll get me a meeting if I ‘still want it’?”

Nothing changed in his expression. “If by tomorrow at this time you still feel you need to talk to Kingsley I will make sure you get a meeting with him. You have my word.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “So I just trust you.” I didn’t bother trying not to sound skeptical.

He smiled then. Mia had exactly the same smile. “Yeah. You just trust me.”

If I tried to go back into the meeting Simon was perfectly capable of causing a scene—and would. I had nothing to lose by waiting for a day. And something, some instinct I couldn’t explain, told me I could trust Simon.

“All right,” I said. “Twenty-four hours.” I squinted at him. “And if you ever grab me like that again I won’t hold anything back.”

He grinned and one eyebrow went up. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

* * *

“C’mon in,” Maggie called when I knocked on her apartment door that evening. I’d stopped at the house to change and had left two very disgruntled cats at home.

The aroma of sausage and oregano met me on the stairs. Maggie was at the stove. And Roma was sitting on the sofa.

“Hi,” I said. She got to her feet and wrapped me in a hug. “I didn’t know I was going to get to see you, too.”

“I can’t say no to Maggie’s pizza,” Roma said. “And I wanted to make sure that you were okay. I’m sorry I was gone when all this was going on.”

“I’m all right,” I said. “There wasn’t anything you could have done and truthfully, some days I was glad to just spend some time with Lucy and the other cats.”

“What about Marcus? Is he okay?” I could see the concern on her face.

“He is. In fact, he made breakfast for me.”

Roma and Maggie exchanged a look and grinned. “Ooooo,” they exclaimed like a couple of fourteen-year-olds.

“Don’t start,” I warned.

Roma immediately clasped her hands primly in front of herself and tried not to look Maggie in the eye. Maggie pressed her lips together and attempted to be serious but it didn’t exactly work. I could see the laughter in her green eyes.

It was so good to spend time with them. Somehow, just being in the same room with them made everything I’d been worried about seem a little less, well, worrisome.

“What can I do, Mags?” I asked. There was flour in her hair and on her hands and a dab of sauce on her chin. And as usual when she made pizza there wasn’t a bare bit of counter space in the kitchen.

“Sit and talk to Roma,” Maggie said, turning back to the cast-iron skillet on the stove.

“We can clean up later,” Roma said, quietly settling onto one corner of the couch.

“I heard you.” Maggie frowned down at the contents of the pan.

“We know.” Roma smiled. It was good to see her smile. I knew how much she missed Eddie. I’d tried very hard to support her decision even though I wished she’d change her mind and say yes to his proposal, but after close to five months I was afraid that might never happen.

I sat next to her on the sofa. “How are you?” I asked. “I know Eddie’s moved into his new place.”

She nodded. “I told him to go back to Minneapolis, to go home.” The way she felt about him was written in every line on her face, just the same way it was with him. “He said as long as I was here this was home.”

“You haven’t changed your mind.” I didn’t phrase it as a question because I already knew the answer.

Roma shook her head. “Nothing’s changed.” She moved to shift the pillow behind her. I noticed that once again she was wearing the antique rose gold locket Eddie had bought her. Maybe there was hope for the two of them after all.

“Syd’s coming in a couple of weeks,” Roma said. “She has three days off school and she’s going to spend a night with me.”

“I’m glad you still get to see her.”

“That’s her mom as much as it is Eddie.” She gave me a half smile. “She’s really trying to get us back together. Syd, I mean. She told me this breakup could scar her for life and affect her ability to have a healthy relationship when she’s an adult.”

I smiled. “What did you say to her?”

Roma sighed softly. “I told her it was complicated. She said that was what adults said whenever they were doing something stupid.”

“She loves her dad and she loves you, too,” I said.

“And I love her. I’m so glad I still get to be part of her life.” She looked away for a moment and then her eyes met mine again. “Do you think it’s selfish of me to stay in Syd’s life? Is it going to be too awkward when Eddie meets someone else?”

“You don’t have a selfish bone in your body,” Maggie interjected. She was at the sink. I had no idea what she was doing. Not dishes, because it seemed like every surface in the small kitchen was covered with dirty ones. “And it’s not like there’s so much love in the world that there isn’t enough room for a little more,” she added.

I nodded. “What Maggie said. It’s not selfish. It’s loving.” I reached over and gave Roma’s arm a squeeze. I didn’t say that I didn’t think Eddie was going to meet someone else. When Roma had decided she couldn’t marry Eddie because she was older than he was, she’d told Maggie and me she didn’t want us to feel we had to take sides. I’d promised her that we’d do our best not to, but if it came down to that we were one hundred percent on hers.

Roma leaned sideways to see what Maggie was doing in the kitchen. “Could we please do something?” she asked.

Maggie opened the oven door, slid the pizza inside and then poked her head in to check something.

“I guess it’s not too early to set the table,” she said, her voice echoing a little from inside the oven. She pulled her head out and brushed off the front of the denim apron she was wearing.

Roma was already getting the placemats. I got up and started clearing off the table.

“These are nice,” Roma said, holding up the woven placemats. “Where did you get them?”