I looked at Rose. “Why do you need a lawyer?”
When Arthur Fenety had been murdered back in the fall and their friend Maddie Hamilton was arrested for the crime, Rose, Liz and Charlotte—unhappy with the way the police were handling the case—had investigated, with some help from Alfred Peterson, who had to be the world’s oldest computer hacker, and, well, me. Nick had argued vehemently with his mother about it. I’d tried my best to rein them in, but somehow I’d gotten pulled into the investigation myself. Josh had taken on Maddie’s case when I’d asked, and Liz had quietly covered the bill.
“I don’t need a lawyer, dear,” Rose said. “As usual, Liz is overreacting.”
“What would be the harm in at least talking to him?” Charlotte asked. As a former school principal, she was often the voice of reason.
Rose pointed a finger from Liz to Charlotte. “Both of you need to have your hearing checked because I’ve told you twice now. Josh is a very nice young man, but I don’t need a lawyer.”
Liz made an exasperated snort and shook her head.
I turned to Avery. “What’s going on?”
She shrugged. “Rose got kicked out of her apartment. Nonna and Charlotte want her to make a stink about it.”
I turned back to look at Rose again. “You were evicted?” I said.
Silently, she pulled an envelope out of her pocket and held it out to me.
I took out the single sheet of paper inside. It was an eviction notice. Rose had until the middle of February to vacate her apartment at Legacy Place. There was no reason given.
Legacy Place was the former Gardner Chocolate factory—“A little bite of bliss in a little gold box.” In the early nineties the company had built a new manufacturing facility just on the outskirts of North Harbor. The old factory had had a number of lives in the next twenty years, and then about three years ago the Gardner family had renovated the building into a much-needed apartment complex for seniors. Rose derisively called the place “Shady Pines.”
“Rose, they have to at least tell you why they’ve asked you to leave,” I said, gesturing with the envelope. “Maybe it’s not a bad idea to call Josh.”
Josh Evans had grown up in North Harbor. Not only had he been Maddie Hamilton’s lawyer when she was accused of Arthur Fenety’s murder, but he’d known Rose—and Liz and Charlotte and my grandmother—since he was a kid. I knew he’d be willing to help.
Rose laid a hand on my arm. “I don’t want to fight this,” she said. “I don’t want to make a big fuss.”
I knew she’d only originally agreed to the move to the seniors’ apartment complex to put her daughter’s mind at rest. Getting evicted was the perfect out for her. I looked at her without saying anything. Her cheeks grew pink and her gaze slipped away from mine. I was right.
I looked at the letter again. It was dated the second week of January—two weeks earlier. “How long have you known about this?”
“A while,” she hedged.
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“She’s stubborn,” Liz said, a frown forming between her perfectly groomed eyebrows.
I turned my head to look at her. “Pots and kettles, Liz,” I said, raising one eyebrow.
Her mouth moved, but she didn’t say anything else.
“I wanted to get my ducks in a row before I told you all,” Rose said, looking around at all of us. She sounded a little less defiant and a little more embarrassed than before.
“And did you?” I asked gently.
She sighed. “Not exactly.”
“Rose, do you have somewhere else to live?” Liz asked.
“Not yet.” Her chin came up. “I’m still weighing my options.”
“Well, while you’re weighing them, you can move in with Avery and me,” Liz said, nodding her head as though everything were settled, which I knew it wasn’t.
“Say yes,” Avery immediately said, a huge smile stretching across her face. “Please. Right now I’m the only one who cooks. If Nonna made a cake, even a dog wouldn’t eat it.”
Liz shot her a look. She could actually cook. She just didn’t see why she should.
“Sorry, Nonna, but that’s true,” Avery said with an offhand shrug.
“Thank you both, but no,” Rose said firmly. She looked directly at Liz. “How long have we been friends?”
“Not as long as it feels, sometimes,” Liz retorted.
“If we lived together, I’m sure I’d try to smother you in your sleep by the end of the second week,” Rose said, her expression completely serious.
Liz narrowed her blue eyes. “Are you implying I’d be difficult to live with?”
“I’m not implying it,” Rose retorted. “I’m coming right out and saying it. You would be difficult to live with. I don’t want to ruin our friendship, and I don’t want to go to prison because I put a pillow over your face.” She leaned toward me. “Although I could probably get off for justifiable homicide.”
“I heard that,” Liz said. “And I am not difficult to live with.”
Beside her, Avery gave a loud snort.
Liz fixed her gaze on her granddaughter and held up two perfectly manicured fingers. “Two words. Boarding school.”
I knew she wasn’t serious. So did Avery.
Avery held up her hand, the fingers spread wide apart. “Five words, Nonna,” she countered. “You can’t program the DVR.”
“Rose, would you live with me?” Charlotte asked.
Rose half turned to smile at her friend. “Thank you,” she said, “but you don’t have anywhere to put me, and I’m not putting you out of your room.”
An ice dam on the roof of Charlotte’s house just after New Year’s had caused a leak in her spare room. The roof had been patched and Nick had pulled up the soggy carpet, but the ceiling and one wall still needed to be repaired, and given Nick’s schedule, who knew when that would be.
Rose held up a hand. “And before anyone gets any ideas, I’m not living in sin with Alfred. He already offered.”
Avery opened her mouth to say something, but Rose cut her off.
“And we’re not getting married, either, in case anyone has any ideas.” She leaned toward me again. “Remind me that I need to get some Bengay. I think Alfred pulled something getting up off his knees.”
I couldn’t help smiling at the thought of stoop-shouldered, bald-headed Alfred Peterson, whose pants were generally up around his armpits, getting down on one knee to propose to Rose.
“Everyone, please, there’s no need to overreact,” Rose said in a louder voice. She gestured toward a notepad sitting on the counter by the sherry glasses Charlotte had been dusting. “I went online and made a list of apartments for rent. I’m sure I’ll find something.”
“You wouldn’t have to find something if you’d stop being so pigheaded and move in with me,” Liz retorted.
Charlotte had been studying Rose’s list. She looked up, caught my eye and gave her head a slight shake.
Charlotte knew North Harbor better than I did. If she didn’t think any of the places on that list were acceptable, that was good enough for me.
I rolled my neck from one side to the other. My shoulders were tying themselves in knots. “We’ll find something for you somewhere,” I said to Rose. Maybe Jess would know of a place, I thought. Or Sam.
“Why can’t Rose just take that extra apartment you have?” Avery said.
Elvis had wandered in from somewhere, and he loudly seconded her suggestion as she bent down and picked him up.
“Oh, I can’t do that,” Rose said. “And Sarah’s not finished renovating that apartment anyway.”
My house, an 1860s two-story Victorian, was divided into three apartments. I lived in one. My grandmother lived in the other when she wasn’t traveling with her new husband, John. The third apartment was where my family—my brother, Liam, my mom and my stepfather—stayed when they came to visit. I hadn’t finished the renovations in that space, but I wasn’t that far from being done, either.
Liz walked over to the cash desk and picked up the pad with Rose’s list. She scanned the page.