“What’s that?”
“Don’t leave me alone in this house with that mouse. I know from experience, where there’s one rodent there’s bound to be more.” Her entire body trembled again.
“Nights, too?”
Her eyes darkened. “Nights, too.”
He nodded, silently thanking the run-down, abandoned house for supplying her with an excuse to ask him to stay.
The next few weeks belonged to them.
And what then, a little voice in his head asked. Her cell phone interrupted his thoughts.
She grabbed for it quickly, glancing at the number.
“Hello?” she asked, her voice tremulous.
He waited, confused by her anxiety.
“I see. And now?” She listened once more. “Just like she’s been for the last year. I see. That’s too bad. I was hoping that after this morning, maybe she’d come out of it.”
Her sister, Jason realized.
“I’ll touch base tomorrow morning, Doctor. Thank you.” She disconnected the call, exhaled a long hard breath, then inhaled deeply.
For a brief second she appeared hurt and fragile. Then she turned to him and squared her shoulders. “Now where were we?” she asked seductively. But her tone was clearly forced.
He slid his hand from beneath her shirt and grasped her arms, pulling her away from him. “What’s going on? That was a serious call and you’re obviously upset. So why pretend you aren’t?”
“Because I don’t expect you to feel sorry that my sister’s having problems.”
“How about if I feel sorry that you’re having problems?”
She shook her head. “Doesn’t accomplish my goal.”
“Which is?” he asked warily, knowing he wouldn’t like what he heard.
She sighed. “I’d like to keep my sister and her issues separate from us.” She gestured between them.
And thereby keep him at arm’s length.
Jason suppressed the urge to throttle her. “Didn’t we just agree you wouldn’t do that anymore?”
She shrugged. “I just figured my sister was different.”
“You figured wrong.”
Tilting her head to one side, she studied him closely. “So you accept her and what she’s done?”
Despite his best intentions, he fidgeted, knowing any answer to that loaded question would land him in Uncle Edward’s boathouse.
“Well?” she pressed, a knowing-and disappointed-look on her face.
“I didn’t say that. But I care about you and the things that hurt you. So if something has happened with your sister, I want you to be able to share it with me.”
“Even if you can’t stand the thought of her?”
This time he knew better than to reply.
“Jason, my sister is a part of me.”
He didn’t appreciate the reminder. “I know. But how I feel about what she does isn’t the same as how I feel about you.”
She rose and paced the room, turning to face him. “Okay, fine. You want to know? Here it is. My sister has been nonresponsive for months now. But suddenly this morning, she had an incident, the doctor called it. An outburst where she became hysterical and upset. They had to sedate her.” She shoved her hands into the pockets of her sweats. “I was hoping when she woke up that maybe she’d be back to her old self.”
Her psychotic self? Jason knew better than to voice his feelings aloud. “And is she better?” he asked carefully.
Which would mean her sister might attempt to get out of prison on an I was insane and now I’m fine plea. The thought made his stomach churn. His entire family would rebel at the notion. Even though Lauren was trying to get her sister transferred, Jason held out hope that the other woman’s crimes would keep her behind bars where she belonged. None of which he would admit aloud.
“No. Beth is back to staring at walls.” Shoulders slumped, Lauren lowered herself into a chair, clearly defeated.
“And what’s the prognosis? Does the fact that she seemed to come out of it mean anything?”
“The doctor doesn’t know. And he won’t unless she can be moved to a hospital for testing, something that requires court approval. And time. For all I know, getting that approval might cost me money.” She ran a hand through her hair, tugging at it in frustration. “Argh!”
He rose and walked to her side, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. Silence seemed best.
“Happy now that I’ve confided in you?” she asked, her voice catching.
Actually he felt like a complete shit. She’d had a horrible morning from her sister’s incident to the mouse. He hadn’t helped her at all.
As he glanced at her tortured expression, he wanted to say something, anything that would make her feel better about confiding in him.
He couldn’t.
All his pushing and prodding had done was show him that there wasn’t anything about Mary Beth Perkins he wanted to know or understand. Hard as he’d tried to convince Lauren otherwise, her sister would always be a point of contention between them. He’d just have to see how long he could pretend otherwise.
“Look, there’s nothing you can do for your sister right now, so what do you say we get to work? You’ll be in a better mood once you see we’re making progress on the house, right?”
“Right.” She shot him a grateful smile. “You do know me pretty well.”
The doorbell rang, ensuring he wouldn’t have to discuss the Perkins family any longer, and Lauren jumped to answer. Jason followed her to the door, where the plumber waited on the other side.
“Good morning,” Lauren said.
Jason nodded to the other man.
Brody Pittman met them with a wide smile. “Good morning, all! New water heater ready for install.” He sounded like a drill sergeant reporting for duty.
The man was just too pleased with himself and something about his demeanor rubbed Jason the wrong way. He couldn’t put his finger on what or why.
“That’s good news.” Lauren stepped to the side, waving the other man inside.
“I have to get the unit out of the truck, but first-” He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. “I have your estimate for the rest of the work.” He smiled as he shoved the paperwork into her hands.
“Thank you,” Lauren murmured. She didn’t glance at the numbers, merely folded the paper as she let out a prolonged sigh.
Jason didn’t blame her. They both knew the estimate would make her stomach churn, but stalling wouldn’t make things any better.
He didn’t think she’d appreciate him pointing out that fact.
“Just let me know when you’re ready to move forward,” Brody said. “I cleared my schedule and I can start immediately.” He shifted from foot to foot. “Like today,” he said when they didn’t immediately reply.
Jason frowned. Something about the man’s enthusiasm bugged him. “Just the water heater today. We’ll get back to you on the rest.” He wanted to check out the numbers, then work a better deal with the man’s boss.
“Sure thing.” Pittman turned and headed for his truck to retrieve the heater.
“Why don’t you let me look at the estimate first,” Jason said, once they’d stepped back inside. “I want to work the numbers myself and see if I can’t get J.R. to lower the price.”
She turned. “Maybe he was fair.”
“And maybe I can get him to be even fairer.” Jason knew J.R.’s wife had been bugging him to finish the basement as a playroom for the kids, but with the downturn in the economy, he wasn’t about to lay out big bucks for something that was a want, not a need. Jason figured he could work a deal.
Without warning, she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his in a too brief kiss. “Thank you. You’ve been beyond generous.”
Before he could pull her close, Trouble darted into the entryway, stopping short. His black paws starkly contrasted with the white marble as he slowly began to edge forward. The cat skulked around the perimeter, stealthily tracking what could only be the mouse Lauren had seen earlier.