The first person she met was Chase, who was talking on the phone and staring out of the window into the backyard. He turned when she entered and immediately jumped to her assistance by taking over one of the heavy bags.
“Yes, to be delivered immediately. Oh, and about that mattress, are you sure it’s designed for people with a back injury? That’s a great relief. Thank you.”
She started putting away the groceries, and wondering if Chase had lost his job at the police station and had gone into the mattress business instead. After he’d disconnected, he joined her and said in a low voice, “What’s the deal with these Boggles? I arrived home and suddenly there they were—and two dogs, too.”
“I wanted to tell you but didn’t want to trouble you when you were in the middle of your investigation,” she said. “Tessa Torrance called and asked if we could help out some good friends of hers and Prince Dante’s. John Boggle is in some kind of trouble at home and needs to disappear fromthe public eye for a while, and she thought the last place the media would look for him is here.”
“Oh, so this was Tessa’s idea, was it?” said Chase, and she had the impression he wasn’t entirely happy with the state of affairs. “The cats and the Boggle dogs got into a fight,” he added when she gave him a questioning look. “I think the dogs won, but I’m not an expert. The cats disappeared and I haven’t seen them since.”
“Oh, dear,” said Odelia, and for the first time that day glanced down at her cats’ bowls. They were all empty. “Oh, dear, oh, dear.” Then she glimpsed into their litter boxes, and found that they were full… and smelly. And as far as she could tell, that was dog poo and not cat poo in there. “Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear.” No wonder the cats weren’t happy.
“What’s all this?” asked Chase, referring to the bags and bags of food.
“John Boggle has to stick to a very strict vegetarian diet, so Janine gave me some tips on what to cook for them.”
The corners of Chase’s mouth sagged. “Where is Grace?”
“Next door with my mother. I asked her if she could take care of her while I went shopping for the Boggles.”
“Mh,” said Chase with a frown. “They had me shopping, too. I just ordered a box spring for John, who apparently suffers from a bad back, and a new mattress for Janine as well. Which had me wonder where they’ll be sleeping tonight.”
Odelia gave him a sheepish look.“I asked my dad to help me bring down the old bed from the attic and I put them in the nursery. We’re not using it anyway.” Which was true, since Grace had been sleeping in the bedroom ever since they got back from the hospital. She lifted one of the bags from the counter.
“Honey, you really shouldn’t be carrying these heavy bags,” said Chase as he immediately took the bag from her. “You should be resting. Taking it easy.”
“I know, but the Boggles—“
“Let me take care of the Boggles, all right?”
“But you have your big case to deal with.”
“I know,” he said, and drove his fingers through his dark mane. “But maybe I can talk to your uncle and he can take over for me.”
“Out of the question. You can’t ask Uncle Alec to take over for you so you can take over for me. That’s just silly. No, I’ll just…”
“You’ll just what?”
She held up her hands.“I don’t know. I guess I could ask… Gran?”
Chase lifted one sardonic eyebrow.“If you want to get rid of the Boggles, by all means ask your Gran to jump in.”
“Yeah, probably not a good idea. So maybe…” Her mom already helped out with Grace, and between the library and this bathroom project, she’d have her hands full as well. She slumped a little. “I don’t know, Chase. I really don’t know what to do.”
“We’ll figure it out,” he promised, and held her close and kissed the top of her head. “I don’t know how, but we’ll figure it out.”
And that’s how the Boggles, John and Janine, found them. “I say,” said John, “I was going to take a shower but I seem to have some trouble getting the water really, really hot, you know. I like it hot—scalding, almost. Could you perhaps…”
Chase nodded.“It’s an old system and needs careful handling.” And both men left to deal with this hot shower emergency.
“I’m in something of a pickle myself,” said Janine. “I don’t seem to have quite the closet space I need. You wouldn’t happen to have some extra space in your room, would you?”
“Of course,” said Odelia, and pushed herself away from the counter. “I’ll free up some space in our closet.” And so she found herself reorganizing her closets so she could accommodate their guests. Janine had lots of gorgeous dresses, and it took a while to get them all on hangers. For the time being she removed her own dresses and Chase’s suits, and piled them up in a corner of the room.
“If I could give you some advice?” said Janine, eyeing the bedroom with a critical eye. “I think you could work wonders with this space—absolute wonders. If you want I could give you some pointers. I’m an avid interior decorator and doing a home makeover is something of a passion of mine.I love a challenge.”
She followed Janine’s gaze and saw she was staring at a picture of Odelia and Grace. The picture was taken at the hospital, and Odelia thought she looked terrible, but Chase said it was his favorite picture of her and he just loved it.
“Do you have kids?” Odelia asked.
“No, I haven’t,” said Janine with a touch of wistfulness. “Though I want to.”
“It’s not too late. How old are you?”
“Thirty-eight.”
“Plenty of time left,” said Odelia with a smile.
“I know, but John…” Janine hesitated, then glanced in the direction of the door and lowered her voice. “John already has kids from a previous marriage, and he’s not looking to have more. Though now I’m starting to regret having said I didn’t want any either.”
“Have you had that conversation?”
“Not really. John’s been so busy these last couple of years…”
“Looks like he’s less busy now,” said Odelia. “So maybe now’s the time to talk?” She gave the woman an encouraging smile. “Strike while the iron is hot, right?”
Janine gave her a lopsided grin.“Yes, I guess you’re right.”
Just then, Janine’s dogs came tripping into the bedroom, took one look around, seemed to roll their eyes and walked right out again. Seen and disapproved.
CHAPTER 17
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“Max?”
“Mh?”
“What if Charlene doesn’t want us?”
“We don’t know that, Dooley.”
“No, but suppose she doesn’t even like cats and is afraid to say?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, some people will say anything to please other people, especially when they’re related to the man they love, in this case Uncle Alec. So maybe Charlene has been tolerating us all this time, but secretly hates cats from the bottom of her heart and when we go and live with her she’ll do what she can to get rid of us.”
“I think if Charlene was secretly a cat hater we would have noticed by now.”
“But she’s a politician, Max.”
“So?”
“Politicians are trained to lie. They’re the best liars on the planet. They’re professionals. So she could lie to your face and you wouldn’t even know it.”
He had a point, of course. It is true that politicians, before they join the trade, go to politician school, where one of the main courses is‘lying for fun and profit.’ The same thing goes for lawyers, bankers and hedge fund managers, who take some of the same courses.