Death Takes a Holiday (27 page)

I shrug and walk to the door with him just a few paces behind, my ever-present shadow. I peek out the hole. It’s not an assassin. It’s someone worse. “April,” I mutter. This is going to suck so bad.

She stands on the porch all smiles, as if she’s not here to make my life a living heck. “Hi! How are you? I was worried!”

Worried she wouldn’t get to meet Will. “I’ll bet you were.”

Ignoring my snideness, she pecks my cheek and steps in. Her smile reaches both the east and west coasts when her eyes lock on Will. “Well, hello,” she purrs.

“Will, April; April, Will.”

She holds out her hand, which he shakes. “Nice to finally meet you,” he says. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Ditto. I feel like we’re practically family. Though the pictures she sent don’t do you justice. Are all werewolves as gorgeous as you, because if they are … ” She clicks her tongue. “I might just start howling at the moon.”

“You’re married,” I remind her.

“I’m not
that
married.”

Will’s face becomes as red as a Santa suit.

“You’ll have to forgive my ex best friend. She forgets herself sometimes.”

“It must be your animal magnetism,” she says to Will.

I have to get her the heck out of here before I die of embarrassment. “Okay, so you see I’m fine. All limbs in place. Time to go. I’m sure you have loads to do today what with the pageant tonight, so … ” I gesture to the door.

“Pageant?” Will asks.

“My son’s playing a snowflake in his school’s holiday pageant tonight. You should come. It’s at seven.”

“We’ll probably be gone by then,” Will says.

“But Bea said you have a private jet. You can leave when you want. You’re coming. There. Settled. You can leave afterwards. Or not, right?”

“We’ll play it by ear,” Will says.

“Oh goody,” she says clapping and squealing like a child. “I have the utmost faith in you.” Her head whips around to me. “Bea, walk me to my car?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

She laces her arm around mine, locking them together, then practically drags me to the door. “It was nice to finally meet you, Will. I am
more
than sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other. See you tonight!”

She yanks me out the door and shuts it. We walk to her car. “I am so going to kill you!” I say.

“Oh my flipping God! He looks like the Marlboro Man!”

I shush her. “He can hear you,” I whisper. “Shut up! Get in the car!”

We both climb into her minivan and shut the doors. I doubt he can hear but turn on the radio just in case. “Bea, you have to be out of your mind not to be riding that man like a bull every chance you get!”

“Eww! Graphic!”

“I am so jealous,” she screeches. “And he totally declared his undying love for you last night!”

“Yeah, after I stopped him from killing someone!”

“He was defending your honor!”

“He could have been acting. Or lying. And let’s not forget he’s been tres jerky to me for a long time.”

“And yet you are, and I quote, ‘totally, completely, crazily in love’ with him.”

“You know, the more I think about it, the more I realize it’s not love. It’s just, you know, infatuation and hormones.”

“Yeah, and I’m still a virgin,” she chuckles. “I called it months ago. You love him. I can see it clear as day. You’re practically glowing.”

“It’s just my new moisturizer.”

“Oh my God, you are hopeless!”

I rest my head on the dashboard. “I know. I suck at this stuff. And now I have to spend the whole day with him. Alone. Doing couple things like buying a Christmas tree and going to a school pageant.” I sit up. “Which I cannot believe you brought up.”

“I am including your future husband in our lives. Better he get used to us now so he knows what he’s getting into.”

“Don’t call him that.
Please
.” I groan and wince. “I should get back in there.”

“You can’t even be away from him for five minutes,” she teases. “It’s
so
love.”

I roll my eyes. “I’ll see you tonight.” I peck her cheek and climb out. She blows me a kiss before driving off.

“
… and I wanted to say what a nice time I’ve had with you the past few nights,
” is what I hear when I come back inside. Steven’s voice emanates from the answering machine while Will stares at it with a blank face. “
The bowling, the club last night. I forgot how much fun you can be
.” Will’s eyes leave the machine to appraise me.

I lunge for the phone. “Hello? Steven?”

“Hey.”

“Sorry. I was outside talking to April. What’s up?” I put my back to Will.

“Nothing. Just wanted to make sure you got home okay.”

“Oh yeah. It must have been something I ate for dinner. I all but passed out when I got home.” Should I go to my bedroom? No, that’s rude and makes it seem like I have something to hide.

“Yeah, I felt out of it too,” he says. “Better now. So what are you up to today? I’m not on until late tonight. Maybe we can go to a movie or something.”

I swear I can fell Will’s eyes burrowing onto my back like a mole in the dirt. I’m sure he can hear Steven’s side of the conversation from here. I don’t dare look back. “Actually, I can’t. I have Christmas duty all day. We’re gonna hang some decorations, make cookies, the tree, usual stuff.”

“And tonight?”

“Manny’s pageant.”

“Right. Forgot about that. Nana Liz going with you?”

“No, she’s got her knitting club tonight.”

“Right. Well, maybe some other day. Before you go back.”

I wince. Oh, why the heck did he have to say that? “Yeah. Great. I’ll call you.”

“Okay. Talk to you soon. Bye.” He hangs up, and I do the same.

I turn around but Will’s gone. Vanished. Once again my mind goes to that annoying, girlie place where I have to overanalyze. Did he leave because he wanted to give me privacy? Or because he couldn’t stand me talking to the man I made out with? Okay, I so need to stop this. He left the room, and I need to interpret every step. I’ve never been this bad, not even in high school. I hate people like this. Okay, I’m done. I won’t make it through the day if I keep this up. My head will explode.

I finish getting ready, barely putting on makeup just because. I’d wire my jaw shut if I could, but instead toss a pack of gum in my purse. I’ll chew all day. If my mouth is preoccupied, I might be able to stop it from forming words. Worth a shot.

Will’s on the couch fiddling with his cell phone when I walk out. He glances at me as I move into the kitchen, but listens to his messages. I fix myself a bowl of Count Chocula and examine the back of his neck. “Wolfe, it’s Will. Please call me when you get this.” He slaps the phone shut.

“He’s probably at the beach,” I say, “or asleep. It’s a nice day out.”

“I need his report,” Will says, “and yours too.”

“Do we have to do it today? We can have
one
day off, right?”

“I suppose.”

“So, is there anything you want to see? To do?” Activities are good. If we’re busy with activities, there’s less talking involved.

“I have no idea,” he says, finally turning around. “Do you have anything planned?”

“Just getting the tree.”

“Oh.” From the quick smile I can tell he’s relieved. “The beach maybe?”

“Okay, so the beach, tree, decorate. Sounds good.”

“What about the pageant?” he asks.

“You really don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

“I don’t mind. We weren’t planning on leaving until the night anyway.”

“Oh. Great.” I put the half-eaten bowl in the sink. “I’ll get my purse, and we can get going.”

Compared to yesterday, today is beautiful. It’s in the low sixties with puffy clouds against the blue sky. There are no strange cars on the street either. I climb into the driver’s seat of my rental with the silent Will beside me. Off we go.

We’re both quiet at first with him watching the scenery and me furiously chewing gum. I turn on the radio. “Can’t Fight This Feeling” by REO Speedwagon starts. I switch it but it’s Etta James’s “At Last.” Will and I glance quickly at each other then look away in sync. I find a Christmas station before the car explodes from our nervous energy. “Blue Christmas,” no subtext there.

“You know, on second thought,” he says, “I’m not really in the mood for the beach. I think we should just get the tree.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, is there anything else you want to see? The Maritime Museum? Midway? I know you’re into naval history.”

“How did you know that?” he asks, surprised.

“We’ve lived in the same house for months. That’s all you read.” I pause. Silence is bad. Keep talking. “My grandfather was in the Navy.”

“He was?”

“Yeah. He served in the Korean war on a carrier.”

“I almost joined the Navy.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Um, my father,” he says. “He developed lung cancer when I was seventeen. Mom was a mess. I just couldn’t leave them then. So police officer was my second choice.”

If I wasn’t already in love with him, this would be when I fell. “Did he recover?”

“He hung tough for two years, but by then I had already joined the force.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It was a mercy at the end. He was in so much pain,” he says trying to remain strong but a little haunted too. “He was a good guy. The best. He was an airline pilot so he was gone a lot, but he never missed a baseball game or crew tournament he promised he’d make.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, that’s why I never joined.”

“He sounds wonderful. You were very lucky to have him.”

“Both of them,” he says sadly. “She was one of those moms who just instinctively knew what you needed. I’d get home from school some days in a real bad mood, and she’d turn on the Beatles and make me sing and dance with her. She was sort of the neighborhood mom. All my friends loved her. Especially her brownies. Damn, I miss those things.”

“Has your Mom passed too?”

“About a year after Mary. She had, um, dementia.” He pauses. “She didn’t even know who I was in the end, which is kind of funny.” He runs his hand through his hair, another nervous tic. He does it a lot around me. “I had her transferred to a care facility near the mansion, so I could go visit her.”

“No brothers or sisters?”

“No. Come from a long line of only children. I have some cousins on my dad’s side, but we were never close.”

“Same here. An island unto ourselves.” We ride for a few quiet seconds again, but there’s no way I’m letting this conversation go. I’ve found out more about him in the last minute than in all the previous months. “What’s crew?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Crew. You said your Dad never missed a crew tournament. I don’t know what this is.”

“Oh. Rowing.”

“Like in a rowboat? They have contests for that?”

“No,” he chuckles, “we use a flat skiff with arms and legs moving in unison to power it.”

“Like our rowing machine,” I say.

“Yeah. I joined crew in high school and just kept up with it.” He smiles at the memory. “Three times a week I’d wake up around five and go for a run. The sun would just be rising over the Potomac, and there’d be nothing but me, the water, and the rhythm.”

“You miss it.”

“I do. I love the water.”

“Me too. I used to fantasize about buying a boat someday, just sailing around the world. No people, no responsibilities.”

“Sounds like heaven.”

I cock an eyebrow. “Well, I’m game if you are. We could go. Right now. There’s plenty of boats for sale. I’m sure if we pool our money, we could afford one.”

“Just run off? Not tell anyone?” he asks with a sly smile.

“We’ll call them from Hawaii.”

He thinks I’m kidding. I’m not. Not in the least. There is nothing I’ve wanted more in my life. Him and me all alone in the middle of the vast ocean. Stopping in exciting ports like Fiji and New Zealand. Spending our days sunbathing, reading, making love on the deck for hours on end. Just the two of us. If that’s not heaven, I don’t know what is.

The man I love stares at me. Maybe he does know I’m serious. As our eyes briefly meet, I can tell he’s more than tempted judging from the way his mouth’s twitching. We could do it. He just has to say the word.
Say the word
! But I don’t get my wish. He looks away while chuckling nervously. “Yeah, and on the first full moon I’ll rip a hole in the boat. Or you. Or both. No, I think I’ll stick to dry land.” He rolls down his window and shifts in his seat, once again all the joy and playfulness sucked from him.

He might have actually done it. He wanted to as much as I did. But that jerk reality snatched him away from me. I
so
can’t stand him. For a brief moment I feel like crying but bite the inside of my lip to stop myself.