The Comeback Kiss (36 page)

Finn picked up the fork, separated a bit of egg and some bacon, and put the combo in his mouth.

“
Wow,”
he said, am
azed at how good it was. “
So... what? Max taught you how to cook?”

Babs nodded, hopped up, and moved back to the stove. “
It was slow last night, and he showed me a few things.”
She took two eggs out of the carton, cracked them simultaneously with one hand,
and sent them sizzling onto the skillet. “
He
’
s an amazing man, your uncle.”

Finn took another bite. “
Yeah, he
’
s gotta be if he can teach you to cook.”

“
I know,”
she said. “
It
’
s unbelievable, isn
’
t it? It was like, he explained things to me and suddenly
—”
She snapped her fingers over her head. “
I got it.”

“
That
’
s... that
’
s amazing,”
Finn said.

“
Which reminds me, I hardly harangued you at all yesterday about your relationship with your uncle, which means I have loads to make up for today.”

The doorbell rang
and Finn hopped up. “
Hold that thought. Or, actually, dump that thought and get a new one. I
’
m gonna answer the door.”

“
You can
’
t avoid this forever,”
she called after him as he zipped through the swinging kitchen door. Finn ignored her, licking a bit of b
acon off his thumb and crossing through the foyer to the front door.

And of all the things he might have expected to see on the other side, his brother holding a birdcage with the macaw in it was not one of them.

“
Hey, it
’
s not my birthday,”
Finn said.

Joe
looked at him, his eyes narrowing. “
What are you doing here?”

“
No room at the inn,”
Finn said. “
What are you doing here?”

“
I need someone to foster the macaw until we get a hold of Vickie Kemp,”
he said.

Finn smiled. “
Well, come on in, then.”

Joe eyed Fin
n warily for a moment, then stepped inside.

“
I also have something I need to talk to Tessa about,”
he said.

Finn worked up a subtly smug expression. “
She
’
s still in bed. Maybe I can relay a message for you?”

Joe raised an eyebrow at Finn, and Finn raised o
ne back. He knew Tessa would very likely kick his ass six ways from Sunday for insinuating to anyone in town, let alone Joe, that there was anything going on between them, but it had been ten years since he
’
d had any opportunity to aggravate Joe. He had a
lot of lost time to make up for.

“
No,”
Joe said finally. “
I need to speak to her in person.”

At that moment, footsteps thundered down the steps, and Tessa came flying down, pulling a flannel robe on over her sleep set of a concert T-shirt and a pair of lou
nge pants. Her eyes were half-open, and her hair was all lopsided, and he really wanted to take her back up to that bedroom and...

“
Who
’
s cooking?”
she said as she landed at the bottom of the steps. “
And why? No one cooks. Those are the rules. My rules. No
cooking.”

Finn put one hand on her shoulder. “
It
’
s okay. Babs had some sort of religious experience last night, and now she can cook without burning anything down.”

“
Oh.”
Tessa blinked, looked at Joe, then glanced down at the cage. The macaw squawked. “
Yo
u brought me a bird?”

“
Uh, yeah,”
Joe said. “
Actually, I kinda need to find someone to foster it and
—”

“
Well, Joe! Good morning!”
Babs
’
s voice cut him off as she came out from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. She caught sight of the bird, squeal
ed with delight, and clapped her hands.

Joe exchanged a look with Finn. Finn shrugged.

“
She
’
s a morning person,”
he said.

“
What a beautiful bird!”
She bent down and made some kind of weird smooching noises at the thing, to which it oddly seemed to respond.
Babs straightened and grinned at Joe. “
What
’
s its name?”

Joe hesitated for a moment. “
Um. I dunno. Bird.”

“
Oh!”
Babs said. “
That
’
s no kind of name for a gorgeous little thing like this. How about Honey?”

“
Honey?”
Finn asked flatly.

Babs bent over and mad
e some more clicking noises as she took the cage from Joe. “
Isn
’
t that right, Honey? You like that name, don
’
t you?”

The bird squawked and seemed happy enough. Tessa turned to Joe. “
Guess you
’
ve found your foster family.”

“
Yes, absolutely,”
Babs said. “
An
d you couldn
’
t have found a better one. Finn is a bird expert.”

Joe shot a skeptical look at Finn. “
You
’
re an expert?”

Finn shrugged. “
Define
expert
.”

“
Joe,”
Babs said cheerfully, “
I am so glad you stopped by. Your uncle has been telling me all about you.”

Joe
’
s surprise registered on his face. “
He has? Max? Has been talking?”

Babs shook her head at the brothers. “
You two. For the boys he raised into men, one would think you
’
d know the man a little better. Would you like some bacon and eggs, Joe? Fresh off
the griddle.”

“
Thanks. No. I
’
ve already had breakfast.”
He leaned toward Tessa and spoke in low tones, but Finn could still hear him. “
Do you think we could talk about something? Privately?”

Finn felt an odd stab of territorialism. Sure, he was planning on
taking off and leaving her forever, but not yet. What, Joe couldn
’
t wait till the skidmarks were cold?

“
Sure, Joe,”
Tessa said, rubbing her hands over her eyes. “
Can I get some coffee first?”

“
Absolutely!”
Babs turned back toward the kitchen, squawking bi
rd in tow. “
Coffee for everyone!”

No one followed Babs, but she didn
’
t seem to mind. Finn could hear her humming and clattering away in the kitchen like the madwoman she was, and he couldn
’
t help but smile. The woman was six different kinds of crazy, but i
t was part of her charm.

“
Actually,”
Joe said, watching the kitchen door with a slight expression of bewilderment, “
I have to get to work, and it
’
s just a quick question.”
He shot a distrustful look at Finn before turning his attention back to Tessa. “
It
’
s
about your mom.”

Tessa
’
s eyes widened, and Finn could see that Joe
’
s bomb was waking her up.

“
What about her?”
Tessa asked.

Joe shot another look at Finn. “
Maybe we should talk in private.”

“
Maybe you shouldn
’
t,”
Finn said.

“
This doesn
’
t concern you,”
Joe
said.

“
Does if it relates to my case.”

“
Your
case
?”

“
I
’
m investigating the fires.”

Joe cocked his head to the side. “
Yeah? Who hired you?”

“
Can
’
t tell you.”

“
Why not?”

Finn leaned forward in mock discretion. “
Client confidentiality.”

“
Oh, hell.”
Tessa rol
led her eyes. “
Joe, Izzy hired him.”

Joe scoffed.
“
Izzy
hired you? What
’
s she paying you with, Girl Scout cookies?”

“
Samoas, actually. Doesn
’
t make it any less my case.”
Joe rubbed his forehead, letting out a sigh of frustration. “
Okay. Fine.”
He turned t
o Tessa. “
Do you remember the coffeemaker your mom had at the shop?”

It was Finn
’
s tom to scoff. “
That
’
s the big private question you had to ask her?”

Tessa shot him a
shut up
look. He shut up. She turned to Joe. “
Yeah. I remember it. Why?”

Joe shook his h
ead. “
Look, this is gonna sound weird, but... didn
’
t she break it?”

Tessa thought for a moment, then smiled. “
Oh, my God. I
’
d totally forgotten about that.”

Joe smiled back. “
It was that Saturday I was helping out at the store ...”

Tessa laughed. “
Right! T
he day Mom burned her hand with the glue gun.”

“
Yeah, and she went to make some coffee and broke the top off the well, right?”

“
Yeah.”
Tessa giggled. “
And then she kept cursing the coffeemaker out and then Randy Williams came in with little Jana, who was l
ike three at the time
—”

Joe laughed harder. “
And she kept repeating after your mom”—
Joe
’
s voice went high-pitched
—“‘
Fucking coffeemaker! Fucking coffeemaker!
’”

The two of them laughed comfortably together, like old friends. Which, of course, was exactly wh
at they were. Joe had been here, all these years, and had developed a relationship with Tessa that was independent of Finn. Big deal. It was only natural. This knowledge, however, did nothing to lessen Finn
’
s desire to throw his brother through the front
w
indow; in fact it was growing stronger by the moment.

Finally, Tessa
’
s laughter subsided, and she looked at Joe, her eyes serious. “
So, what
’
s with the coffeemaker?”
Joe looked from Finn to Tessa and headed toward the dining room, motioning for them to fol
low. Tessa gave Finn a questioning look, which Finn ignored, still rankled by the buddy-buddy display he
’
d just witnessed.

“
Oh, Christ,”
Tessa muttered. By the time they caught up to Joe, he had already pulled some pictures from a manila envelope and laid
them out flat on the table. He pointed to one of them.

“
That was only about a week before the fire. Did your mother get a new coffeemaker?”
he asked.

Tessa leaned over the photo, examined it for a few seconds, then shook her head and looked at Finn.

“
I don
’
t think so.”
She pointed to a detail on the picture. “
And this one doesn
’
t have a clock display. She wouldn
’
t have bought one without a clock display.”