But nothing else about the woman screamed money. Her house was a replica of mine, having been built the same year by the same builder. And although housing prices were crazy high where we lived, you didn’t get that money unless you decided to sell. Something neither of us were willing to do.
As we walked inside our house, I realized this was the second time that day I’d been put into a position I didn’t want to be in. A discussion that wasn’t mine to have had been placed at my door and I’d volunteered to take on at least the one. As we got settled in the kitchen, I took out Sasha’s invite and tossed it to him on the table. “Do you want to go?”
“Hmmm, spend an afternoon locked in a room with screaming kids and loud noises?” He glanced at the invite again. “I’ll have to check my work calendar.”
“It’s on a Saturday and there will be pizza.” I took two sodas out of the fridge. “And maybe video games.”
“I can have pizza, video games, and beer if I stay home. I feel like this is something that people with kids do. I’ll go if you want to be there, but really, driving a couple of hours to be somewhere for an hour isn’t really a great way to spend my day off.” He glanced at the date and put his hands on his face like that kid in the old movie. “Oh no, I can’t go. That’s the street fair weekend. I can’t take off and leave my crew on their own to round up drunken leprechauns.”
“You’re a good boss. Have you thought about hiring on another person?” I set the soda on the table and slipped onto a chair. “I think you’d already decided not to go when I brought it up.”
“I’d like to get Toby on full-time first. Then Tim needs a full-time gig. Tim and his girl are getting married next June. Toby told me to move Tim up on the list because of the wedding, but that’s not fair. Toby has seniority and he’ll be the first one to go full-time. As soon as the mayor approves more staff hours.” He ignored my comment about Sasha’s party. He ran a hand through his hair. “I hate dealing with the administrative part of this. One more reason I don’t want to lose Esmeralda. I’m pretty sure she takes care of things I don’t even realize need fixing.”
“Stop, I already said I’d talk to her.” I closed my eyes. “Aunt Jackie called off for her shift today. Of course she didn’t call me. She just made other arrangements.”
“She probably didn’t want to worry you. And she knew you’d cover the shift rather than ask one of the others to do it.” He handed the invitation back to me. “My vote is no, but I’ll go if you want to see Sasha.”
“I would love to see Sasha and Olivia, but not in a mess of other kids I don’t know. Besides, since you brought up the street festival, I’ve realized I can’t take off that weekend either. Maybe we could go up sometime next month and spend the weekend in town. We take Olivia to the zoo or something fun, then have dinner and really talk.” I was beginning to brighten up. This was a good, no, a great plan.
He stood and kissed me on the forehead. “I’m running upstairs to change, then I’ll meet you at the thing tonight. I’ve got some paperwork to finish at the station.”
“What about dinner?”
He shrugged. “I’ll call in for some chicken from Diamond Lille’s. Do you want me to have them send you an order too?”
I glanced at the fridge, which I knew had plenty of food. Including tortellini soup I’d made last weekend. I had planned to serve it for dinner tonight; then I’d put the leftovers in the freezer for easy lunches. This just meant there would be more leftovers. “No, I’ll have soup and salad for dinner. You can grill tomorrow night to make it up to me.”
He laughed. “I’m not sure what I need to make amends for, but that’s a plan.”
I watched him head up the stairs, then found the book in my tote and my soda and headed for the couch. This gave me plenty of reading time. Right after I moved the clothes to the dryer, I reminded myself.
I’d gotten lost in the book, but Emma nudged my foot at about four, reminding me about dinner. Okay, so maybe she was telling me she had to go outside, but it served the same purpose. I put a serving of the soup on to heat and packed the rest into freezer containers. Then I made a quick salad while the soup was on the stove. Ten minutes later Emma was back in the house and I was sitting down for dinner.
A knock came on the door and I moved the food back over to the counter where Emma couldn’t reach it. When I opened the door Esmeralda stood there. “Hey, come in.”
She shook her head and the bells on her head scarf jingled. “Look, I just came over to tell you …”
I watched as she stared at me. I knew that look. Something else was going on. “What? What’s wrong? Are you having a vision?”
“You don’t believe in visions.” She put a hand on the doorframe and took a deep breath, obviously in distress.
“Seriously, you don’t look good. Come inside and sit down. I’m worried about you. Should I call the ambulance?” I reached out and touched her arm, and a swirl of emotions hit me like a ton of bricks. My fingers jerked back. “What the heck was that?”
“Sorry, I’m in touch with the other side. I didn’t do my cleansing ritual because I have another client in a few minutes.” She straightened, and color came back into her face. “I just want you to know that I’m doing this for his own good. Just know that.”
“Leaving the station? I’m supposed to talk you out of it.” I watched her. She wanted to leave and sprint across the street. Emma whined behind me.
“I’m not sure you can do that.” She turned and headed off the porch. “My client is almost here. I’ll come by tomorrow to explain. I owe him that much, but I can’t tell him why.”
I was about to say no one was at her house when I saw a pair of headlights turn off Highway 1 and onto the street that ran into South Cove. Esmeralda beat the car there by seconds and stood in the doorway to greet the newcomers like she’d been home all along.
I closed the door and turned to Emma. “Our neighbor is going batty.”
Emma stared at the door and whined again.
“I know, you felt it too.” I walked back to the kitchen. Something bad was going on with Esmeralda and I was going to find out what. She might not be the perfect neighbor, but she was part of my South Cove family. No one was going to run her off her job.
I ate my dinner as I tried to get back into the story. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Esmeralda and our conversation. Finally, I closed the book, cleaned up my dinner dishes, and went upstairs to get in the shower. Hopefully I’d be able to wash this funk off me so I’d be fun, creative Jill tonight.
Or at least fun Jill. Toby was right. I didn’t have a creative bone in my body.