eb93c43e214c621f9157c05b4b6a6878

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

[Êàðòèíêà: img_2]

“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.

“So… how do we find out, Max?”

“I guess we’ll know soon enough,” I said.