someday when you fall off and break your damned neck.”
His dad snorted. “Fine. But I’m still mowing the lawn, and I’m going to finish painting the living room.”
“Only if you don’t have to stand on a ladder to do it. I’ll get the ceiling, all right? And the beehive I saw out there. So, when do rehearsals start for this play of yours?”
“I don’t know,” Pop responded. Then he gave Jake a sharp look. “Why are you so interested in the play?”
“I… Well, I was just curious. After all, rehearsals will be cutting into your lawn-mowing time, and that might mean I’ll have to come over here and do more of the yard work. I’ve got my own place to take care of, you know.”
And he did—he’d managed to snag an unusual but promising house on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. It needed quite a bit of updating (something he could do while waiting for his pager to go off or his dough to rise), so he’d snagged it for a sweet deal. That was because it had been in the dead of a lake-effect January winter in the middle of a blizzard and subsequent snow-in that the house had gone on the market. It had to sell quickly—and he’d been here to snatch it up. He owed his realtor big time, even though he’d had to remove a freaking tree from the middle of the living room.
“I told you I don’t need your help around here. All that much,” his dad added quickly. “I won’t climb on the roof again, all right?”
“No climbing anything but the stairs—you hear me? Pop, I’m not kidding,” Jake said.
“Don’t take that tone with me, sonny. I’m still your father.”
“Yes, and I want you to stay that way.”
“I don’t know when those rehearsals start, but they want me to come in and help with the set.” This bit of information was obviously his father’s version of a peace offering—maybe an acknowledgment of Jake’s concerns.
“You mean building the set?”
“Yes, and painting it and things. I hope Maxine’s not there. Last thing I want is to see that woman running around with a goddamned saw. Or an electric screwdriver.”
Jake shook his head. “I don’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved I haven’t met her yet.”
“Be glad. Be very glad. Maxine Took makes your mother look like a kitten.”
“Don’t tell me you have a crush on this Maxine person,” Jake teased.
“Hell no! What the hell is wrong with you, boy? That Maxine makes my balls wanna shrink way up inside.”
Jake grimaced. “Thanks for that image, Pops.”
His dad shrugged, but Jake caught a glimpse of his lips as they twitched beneath his thick mustache. “So what’re you doing hanging around here, Elwood? Get on home and make your pop some more of that rosemary and olive focaccia. I don’t want to eat any more bread with damned seeds in it. They get all up inside my stupid dentures.”
The next morning, Vivien arrived at the soon-to-be-christened Olivia Dee Theater a little after ten o’clock.
She and Helga hadn’t ended up coming here last night once they finished dinner at Trib’s—after several glasses of wine, neither of them had any business driving. So they’d strolled around town before walking back to Helga’s apartment and hanging out there for the rest of the night, and she’d told Helga not to bother to come by in the morning, since all of the other people would be there.
Vivien was glad to have an excuse not to go back to the theater last night—although she wouldn’t have admitted it. And if pressed, she would have gone back. Especially with Helga (who was, as one might expect, a bit of a badass). But she’d been just fine delaying her return.
Now, Vivien couldn’t help but glance around as she fitted the key into the front door’s lock. The last thing she wanted was Jake DeRiccio showing up again, all sweaty and in those tight running shorts.
But the parking lot was empty, and so was the little street in front of it. She wondered where he’d come from that he’d been jogging down this road outside of town. There were a few houses nearby, but they didn’t seem the type for a doctor and his possible family.
She wondered if he’d ended up with Lissa Kirkland.
The very thought of the bitch whose bed Jake had dived into about ten seconds after Vivien and he semi-broke up made her stomach churn and the fury come roaring back all over