Strangely Normal - By Tess Oliver Page 0,17

hear Janie crying in the background. “Is Janie all right?”

“Yes, she and Sophie were fighting over a toy. Sophie has been a total grump since you left. How is it?”

“Great. I’m having fun.” With Finley sitting right next to me, I couldn’t go into much detail. Mom would have loved to hear about it too. “I wanted to leave a number in case you need me.”

“You call us if you need to come home,” Mom said with a wishful hitch in her voice. “Dad’s out looking for a job, but I’ll tell him you called.”

“Kiss the girls for me. Bye, Mom.” I hung up. “My poor Mom. She sounds like someone who just lost her best friend. I guess in a way it’s true. My sisters are cute, but their conversation topics are rather limited.”

Finley smiled. “How old are they?”

“Sophie is six and Janie is four. I love them, but I confess, it’ll be nice to hang with people my age for a change.”

“Good.” Finley relaxed her head back against the chair and turned her face to the sun. “Then this should work out well.”

I looked back at the pool house. There was no sign of Jude or the woman who went inside. There was no way a guy like him would stick around once he was off house arrest. “Yeah, it should be great.”

CHAPTER 6

Finley and I had spent the rest of the afternoon deep in girl talk. Cole had returned from the hospital dazed and sleepy on pain medication. He’d gone straight up to his room, and Jude hadn’t emerged from the pool house again. I could only assume that the woman was his girlfriend, but Finley never said anything and it was none of my business to ask. Aside from the tension with Jude the day had gone well.

I reached across the counter for the bottle of red pepper flakes and sprinkled some more on my slice of pizza. “You’re right; these flakes do add a certain touch of diner-like elegance to a frozen pizza.”

Finley wiped the side of her mouth with her pinky. “Told you so. Of course, if it weren’t for Jude and his inability to turn off the charms and magnetism,” she quipped, “we’d be eating some awesome quiche or cheese soufflé right now. Tanya was a talented chef.”

I lifted my brow at her. “Seriously?”

“Well, except for that whole spit thing.”

I laughed. “I can just imagine your brother’s face when he walked in on that. Lucky for him his timing was good.”

We both fell silent and simultaneously put our pizza slices down. “Lost my appetite, how about you?” Finley asked.

“Yeah, I think I’m done too.”

Tiny hooves clattered across the kitchen floor, and Some Pig trotted from around the counter where Finley had poured some food into a dish. He stared up at us and wiggled his snout a couple of times.

“All done with dinner?” Finely leaned down and kissed the tip of his head. “Sleep tight.”

Then Some Pig turned and trotted out of the kitchen, curly tail raised high in the air.

“Dinner always makes him sleepy,” Finley explained.

“Was his earring inspired by a pirate movie?” I asked.

“No, but at the farm they’d tagged his ear, and he had an ugly hole there to remind him of the awful place he came from. So I put an earring in one day just for fun. Man, did he squeal like a pig when I tried to take it back out.”

“I think it suits him.

“Apparently, he thinks so too.” She picked up the plates and put them in the sink. “Hey, I know,” she said enthusiastically, “let’s go down to the theater and watch a horror flick. Ooh, let’s watch the original Halloween.”

“Is that the creep in the hockey mask?”

“Wrong psycho. But I think the Michael Myer’s mask is even creepier.”

“Sounds fun. I don’t see many movies, and when I do, there are talking starfish and singing mermaids. But I’ve got to ask— are all of your pets feeling content with their names right now?”

Finley smiled and took my arm to lead me down to the theater. “I think they’re all satisfied at the moment, but I don’t blame you for asking. I once had a parrot and after one night in the theater, he insisted we call him Hannibal.”

We stopped in front of a shiny silver door. “You have an elevator. There’s a friggin’ elevator in your house.”

Finley tapped the down button three times and the doors opened. “Kind of eccentric, I agree.” We stepped inside