for emergencies—she did not want to cook her brain with radio waves on a regular basis, thank you very much—and she was relieved to see that it was in fact charged. Her daughter answered on the third ring.
“Hey, Mom. What’s going on?”
June stretched out her legs. The sharp, shooting pain in her bottom was gone, so that was a good sign. Nonetheless, she whispered into the phone, “Don’t worry, but I might have to go to the emergency room.”
Instantly, Kristine’s voice was worried. “Oh, no. What happened?”
June could hear people chatting in the background, as though the store was busy. Even so, it dawned on her that when Kristine picked up, she’d sounded upset.
“Is everything alright?” June asked.
“Mother. You just called me to tell me you might have to go to the hospital. What do you mean, is everything alright?”
A cardinal dropped down into June’s birdbath. It splashed around, flashing its bright wings and chirping happily. “Oh, I’ll be fine. Stop dillydallying and tell me what happened.”
“Nothing. Just . . .” Kristine sighed. “Kevin’s not going to Rome. He would rather save his vacation time for a hunting trip. So, I’m going alone.”
The bird rose up in the water, waving its wings. Droplets of water shimmered in the sunlight.
“What?” June barked. “That is absolute foolishness. Didn’t you get my note?”
Charley came back outside. Since she was still sprawled out on the ground, June leaned her head back as though trying to catch some rays. He went back to fertilizing his shrubs but she could tell he was still keeping an eye on her, which was very annoying.
“I mean it, Kristine,” June whispered. “Did you tell your husband about what I said? About the young man in your store?”
After Chloe’s remarks about how good-looking this man was, June decided to perform a little reconnaissance. She dialed up The Places You’ll Go, asking for Ethan. An oily voice on the other end of the line had said, “This is he.” June dropped the receiver in its cradle as though it were a snake and took a cab to Lincoln Park.
With the meter running, she darted up to the window and peered inside. She received a couple of funny looks from the patrons, considering she was decked out in an enormous hat and sunglasses, but the disguise was important. Kristine would kill her if anyone mentioned the fact that her mother was skulking around.
The moment June spotted Ethan, she felt a twinge of fear. The man was much too attractive for his own good. Plus, he moved around the place like a panther. If Kevin wanted to hunt, he might want to set his sights on a new target.
“I don’t like this, Kristine.” June shook her head. “Not in the least.”
“Mother,” she groaned. “I am not going to talk about this with you at work. Now, do you want me to call you an ambulance or not? I have to go.”
Giving a tiny grunt, June used every ounce of strength she had to push herself up to her knees. The movement startled the bird in the birdbath. With a flash of scarlet feathers, it darted up to the tree and chattered angrily.
“Oh, I’m fine.” June got to her feet. She patted her hair, just to let Charley know that she was having no trouble at all. “It’s you who I’m worried about.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Kristine said, her voice wry. “I’ve got everything under control.”
Twenty
Although June was certain that, on some level, Kristine did have the situation with Kevin under control, June still took a cab out to the suburbs later that afternoon. She wanted to have a little chat with her son-in-law.
Kevin certainly would not be open to this, unless he was a captive audience. Considering he did not have any dental appointments on the book, she decided to corner him at the juice bar next door to his gym. Kristine always said he finished off his workout with a protein smoothie, so June was hedging her bets.
She was perched on a red stool at the juice bar, sipping her second apple and carrot juice concoction, when he finally walked in. He was dressed in a sweaty T-shirt, a pair of navy blue jogging shorts and ridiculously large white tennis shoes. As she swiveled on her stool to face him, Kevin’s face fell.
“This is my son-in-law,” June told the barista. Before he arrived, the tattooed girl behind the juice bar made the mistake of asking June how her day was going. Boy,