“Hey, how’s Mom?” she asked, taking a bite of her burger. “Have you talked to her?”
Kevin nodded. “That first night. It sounded like she had a nice plane ride. That tour company put her in first class.”
“I know!” Chloe wiped her hands on her napkin and found her phone in her backpack. “Check out this picture. It’s so awesome.”
The picture was up on the Valiant travel blog. She figured her dad hadn’t seen it, considering he didn’t really keep up with technology, unless it was sports related. There was the picture of her mom sitting on the tarmac, beaming into the camera.
“Let me see.” Kevin reached for the phone and squinted. “Who the hell is that?” he roared, banging at the screen with his finger. “With her?”
Chloe hesitated. Even though the picture with Ethan was cozy, it was obvious her mother was just trying to fit into the photo frame. Based on the angry flush on her father’s face, he did not see it that way. “Dad, that’s just Ethan,” she said. “The guy from her store.”
Kevin glared at the picture, the vein in his forehead a little too prominent. Man, he seemed really pissed. Chloe shifted, suddenly uncomfortable.
“Didn’t she tell you she was traveling with—”
“Yeah, she told me. But . . .” He eyed the picture. “She didn’t say—”
“That he kinda looks like an international man of mystery?” Chloe hoped that, by making a joke, her father would calm down.
Kevin snapped his head up, his eyes blazing. “She said that?”
Maybe not.
“Dad, of course not.” Chloe took her phone and studied the picture. Actually, she could kind of see his point. She wouldn’t be jumping up and down if this was a picture of Geoff and another woman. Still, she said, “Mom told me that she didn’t find this guy attractive. Not in the slightest.”
“Huh.” Kevin took an angry bite of his burger.
“Besides . . .” Chloe nudged him. “Unless I’m missing something, she already has a guy. Who just happens to be the father of her perfect, wonderful, fabulous daughter.”
“Yeah.” His voice was gruff.
They sat in silence for a moment.
“So.” He took a drink of his Coke and set the glass down with a crash on the table. Picking up his burger, he said, “What else is going on?”
“Just school.” Chloe told him about the writing cramps she got from jotting down her feelings after each and every session. “They make us keep these journals to make sure we’re handling everything okay,” she said. “Sometimes, I think it might be fun to make something up to freak out my professors, but I don’t think that would go over too well.”
“Yeah,” Kevin said. “Probably not.”
Chloe chewed her burger, watching him. Even though he was still laughing at her stories, passing the ketchup and stealing her onion rings, his eyes kept drifting back to her cell phone.
It was obvious that his mind was half a world away.
Thirty-two
Every time June thought about the way Charley had tripped over that rake, she felt guilty. He could have hit his head. Or had a heart attack. Or a stroke! June wanted to do something to make it up to him.
“Oooh, you’re going to bring him a casserole?” Chloe asked when she’d heard of June’s plan.
“No, not a casserole.” She sniffed. “I am not one of those women.”
“Well, you almost killed the guy,” Chloe said. “Bring something good. And dress up. Don’t go over there looking like you worked in the garden all day.”
At promptly 6 p.m., June showed up on Charley’s doorstep carrying a bag from the corner market. It was filled with a Cornish hen, a half pound of mashed potatoes, some well-cooked green beans and a pecan pie. Smoothing her hair, June considered what she was wearing. She had certainly not dressed up because she didn’t want Charley to get the wrong idea. However, she had donned a simple tweed dress with a pair of red high heels, then spritzed on some orange-scented perfume.
June pressed the doorbell, noticing the stained-glass etching along the edges of Charley’s door. When Eugene died, Kristine had forced June to buy a new door with no windows other than the peephole. “It would be so simple for a criminal to smash that glass, Mother.” It had broken her heart, but Kristine would not take no for an answer.
Charley’s door swept open. It took a moment for her to register that Rose was standing in the entryway, her hands on her hips.