“Thanks! Tamara picked them out. She’s so excited that they’ll be there every time we eat a meal here.” Damn. Using her own child as a weapon. I shake my head in admiration. Alice smirks at me. “And Granddad and Dad say they’re so much happier where they are now. They like the view better.”
“And the view that they are now enjoying is…?” The house is freaking huge. I don’t have time to look for them, and I’m not wasting my housekeeper’s time on it either. Where did she put them?
“…is a very nice view.” Alice stabs her fork into her omelet and takes a big bite.
“Mom!” Tamara shakes her head. “Pictures can’t talk.” She smiles at me. “I wonder about Mom sometimes.”
I wink at Tamara. “I wonder about her all the time.”
Alice is a very heavy sleeper. As soon as I find the portraits, I’m going to have them hung from the frame of her bed so that’s the first thing she sees when she wakes up in the morning. Dad and Granddad glaring right at her, accusingly.
“Your heart’s pretty healthy, right?” I say, stirring my coffee and trying to look menacing.
“Please,” she scoffs. “Bring it.”
“You shouldn’t say that to me,” I observe drily. Then I turn my attention to my niece.
“How are you this morning, pumpkin?”
The cook has made Tamara’s favorite, pancakes with smiley faces made of sliced berries.
“I’m the best ever. Thank you so much, Uncle Blake!” Tamara beams at me.
“You’re welcome, but the cook made those pancakes, not me.”
“No, I mean for my present!” She grins. “I know I’m not supposed to know about it, but Winona told me. Well, she gave me a hint.” Then her face puckers in concern. “She’s not going to get in trouble for hinting, is she? I like her.”
“Me too,” Alice chimes in.
I shoot her a reprovingly look. “Of course you do. She’s dedicated to making me lose my marbles.”
Alice claps her hand to her chest. “You wound me. It’s only partly because she’s the only person besides me who can get away with giving you a hard time.”
A hard time, ha. If only Alice knew the painful truth of that statement. And thank God she doesn’t.
“I think she’s good for you,” Alice continues. “I know she turned you down for lunch yesterday, but you’ve got to keep trying. You could be a little bit less of a jerk when you ask her. Like, make her feel like you actually want to eat lunch with her, rather than like you’re doing her a big favor.”
So her spies, er, friends at the store told her that I asked Winona to have lunch with me – a strictly professional business lunch, might I add. And she knows Winona shot me down.
Unbelievably, amazingly, Winona doesn’t even want to eat a meal with me. I mean, I’m me. Blake Hudson. How is that even possible?
I shoot my sister an annoyed look. “Thank you for the unsolicited advice, Dear Blabby. And who ratted me out?”
“Pretty much everyone.” She grins at me.
Figures. Alice started working at Hudson’s very young, just like I did, and she was beloved by all her co-workers. She stays in touch with them, visiting a few times a year, and treats everyone there like they’re part of her extended family. The exact opposite of me – which is how I like it. I shudder to think how much time would be wasted if people felt like it was safe to just walk up and start chit-chatting with me.
“Do you think I could get my Sunni Sunni Singer doll a little early?” Tamara wheedles.
Oh hell no. Winona didn’t tell her she was getting one of those, did she? No, she must have dropped some hint that Tamara misinterpreted.
“Tamara!” Alice says with mild reproof. “We have talked about this. That’s not polite.”
“But I told Melanie she can play with it too. That’s polite, right? It’s sharing.” Tamara opens her eyes up really wide and blinks at her mother. Wow, she’s good.
“Nice try.” Alice looks at her narrowly.
Tamara replies with a smirk. “Thanks, I thought so.”
“I can’t believe she’s only six.” I shake my head. “When she hits her teens, look out, world.”
Tamara shrugs. “The world has it coming. Now, what were we talking about again? Oh yes…”
“The fact that you’re going to make an excellent politician someday.” Alice spears a bite of bacon and shoves it in her mouth. “Or lawyer. It doesn’t change the fact that