felt his insides squeeze. “But how… You couldn’t have fallen…? Did you?”
“Well, her sister probably helped her down, now, didn’t she?” said Pop, pushing his way into the conversation.
Jake stared at him. “What are you saying?”
Vivien put her arm around his dad and hugged him close, whispering something in his ear. Then she looked up and said to Jake, “Liv—I think—caught me. She stopped me from falling and helped me land on the ground.”
“And you bitch about your sisters all the time, Elwood,” lectured Pop. “Maybe you better be nicer to them—just in case they go first.”
“Sure,” said Jake, still feeling pretty discombobulated. “I’ll…uh…keep that in mind.”
“By the way, there’s an Elantra in the parking lot. Presumably Melody’s,” said Helga.
Vivien and Jake were there for another three hours, giving statements and waiting for everything to be cleared away.
“The place is a crime scene,” Vivien said sadly. “There’s no way we’ll be able to open the show on time. But I suppose that’s not such a tragedy, because now I have to find a new Elaine Harper. I just got a message—Penny Stern broke her leg and won’t be available for three months. Talk about bad juju.”
Helga folded her arms over her middle and lifted her brow. “You know you can find someone very easily, Vivien. And what crime scene? I don’t see any crime scene. Two very unfortunate accidents happened—and everyone knew the catwalk was old and rickety. You tried to warn them, but they were determined to climb up there and look around. For old times’ sake.” She spread her hands and shrugged. “No crime scene here.”
Vivien smiled through a glint of tears. “That sounds about right. Thanks, Helga.”
“No reason to thank me. Joe Cap’s the one who did the assessment,” she said.
And with that last bit of worry cleared from her mind, Vivien smiled and looked around at her place. Her stage. Her theater.
Thanks, Liv.
The next morning, Vivien awoke to the smell of baking bread. She lolled and stretched, enjoying the big, rumpled bed, and smiled.
And he bakes, too.
And he loved her. Still.
Here’s to more better times.
That was going to be her mantra now—Cherry would be proud of her; she was always promoting meditation and mantras to help with her anxiety—and with that thought, Vivien swung out of bed and made good use of the steam shower.
When she came out to the kitchen, Jake was sitting at his laptop wearing a pair of dark-framed glasses that immediately made her lady parts sit up and take notice (as if they hadn’t already been working hard for the last two days anyway).
With his glasses on, Jake looked like an Italian Clark Kent—all studious and a little geeky with his hair combed back. He was wearing a button-down shirt…and boxers, she saw when she came around behind him.
She hid a chuckle when she realized he was on a videoconference call and had dressed for the part—at least, the top half of him. He gave her a brief smile then went back to his call. She poured herself a mug of coffee (noting that he didn’t use those environmentally-not-friendly pods; Cherry would be delighted for the second time this morning).
The fresh bread Vivien had smelled was sitting on a rack and made her mouth water, but she didn’t dare cut into it until she knew it was fair game. He might be taking it to Orbra’s.
She went out onto the patio with her coffee and sat down to look out over the lake. If she’d been up earlier, she might have seen the morning fog rolling off its gorgeous blues, but it was after nine, and that had happened more than an hour ago.
After all, she’d had one hell of a weekend, nearly dying and all.
Still, she could see the seagulls darting above and a red hawk diving for a fish in the water. There was a freighter on the horizon—probably heading to Chicago or the Soo Locks at Sault Ste Marie; she’d watch for a minute to see which way it was going.
To her amazement, a bald eagle flew just a few yards in front of her—so close she could see its prey still wriggling, dangling from its talons.
It would be very easy to get used to this.
A gentle hand on her shoulder made her start, and she looked up and behind to see Jake, still in boxers and button-down shirt. And glasses. Yum.
“It makes me very happy to see you sitting here,” he said, and dropped a kiss on her