by Paige Sleuth
“Andrew,” Maybelle said, beaming when she saw him. “Be a doll and help us reach some of those high branches, will you?”
“Sure thing, Ms. Harper.”
“Please, call me Maybelle.”
Before Andrew could acknowledge her request, there was a knock on the door. He looked at Kat. She lifted one shoulder.
Maybelle’s face brightened. “Maybe that’s Stephanie.”
“Who’s Stephanie?” Kat asked.
Maybelle dashed across the room, her heels not slowing her down one bit. “You know, my old friend.”
But when she flung the door open, Larry, Kat’s landlord and building manager, was standing there.
“Oh, hello.” Maybelle leaned against the doorframe, one hip jutting out.
“Hi, Larry,” Kat said, walking over to join them.
“Evening, Kat.” The brawny, bald man’s eyes flitted toward Maybelle, and a grin stretched across his face. “And if it ain’t Maybelle Harper, in the flesh and blood.”
Maybelle squinted at him. “Have we met?”
“Sure have. We went to Cherry Hills High together way back in the Dark Ages. You likely don’t remember me.”
Maybelle gasped. “Larry Carmichael?”
“Ah, you do remember.”
“Of course I remember.” Maybelle threw her arms around him. “You used to let me copy your math homework.”
Larry chuckled. “Don’t let Mrs. Bhatia hear you say that.”
Maybelle pulled back and quirked her lips. “That old biddy can’t still be alive.”
“I wouldn’t know. We lost touch after I passed algebra, though that took a good two years and one excruciatingly painful summer.”
Maybelle giggled as if his words had turned her back into a schoolgirl.
Larry lifted up his hand, which Kat now saw held a box of candies. “I came up to give you this,” he told Kat. “Somebody left it outside the front door.”
“Aplets and Cotlets?” Kat said, recognizing the packaging.
“Oh, I love those things.” Maybelle grabbed the box from Larry’s hand.
Larry grinned. “I remember how you used to gobble these up. Who knows, if Kat’s in the Christmas spirit she might let you have some.”
“Are you sure it’s for me?” Kat asked.
“Your name’s on the card.”
Sure enough, when Maybelle righted the box she could see ‘K. Harper’ scribbled on the envelope taped to the top.
“Thanks for bringing it up,” Kat said.
“No problem,” Larry replied. “I would’ve paid you a visit sooner if I had known your mom was here.”
Maybelle swung the door open. “Would you like to come in and chat with us?”
“Nah.” Larry took a step toward the elevator. “If I wanna take Christmas Eve off, I’ve got a few more chores to finish up tonight. This building doesn’t maintain itself, I can tell you that.”
Maybelle eyed him up and down. “I suppose it’s not easy for a man as muscular as you to get a day off. It must be hard to find somebody who can fill your shoes.”
Kat groaned, but Larry chortled so loudly she doubted anyone heard her.
“Ah, Maybelle, you always were a charmer.” Larry affected a swagger Kat had never seen before as he retreated down the corridor. “You gals enjoy your evening.”
Maybelle waved with a flamboyance that seemed unnecessary in Kat’s opinion. “You, too.”
Kat shut the door, and they rejoined Andrew.
“Somebody sent me this,” Kat told him, taking the box from Maybelle.
“Who’s it from?” he asked.
“I’m about to find out.” Kat peeled the card off and ripped the envelope open. She read the words written inside aloud. “‘For the Aplet of my eye, I Cotlet resist giving you something sweet.’”
Maybelle laughed and clapped her hands. “I love it. How romantic.”
Kat flipped the card over, then checked the envelope one more time. “There’s no signature.”
Maybelle’s eyes bugged out. “Ooh, my daughter has a secret admirer!”
Kat and Andrew exchanged glances. Somehow, nothing about this Christmas was turning out as Kat had expected.
CHAPTER THREE
The next morning was Christmas Eve. When Kat awoke, Maybelle was already up and about. She knew because the bathroom door was closed, and her bladder was on the verge of bursting.
I can wait two minutes, Kat thought as she retreated to her bedroom. The key is to focus on other things.
Matty and Tom were relaxing on the bed. At Maybelle’s request, the animals had been confined to the bedroom all night. Maybelle had been so vehement about not having any creatures sneak up on her while she was sleeping that Kat had to wonder if she thought Matty and Tom were waiting for a good opportunity to smother her. After the way Maybelle had talked to them yesterday, Kat wouldn’t blame them.
Kat sat down on the mattress and rubbed Matty’s head. “I shouldn’t be so hard on her. Maybe she has a good reason for not liking cats. Maybe one really did try to suffocate her once.”
Matty stretched her jaws into a yawn as though to communicate how tired she was of Maybelle Harper.
“Well, you’d better get used to her,” Kat said. “She’s here until Saturday, the day after Christmas.”
That advice could apply to her too, Kat decided. Today she was going to focus on turning their relationship around. So what if their reunion had gotten off to a rocky start? Now that she’d had time to think about it, what had she really expected? She and her mother were seeing each other for the first time in over two decades. It was only natural they might not click right away.
Tom meowed and crept closer to Kat.
“I know it was love at first sight with us, Tom, but it’s easier with you. We don’t have a history.”
While Kat petted the animals, she kept one ear out for the bathroom door opening. The building’s poor insulation allowed her to hear her mother putzing around, the water running on full blast every few seconds.
“What is she doing?” Kat muttered. She looked at her alarm clock, noting that ten minutes had gone by since she’d first checked on the bathroom’s availability. “Didn’t it ever occur to her that I might need to get in there?”
Maybe not, Kat thought, opting to give her mother the benefit of the doubt. Maybelle lived alone, just like Kat. She probably wasn’t used to sharing a bathroom.
At least there was an easy remedy for that. Kat nudged Tom aside and headed back to the bathroom. This time, she knocked.
“Who is it?” Maybelle trilled.
“Kat. I was wondering how much longer you’ll be.”
“Not much. I just started putting on my makeup.”
Just started? What had she been doing for the last ten minutes then?
“What are our plans for breakfast?” Maybelle asked.
“I picked up bagels, coffee, and juice at the store yesterday.”
“Huh. What about going out to eat?”
“Oh.” Kat had hoped to get to know her mother a little better during a quiet breakfast at home. But maybe she didn’t like bagels. “I guess we could go to Jessie’s.”
“Jessie’s? You mean Jessie’s Diner?” The door inched open, and Maybelle poked her head out. “I used to go there with my friends all the time.”
“You did?” Maybe this would be the moment when they finally progressed from talking about the weather to sharing stories about their lives.
Maybelle grinned. “We loved it there.”
“Who’s ‘we’?”
“Stephanie, Jonah, Quinn, and I. The four of us were thick as thieves back then.”
“Yeah? What did you guys do?”
“Well, we had fun.”
“I know that but—”
“Has their menu changed?” Maybelle interrupted.
Kat shrugged. “I don’t remember everything they had back then. They still serve milkshakes though.”
“Ugh.” Maybelle mad
e a face. “I can’t drink milkshakes. They go straight to my thighs.”
Kat couldn’t stop her gaze from drifting to Maybelle’s legs poking beneath the edge of the towel wrapped around her torso. She couldn’t see what her mother was worried about.
“Give me another minute, and I’ll be ready to hit the road,” Maybelle said before slamming the door shut.
Kat shifted her weight between her feet. She supposed she could hold her bladder for one more minute.
While she waited, she fed the cats. Then she got dressed. When Maybelle still hadn’t emerged by the time Kat had her shoes on, a slow burn started to smolder in her chest.
“It’s definitely been longer than a minute,” she told Matty as the tortoiseshell ambled out of the kitchen.
Matty licked her lips, not appearing the least bit concerned over Kat’s predicament. Now that she had a full belly, she wouldn’t have any more use for her human until dinnertime.
When ten more minutes had passed, Kat had had enough.
She banged on the bathroom door. “Are you done yet?”
“Soon,” Maybelle called back. “I just need to put on my makeup.”
“You said you were doing that ten minutes ago!”
“I had to fix my hair first.”
Kat stared at the door, her frustration building nearly to the bursting point. She had the wild urge to kick down the door and haul her mother out.
She took a deep breath, reminding herself to be reasonable. “I really have to go.”
“Oh, well, in that case, just give me a minute.”
Kat hopped around, counting down the seconds in her head. Closer to three minutes passed, but Maybelle finally swung the door open and sauntered out.
“Let me know when you’re finished,” she said. “I still need to do my makeup.”
Kat managed a nod before racing into the bathroom. She completed her business in less than a minute but was tempted to linger just to stick it to her mother. Then she decided that would be juvenile.
“It’s all yours,” she told Maybelle as she opened the door.
When Maybelle finished putting on her makeup over an hour later, Kat was glad she’d interrupted when she had. There was no way she could have held her bladder for that long.
“My car’s over there,” Kat said after they stepped out of the apartment building.
“Why don’t we take mine,” Maybelle suggested. “I’m closer.”
“Okay.” Kat wanted to see how Maybelle managed to drive in her pumps anyway.
They climbed into Maybelle’s sporty red coupe and headed out.
“Is there anything special you’d like to do today?” Kat asked. She had to admit that her mother was a pretty good driver. If she hadn’t seen them herself, she would never know she had on three-inch heels. “My office is closed for Christmas Eve, so I’m free all day. We could drive around and look at the different house lights.”
“Eh, I’m not really into that sort of thing.”
Kat wasn’t either, but she was struggling to think of something that might help to put them on better footing.
“You know what I’d really like?” Maybelle said.
“What’s that?”
“To see Stephanie.”
Kat’s chest tightened. They’d only been in each other’s company for half a day, and Maybelle was already itching to reconnect with her old friends? Was it too much to ask that she grant Kat more than a couple hours of uninterrupted mother-daughter time before she started seeking out the company of others?
Maybelle ran her palms along the steering wheel. “I gave Steph your address and told her to stop by when she has the chance. I had hoped she’d show up yesterday, but I guess she was too busy.”
“You sound disappointed,” Kat said, unable to hide the bite in her tone.
Maybelle didn’t appear to notice. “You wouldn’t believe what Steph and I used to get up to way back when,” she said, a slight smile playing on her lips. “And when Quinn and Jonah joined us, nothing could stop us from tearing up the town.”
“Yeah?” Kat twisted to face her better. “What did you guys get up to?”
“We would—” Maybelle cut herself off. “Eh, it was nothing. Just stuff you do when you’re young.”
Kat’s heart sank. She had been looking forward to hearing about her mother’s capers.
Unless the stories involved drugs, she considered. She knew her mother had struggled with addiction back then, and it wouldn’t surprise her to learn that Maybelle had been high while she and her old cronies were having the time of their lives.
Maybelle frowned at the dashboard clock. “I can’t believe Stephanie hasn’t called yet.”
“Maybe she wants to spend Christmas Eve with her family.” Unlike some other people in this car, Kat silently added.
“I texted her while you were in the bathroom and asked if she was free for breakfast. She should have gotten back to me by now.”
Kat folded her arms across her chest. “Yeah, it would be a shame if she couldn’t make it.”
“Hey.” Maybelle glanced in her rearview mirror. “You see that truck back there?”
“What?”
“There’s a silver truck a few car lengths behind us.”
Kat rotated around to look out the back window. “The pickup?”
“Yeah. I think it’s following me.”
“Maybe it’s your friend Stephanie.”
Maybelle didn’t notice the edge in Kat’s voice. “Steph would never drive a truck. She’s more of the Smart Car type.”
“Then it could be somebody else on their way to Jessie’s.”
“Except that truck was tailing me yesterday, too.”
A prickle of fear momentarily obscured Kat’s irritation. “It followed you all the way from Oregon?”
“No. But when I pulled over to gas up at that service station on Culver Street, there was a truck just like it at one of the other pumps. And later, after I pulled onto your street, I noticed it behind me.”
“Did you see the truck before you crossed into Cherry Hills?”
“No.”
Kat relaxed. “So the driver lives here. This is a small town, remember? The odds of running into the same vehicle are pretty high. It’s probably somebody out doing some last-minute Christmas shopping, and they’re driving all over in search of the right gifts.”
“Maybe,” Maybelle said, but she didn’t sound convinced.
Kat spotted their destination through the windshield. “If that truck is following you, we’ll find out soon enough. Jessie’s is coming up on the left.”
Maybelle didn’t say anything, but she did keep glancing in her rearview mirror.
Kat surveyed the restaurant’s parking lot as they drew closer. She didn’t know whether to blame Christmas Eve or the lull between breakfast and lunch for the lack of cars. Maybelle had spent so much time in the bathroom that they’d missed the morning rush.
“Hey.” Kat swiveled her head around, watching as Jessie’s receded in the driver’s side window. “You missed the turn.”
“I’m seeing if that truck follows us.” Maybelle firmed her grip on the steering wheel. “I’m going to drive around for a while, see what it does.”
“All right.” Kat didn’t figure this would take long. And if circling the block a couple times would help to put her mother’s mind at ease, she would be a willing participant.
Maybelle took a right. Kat watched in the side mirror as the truck did the same. Maybelle turned a few more times, alternating between rights and lefts. When they ended up back at an intersection they’d already passed and the silver truck was still behind them, goosebumps broke out over Kat’s skin.
“I should call Andrew,” she said.
“So he can beat up the guy?” Maybelle asked.
“What? No. Andrew’s a detective with the Cherry Hills Police Department.”
Maybelle whistled. “Hunky and a cop.”
“My point is, he’ll know what to do
about somebody following us around. He might even meet us somewhere and pull the driver over for questioning.”
Maybelle straightened. “I don’t need a man to save me.”
“He’s police. It’s his job.”
“One thing you’re better off learning now, Kat, is that relying on a man to get you through the tough times is only asking for trouble later.”
Kat gritted her teeth. Her mother was choosing this moment to give her life advice, when their safety could be in jeopardy? And after all that flirting she’d done yesterday, Kat would have thought she’d jump on the excuse to see Andrew again.
“Besides,” Maybelle went on, “I have a plan.”
“What’s that?”
“You and I are going to Jessie’s just like we set off to do. Either this guy will take off, or we’ll see who he is when he follows us into the restaurant.”
Kat supposed it wasn’t a terrible idea. Even if no customers were inside Jessie’s Diner, at least a couple employees would be present. If the driver of the silver pickup meant them any harm, he wouldn’t be able to do anything while they were there.
Maybelle turned at the next light and headed back toward the restaurant. Kat held her breath as they pulled into the parking lot. The silver pickup had stayed a ways back, and they had to wait a few seconds to see whether it would follow.
It didn’t. The truck kept going, disappearing down the road.
Kat exhaled. She didn’t know who had been behind them, but evidently he didn’t intend to reveal himself.
CHAPTER FOUR
“I didn’t see that truck following us home,” Kat commented when Maybelle pulled up to her apartment building.
Maybelle unbuckled her seat belt. “Me neither.”
Their breakfast at Jessie’s Diner had been tense. Or, at least it had been tense for Kat. Maybelle had been too busy texting Stephanie for Kat to get a sense as to whether she was worried about being followed. At any rate, Maybelle’s preoccupation with her phone and Kat’s constant glances through the restaurant windows in search of silver pickups had prevented them from engaging in any meaningful conversation. Kat was glad they were almost home.
She unlocked the front entrance and stepped into the building. While she was holding the door for her mother, she saw the postman standing by the bank of mailboxes on the far wall.