At the restaurant, Larry was standing next to the hostess station talking to Traci, the tall blonde woman who had been there last time. Maybe Larry hit on every available female in Alpine Grove. Or maybe Traci was related to him somehow. It was a small town, after all. Kat knew hardly anyone and yet she had managed to run into those few people she knew whenever she left the house.
Larry looked up from his conversation and waved at her. “Hi, Kat. I’ve got a table over here.”
Kat followed Larry as he led her back to a dark corner with a small two-person table with a votive candle flickering in a carved glass holder. Maybe it was just the nature of the restaurant, but the setting looked suspiciously cozy.
Larry pulled out her chair for her and as she sat down, he leaned down with his face next to her ear. Startled by the feel of his breath on her neck, Kat jumped in her chair. “What was that?” Kat whirled around in her chair and faced Larry. She rubbed her neck. “I’ve had a lot of spider issues today. That was you, right?”
Larry backed up looking bemused, and walked to his side of the table. “Yes, I’m sorry I alarmed you. I was just going to ask if you wanted to see a menu.”
Kat relaxed a bit and settled back into her chair. “Yes, thank you. That would be nice. I’m sorry. It’s been a complicated day.”
“It seems like you have a lot of those, if you’ll pardon my saying so. Is everything okay?”
Kat held up her hand, ticking the day’s events off on her fingers. “First, I hit my head and it still hurts. I may have a giant spider colony living in one of the downstairs closets. The roof leaks and may fall in. I also quit my job, so I’m unemployed. And finally, I’m concerned Louise hates me, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to qualify for the inheritance, according to her specifications. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about today.”
Larry looked thoughtful for a moment, apparently digesting the litany of issues. “I see. Well, I brought you a copy of the will as you requested. Perhaps we could have dinner first.”
Kat smiled. “Yes, that would be nice.”
As Larry droned on about the merits of Italian food again, Kat’s mind began to wander. What exactly was Joel going to be doing this weekend with Allison? They’d be shacking up in his shack, no doubt. She’d never even seen the shack. But she definitely wanted to. She frowned at the idea of Allison seeing the shack before she did.
Larry interrupted her reverie. “It’s okay, you don’t have to have the vegetarian lasagna if you don’t want it, but it is the special today.”
Kat nodded her head. “Yes, the lasagna would be fine. Thanks.”
Larry ordered for them and after the food was served Kat decided to preempt another discussion about the merits of Italian food. “Larry, you’ve read Abigail’s will and talked to her for years, so you must know what her wishes were. Can you give me a few more details about what I need to do? I wish I could have talked to Abigail before she died. I can’t figure out why I inherited anything. Why me? Obviously, I appreciate it, but I don’t get it.”
“Yes, I know you must miss her. I’m sorry. I miss her too.” Larry stopped eating and pointed his fork at Kat. “I know she had a special place in her heart for you. But also for her animals. So she added a special codicil to her will that Louise is the one to decide whether or not you are fit to take care of the animals. As I mentioned, Abigail’s estate includes quite a large sum of money, which could be used to repair the house. But as I told you before, you have to live there permanently and demonstrate that you are an adequate caretaker for Abigail’s pets.”
“Define adequate. What does that mean? I think that’s my main question.”
“Unfortunately, that’s the difficult part. Louise needs to decide. She then will confer with me on any legal issues for confirmation before the funds may be released. For example, if you were arrested, that would invalidate your inheritance.”
Kat raised her eyebrows. “I tend to be fairly law-abiding. Let’s face it; I don’t get out much.”
Larry looked stern, clearly not understanding that she had been trying to make a feeble joke. “Well, I certainly hope that’s the case. As I’m sure I mentioned to you earlier, as an incentive, Abigail specified that if you don’t live in the house or take adequate care of her pets, the money should be given to charity. She provided a list.”
Kat straightened in her chair in an effort to look like a responsible citizen. “I’m not sure if you know, but I have decided to live in the house and make a commitment to the animals. I think I have made progress with them. At this point, it sounds like I need to talk to Louise. The last time I saw her, she wasn’t particularly happy with me.”
“Yes. I heard about that. I suggest you clarify matters with her. Louise has some issues with your family.”
“Issues? What issues?”
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
Kat’s expression grew more serious. Now she was even more confused. “It sounds like I can’t access the inheritance money to fix the roof, can I?”
Larry nodded. “That’s correct. The money is inaccessible to you until you prove that you are fulfilling Abigail’s wishes to Louise’s satisfaction. If you’ll excuse me for a moment, I’m going to ask Traci for the dessert menu.”
Kat nodded and watched as he went over to the hostess station again. He certainly looked more relaxed talking to her than when he was speaking legalese. She looked down at her hands sitting in her lap. All the cleaning had been hard on her hands. They looked chapped and most of her fingernails were torn and rough-looking. Having no money to fix the roof was going to be a problem, no matter who worked on it. She’d told Joel there was money, but at this point, there wasn’t. Maybe he would take a credit card. Probably not.
She placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her folded hands, as she contemplated her repair options. Feeling something on her neck, she jolted upright and whipped around in her chair. She found Larry bent over, attempting to kiss her neck and mumbling something unintelligible in her ear. Taking a deep breath, she caught herself before she slapped him and made a scene. Narrowing her eyes, she glared at him and whispered through gritted teeth, “Please don’t do that Larry.”
He looked surprised at her fierce look and pulled his head back away from hers. “I was just saying that I hope we might go somewhere more private after dinner.”
“What? I didn’t hear what you said. No. Definitely not. You are the lawyer in charge of my aunt’s estate. I’d prefer to keep our relationship on a professional level.”
Larry seemed taken aback by her vehemence. “I see. I felt we had a connection. It seemed quite powerful.”
Had he been in the same room she had? Or the same planet? To say they had zero chemistry would be an understatement, at least from her perspective. “I don’t think so. I’m sorry if you got the wrong idea.”
Larry sat down and crossed his arms. “I think you’ve made things quite clear now.”
“I hope you’re not angry. You’re a nice person, but I have too much going on right now. I just finished telling you that I have no job and my house is falling apart. My life is a mess. But I hope we can remain friends, since we’ll be talking to each other about the estate.”
With a stony expression on his face, Larry picked up the dessert menu stiffly. “I think we should order dessert.”
Kat sighed and picked up her menu. Administering chocolate was probably a good idea at this point. Thank goodness she had driven her own car to the restaurant, thus averting a long uncomfortable drive back out to Chez Stinky with an angry lawyer.
Chapter 8
Sirens
Kat spent the next few days attempting to clear out the downstairs bedrooms. Tiring herself out doing menial labor was a good way to avoid thinking about what might be going on over at Joel’s place over the weekend. She didn’t know what Allison looked like, but in her mind, the woman dressed like a Playboy Bunny and was completely irresistible to all men, particularly Joel.
/> In the process of hauling and unpacking boxes, she found more photographs and old news clippings. She alternated between bursts of cleaning and pausing to rest and pore over the old photos. She amused herself by inventing stories about the people she didn’t know, which was just about everyone, except Louise and Abigail.
On Sunday afternoon, after hauling four big garbage bags full of old clothes out to her Toyota to be taken to Goodwill, Kat was lying on her back spread-eagled on the bed, resting. Tripod appeared and sat down next to her, then settled into feline meatloaf position. She reached out to stroke the fur on his silvery head. “Hi there. Thanks for making an appearance. Be glad you missed out on meeting Lady. Dolly Mae wasn’t too impressed.”
As she petted the cat, she heard sirens wailing in the distance. There were a whole lot of trees in Alpine Grove and the idea of a fire here in the forest was scary. She silently hoped all was okay out there in the big world, because she was too exhausted to move. Maybe a sexy firefighter could come to rescue her. That would be nice. As the sirens faded away into the distance, Kat fell asleep.
She was jarred from her nap by the sound of the phone ringing. She ran upstairs and grabbed the receiver. Smiling at the sound of Joel’s deep voice on the line, she asked, “How was your weekend?”
“I’ve had better ones.”
“How’s the girlfriend? Do you know if she’s still your girlfriend? Or I guess I should ask, does she know?
“I think it’s definitely over now. She threw my computer out a window.”
Kat raised her eyebrows. “I’m guessing she wasn’t happy.”
“No.”
“So what was your response?”
“I wasn’t happy, either. She also threw a coffee cup at me. And…other things. My place is a mess. Can I bring Lady over there while I clean up?”
“Sure. Anytime. Like I said, I owe you. Are you okay?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. I’ll be by with Lady in a few minutes.”
Kat hung up the phone and stared at it for a few moments. That was interesting. What had happened at the shack? She smiled. No matter what had happened, one thing was clear: Joel was a single guy again. Kat did a small victory dance around the kitchen. Bye-bye Allison.
Later, Joel’s truck rumbled into the driveway. Kat dashed down the stairs, almost beating Linus and Lori in the race to the truck. The dogs had a disadvantage since they had to run from the back of the house, but they still got to the driveway first. Kat stood with her hands clasped behind her back and watched as Joel and Lady emerged from the old green vehicle.
Lady ran over, sat, and held out her paw for Kat. “Hi, Lady. It’s good to see you again. But we need to have a talk about your attitude toward cats.” Lady looked serious for a moment, before giving in to Lori’s invitation to play. The two dogs scampered off, twirling around each other and yipping happily. Joel stood next to the truck with his hands in his pockets.
Kat looked up at him. “Do you want to come in for a minute? You look kind of…um…tired.” That was the polite way of putting it. Joel obviously hadn’t shaved and had dark circles under his eyes. It looked like he’d been up for days and his gaze had a weary, deadened look Kat had never seen before.
“No. I need to get back, clean up the house, and see if I can find the various pieces of my computer in the yard. I might be able to put it back together. Maybe. I’d been discussing some consulting work and now I can’t even check my email. Thanks for taking Lady. I was afraid she’d eat or step on something. It would have been hard to keep an eye on her.”
“No problem.” She reached out and took one of his hands in hers. “Is there anything else I can do?”
The expression on his face softened. “No. Thanks for asking. I’ll be back later.” He turned around, got back into his truck, and left.
Kat turned around and slowly walked back up the stairs into the house. Joel definitely seemed upset and he looked terrible. Maybe her initial elation at the demise of his relationship had been a little mean. Maybe Allison really did look like a Playboy Bunny. Or worse, maybe he really loved her.
Not wanting to go down that mental pathway, Kat returned to her endless menial labor. The bedrooms were getting closer to being habitable and she was thinking of turning one of them into an office. She needed to get a computer if she was going to be a freelance writer. Maybe Joel would have some advice. It sounded like he was in the market for a new computer, too.
Later that afternoon, Joel returned to collect Lady. Kat had taken the dogs for an extra-long walk, so Lady and Lori had released all of their pent-up play energy. The two dogs stood outside with Linus, wagging at Joel as he got out of his truck. Although he had shaved and looked less rumpled, his eyes were still shadowed and he looked completely exhausted.
Kat remained curious as to what had happened. She took his hand and attempted to lead him toward the house. “Lady is all nice and tired now. Why don’t you to come in and sit down for a minute? I could make you some tea. Or give you a beer. I have lots of beer, remember?”
Joel smiled and didn’t resist Kat’s insistent tugging on his hand. “All right. The beer convinced me.”
They sat down at the kitchen table and Kat handed him a beer. “Want a glass?”
“No.” Joel twisted off the cap and took a long drink from the bottle. He smiled wearily at her. “That’s not necessary. Thanks.”
“Glad I could help.”
“It’s been a long day.”
“I got that impression. Did you find all the parts of your computer?”
“I’m not sure. But it may take divine intervention to get it to run again. At least I had backed up my data. And it didn’t get burned.”
Kat raised her eyebrows. “Burned? As in fire?”
Joel sighed and slumped down in his chair, holding his beer in between his hands. “Yes. Fire. I think I mentioned my place is small. When Allison started throwing things, I was mostly trying to get out of the way, which is difficult in a small space. I guess she stopped paying attention to what she was cooking. She burned dinner to the point it caught on fire, then she threw the pan too. It burned a hole in the floor before I could put it out by smothering it with a rug. But she called the fire department anyway.” He rested his forehead on the table. “Which means everyone in Alpine Grove now knows about it. Cindy will never, ever let me live this down.”
Kat sat in stunned silence for a moment. “Wow. I don’t know what to say.”
Joel lifted his head again and looked at her. “The worst part is that I cleaned everything up, but the whole place reeks of smoke and whatever she was making for dinner. It’s awful.”
“I’m familiar with bad-smelling homes. This is Chez Stinky, remember?”
Joel burst out laughing and looked relaxed for the first time since he’d arrived. “Why yes it is, isn’t it?”
“I bet burnt dinner smells better than dead varmint.”
“Tough call. Depends on what was for dinner.”
“There’s always the Enchanted Moose. I stayed there to avoid the smell here. As you know, Bud is not a speed-demon when it comes to repairs. The patch you put on the wall is still there, too. But my shower works!”
“That’s good to hear. At least I did something right.”
“Are you hungry? Do you want some food? It sounds like you haven’t eaten much lately. I promise I won’t throw it at you.”
Joel grinned. “I do like that about you.”
“Yes, we’re all about fine dining here at Chez Stinky. We have standards. No food is allowed to go airborne.”
“That tends to make dinner more relaxing.”
Kat stood up to go ponder what they might eat. She opened the refrigerator and looked over her shoulder. Joel did look a lot more relaxed. He had slumped down in the chair and closed his eyes. “Well, you look like you’re taking it easy, anyway.”
He opened his eyes. “Sorry. I’m not very good company right now.”
Kat walked over to the table
and looked down at him. She put her hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Joel put his hand over hers and looked up into her eyes. “I’m just tired. It’s nice to not be fighting or shouting anymore. The peace and quiet feels good.”
“The dogs snoring on the floor enhances the peaceful ambiance here at Chez Stinky. Except that Linus snores particularly loudly. I guess it’s a guy thing.”
Joel reached up and pulled Kat down into his lap. “The other thing that was bad this weekend was that I missed you.” He wrapped his arms around her, giving her a hug and nuzzled his face in her hair. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
Kat pulled back her head and looked into his eyes. “I have the same problem. Although, to be honest, I spent most of the weekend hauling heavy boxes around, so I wouldn’t think about what might be going on at your place.”
“Did it work?”
“Not really. I did hear the sirens, though.”
Joel smiled. “You and everyone else. That wasn’t a high point.”
“I fell asleep and dreamed of sexy firefighters.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. As she leaned in to kiss him she continued, “One of them looked a little like you.”
A few minutes later, Linus marched over and poked Kat in the back with his nose. She unwrapped herself from Joel and looked down at the dog. “Yes? Do you have a problem?”
Linus wagged and perked up his ears looking expectantly at her.
Kat took a deep breath and her racing heart slowed back down to a more reasonable rate. “Oops. I think it’s dinner time. Sorry Linus. I got distracted.” She looked at Joel. “I was going to feed us, too.”
He smiled at her. “I wasn’t thinking about food.”
“Me neither. I’ll be right back.”
Kat untangled herself from Joel and the chair, made a half-hearted effort to straighten her clothes, and went downstairs to feed the dogs and the cats.
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