Carrot Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #10)(20)

“Or the girl who’s not paddling in Renoir’s The Skiff. But I don’t think she has a hat on.”

“It’s hard to tell with the impressionists. Of course I could always jump in and be a floating face in the middle of any of Monet’s water lily paintings. It would be like Where’s Waldo? and nobody would even spot me.”

“Don’t do that. Or at least don’t do it before you have some lunch.” Norman opened the hamper Hannah hadn’t noticed before and took out two stemmed glasses. “Let’s start with the drinks. Champagne? Or lemonade?”

“I think it’d better be lemonade. Mike hasn’t interviewed me yet.”

“Smart choice.” Norman filled her glass with lemonade from the thermos he’d brought and handed her a sandwich. “Here. You need this.”

Hannah accepted the sandwich and bit into it. “Egg salad. My favorite! And this is really good egg salad. Who made it?”

“I did.”

Hannah looked at him in surprise. “I thought you didn’t cook.”

“I don’t. But anybody can hard boil an egg, and the rest is just chopping it up, mixing it with other stuff, and spreading it on bread.”

“Okay…” Hannah stopped and took another bite to be sure. “But this is gourmet egg salad. It even has bits of bacon in it. How did you make it?”

“I’m not sure. I just kept adding things until it tasted right.”

“Well, please write it down the next time you make it. I want the recipe.”

“Really?” Norman looked surprised.

“Yes, really. Egg salad is one of my favorite comfort foods. If I eat it, I feel better. It’s like macaroni and cheese, or chicken soup. It makes me feel warm and loved.”

Norman smiled. “You are loved, Hannah.”

Hannah wasn’t sure what to say. She knew Norman loved her, and she loved him, too. She wanted to tell him she’d marry him and be with him always, but she couldn’t. As long as she also had feelings for Mike, it wouldn’t be fair to marry Norman.

Norman reached out to put an arm around her. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I’m glad you did,” Hannah said, reaching out to give him a little hug. And then she changed the subject. “Moishe was really crazy last night. I was so tired, I slept through the noise, but my downstairs neighbor called me at two-thirty in the morning.”

“What was Moishe doing?”

“Racing around the tub in my master bathroom. He was making a terrible racket.”

Norman began to frown. “Sounds like the Big Guy isn’t happy. Is it because you’ve been gone so much lately?”

“Maybe. He also shredded my couch pillow and left little bits of stuffing all over the floor.”

“Definitely not happy. I’d invite him out to play with Cuddles, but she’s gone on vacation.”

Hannah realized she hadn’t really talked to Norman for at least a week. They’d both been so busy they hadn’t had time to go out to dinner, or just sit over coffee and converse. “What’s all this about sending your cat on a vacation?” she asked.

“Oh, I didn’t send her. Marguerite dropped by and asked if she could take Cuddles to her friend’s house for the week. Since she had Cuddles before I adopted her, I thought it was only fair. Her friend has an older male Persian, and everything’s set up for cats. Marguerite thought Cuddles would be in her element.”

“But what if she’s not?” Hannah was a bit worried. Cats could be finicky about the company they kept.

“She’s fine. Marguerite called me this morning to report.”

“And if she hadn’t been fine, you would have jumped in your car and driven up to get her?”

“Of course. I miss her a lot, but it’s good for Marguerite to have this time with her. And after all, I promised we’d have split custody.”

Hannah took another bite of her sandwich and gave a little sigh of pleasure. Norman just had to write down the ingredients! She’d never tasted an egg salad she liked better. “How about Clara?” she asked, knowing that Marguerite’s sister was allergic to cats, dogs, birds, and a whole long list of other things. “Did Doc Knight find a better allergy medicine for her?”

“No, but Clara and Marguerite are taking separate vacations this year. Clara’s going to a church retreat, and Marguerite’s visiting her friend in Duluth.”

“They’ve never done that before, have they?”

“No. Marguerite says they’ve always gone everywhere together, but it was Clara’s idea to split up this year. Clara’s crazy about Cuddles, you know. It’s just that she can’t be around her without having a reaction. She told Marguerite to bring Cuddles to the condo while she was gone, but Marguerite thought it would be easier to go to her friend’s house.”

“Kitty dander. It would take a professional cleaning crew to get all the allergens out of the condo for Clara if Marguerite brought Cuddles there.”

“Exactly. So tell me more about Moishe. I know you’ve been gone a lot, but has anything else changed in your routine?”

“Not really, unless you count the cable.”

“There’s something wrong with your cable?”