Homicide and Halo-Halo (Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery #2)(38)

The worry creased between his eyebrows lightened my heart considerably. He wasn’t mad at me. My life had become such a cliché that I actually let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “Jae, I just wanted to—”

The sound of a flushing toilet cut me off and all the relief I’d been feeling quickly turned to irritation when Bernadette stepped out from the clinic’s bathroom. “Thanks for listening, Jae. I—Lila? What are you doing here?”

I crossed my arms. “I wanted to apologize to Jae for my behavior last night. Unlike a certain someone, I admit when I’m wrong.”

She tsked and rolled her eyes before helping herself to some banana bread. I glared at her for a few seconds before realizing I had never actually apologized. “Oh, right. As I was saying . . . I’m sorry, Jae. I shouldn’t have treated you the way I did last night, and I’ll do my best to not let my frustration with this case spill over to you.”

Jae poured a cup of coffee and added a large glug of coconut creamer to it before handing it over to me. “I appreciate you coming over to properly apologize. I don’t like it when we’re not OK.”

I accepted the cup and blew on it before taking a grateful sip. “As long as you’re not mad at me, we are definitely OK. Though I might have questions for you again since you’re the only person I know who’s friends with Beth.”

“As you said, Beth is my friend and I’m not comfortable gossiping about her. But if it helps us find out who killed her husband, I’m happy to help.” He poured another cup of coffee and offered it to Bernadette. “You’re my friend too, Bernadette. Let me know what you need.”

She looked taken aback by the gesture but accepted the cup. “Thanks, Jae. You’re a real sweetheart.” She sipped at the black coffee and smiled her appreciation. “Adeena just gets better and better. And these calamansi muffins are great. Can’t wait till you officially open, Lila.”

Bernadette smiled at me as she said this, all buddy-buddy. What, did she think by complimenting the cafe suddenly we’d be OK? Heck, those weren’t even compliments, they were just facts.

I crossed my arms. “What are you doing here?”

“I needed to talk to Jae.”

“What about?”

“You’ve really got to do something about that jealous streak, Lila. It’s very unbecoming.”

I counted to ten in my head before unclenching my teeth. “Jae, Millie, it was lovely seeing you this morning. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get to my pageant duties.”

“Already? I feel like I never see you anymore.” Millie sighed. “Ah well, I guess it’s to be expected. Responsibilities of a winner and all, am I right?”

At that, Bernadette threw her paper cup in the trash and stalked out, the door shutting heavily behind her. Millie raised her eyebrows. “Well, someone’s in a snit.”

Jae rubbed his right temple. “Millie, could you please prep Room One for Mrs. Delaney? She should be here soon.”

“Of course, Dr. Jae. I’ll let you say goodbye to your lady friend. Maybe convince her to stop by with lunch sometime soon?” she said as she hurried off to carry out Jae’s instructions.

Jae waited until she’d disappeared into the room before turning to me. “Bernadette came here about you, actually. You and the case. She admitted her mom was out of line, but didn’t know what to say to you.”

“I mean, she could start with apologizing.”

“And you find it so easy to apologize to her when you’re in the wrong?” The look on his face said, You can lie to yourself, but you know you can’t lie to me.

“OK, I wouldn’t say it’s easy, but I’ve done it. Way back when that Derek mess happened, I know I apologized to her when I messed up. She’s older than me, shouldn’t she be the mature one here?”

“Look, all I’m saying is that she’s really freaked out right now. She’s still not allowed back at work and there hasn’t been much movement in the case despite the aunties doing their best to gather info. She should apologize, of course. But you might want to cut her some slack right now. It’s not always about who’s right.”

When I didn’t respond, he said, “Anyway, I’m having dinner with Beth later tonight, so I’ll let you know if I learn anything. You free tomorrow? It’s been too long since I’ve had one of Akio’s specials.”

Akio, the amazing head chef at Sushi-ya, was Naoko’s dad and Yuki’s husband. I hadn’t satisfied my sashimi craving in a while, and it’d be nice to see Yuki in a non-pageant setting. “I’m not sure how long my pageant duties will take tomorrow, but I’d love to meet up. We can swap info, stuff our faces, and maybe get Yuki to join us after for some karaoke. What do you say?”

Jae grinned. “I promise to bring a full report on Beth as well as my guitar.”

The arrival of Jae’s first patient reminded me of the time. As I called out my goodbye to Millie, who was emerging from the back room, and hurried to the door, Jae’s fingers around my wrist stopped me. “Be careful out there, Lila. If anything happens, you can call me. Call me or my brother and we’ll be there. OK?”

Jae’s sweetness had succeeded in unraveling the tension that had settled into my shoulders and stomach, but at his warning, I could feel the familiar pressure return. Jae and I might be OK now, but I’d be foolish to ignore the larger issue: There was another murderer loose in Shady Palms. And none of us would be OK until they were caught.