Binding the Shadows (Arcadia Bell #3)(62)

“Lon,” I said in a voice that sounded smaller than I intended. “I’m scared.”

He shifted down, pulled me into his arms, and held me. But he didn’t tell me it would be okay this time. He merely said, “I know.”

After Priya’s unwelcome news, Lon and I rejoined the group and carried on like nothing was wrong. At least for awhile. Rose and Lon made a huge Caribbean feast for Christmas dinner: rice and peas, plantains, coconut snapper, curry, and some chicken that was so spicy, I nearly choked—much to everyone’s great amusement.

But when we were clearing the table, a knock on the door made my stomach flip. Jupe ran to answer it. A couple of seconds later, Yvonne entered the house: designer clothes, gold-framed sunglasses perched on top of her perfectly coiffed hair, arms filled with presents.

She paused in front of me. We stared each other down for several beats. Then she said, “Merry Christmas, Arcadia.”

“You, too,” I managed.

I didn’t talk to her directly after that, and I stayed my distance when she was showering Jupe with expensive presents, only hearing his excitement as I helped the Holidays wash up dishes in the kitchen. And when I’d towel-dried every single speck of water off the plates and had no more excuses to stay away, I lurked in the dining room and listened to her chattering with Jupe about new stores in La Sirena. About the pool in her tropical Floridian backyard. About her celebrity neighbors and the season tickets she had for the Miami Heat.

And she was apparently modeling for a national jewelry company, doing print and television ads, so I could look forward to seeing her face during commercial breaks of our family TV time. Maybe she’d even haunt me in Tambuku, too, her too-perfect face and body hawking diamond pendants during the bar’s weekly viewing of Paranormal Patrol. Then all my regulars could say, “Hey, isn’t that Lon’s ex-wife? Looks like she’s making a comeback.”

Everyone loves an underdog.

But how could I be anything but encouraging to Jupe? If anyone knew how he felt, being abandoned by her all these years, it was me. I couldn’t deny him a chance for a relationship with her. The Giovannis seemed impressed by her new sober life, and Yvonne might actually be stable and trying.

Even so, there was only so much I could take of her Celebrity Rehab success story. So when everyone decided to move the party outside on the deck, I excused myself and left the house for a couple of hours.

Kar Yee was glad to see me. Bob came over and after I gave them the update on my quest to find Telly, we watched Miracle on 34thStreet on television. Kar Yee was healing up enough to drive. She’d made plans to get out of the city the next day and go upstate to visit an old college friend of ours. I don’t think she knew what to do with herself, since Tambuku wasn’t open. Bob neither. He told us he’d made a couple of appointments that week to do some minor healing on people in his group. I was glad. Seemed to keep his spirits up.

Life almost seemed calm for a couple of days. No winged Æthyric being popping up with news about my mother, no crimes fueled by bionic knacks. Just . . . normality. But two days after Christmas, some magazine bigwig called Lon up to San Francisco for the afternoon to meet with the president of an advertising firm. It was only a two-hour drive, and he’d be back early evening.

Meanwhile, I stayed in with the Giovannis. Rose was showing me how to make something called “black cake” when Yvonne called, wanting to take Jupe to the movies. Rose said she trusted her to spend a few hours alone with her son and thought maybe it would be good for both of them.

Maybe they were right. If Jupe wanted a relationship with her, I couldn’t stop him. I called Lon and told him what was going on. He said it was okay.

So we let him go.

After the movie ended, Yvonne called Rose and said they were stopping by a diner for a bite to eat. So we waited some more. Two hours later, they still hadn’t come back. Rose called her. Several times. No answer. I called Jupe. Texted Jupe. No response. That’s when I started full-on panicking. He’d never, never failed to respond to my texts. Rose couldn’t get a decent cell signal in the house, so she stepped out on the back patio and called the diner while Adella paced the living room.

His life wasn’t in danger. I knew this because the thread that connected us wasn’t visible like it was when he got demon-snatched by Duke Chora on Halloween. I considered sharing this with the Giovannis, but I wasn’t sure how they’d react to knowing he’d tattooed my sigil on his hip, and I didn’t want to get into the sordid events from Halloween. That would only make them more worried.

“I knew better than to trust her,” Adella said, as she paced, volcanic curls jostling beneath the blue-and-white striped scarf she’d tied to keep them off her forehead.

“I’m sure there’s a rational explanation,” I told her. And if the diner couldn’t confirm they were still there, I’d drive out to the Village to find them; I already had my keys in my pocket.

She snorted. “You don’t know my sister very well. Expect the worst, and you won’t be disappointed.”

How the hell I’d put myself in the position to defend Yvonne was beyond me. “You said before that you’d never forgive her. I don’t mean to pry, but I’ve been curious. Was there something she did to you specifically, or . . . ?”

Adella stopped pacing behind the couch. “She slept with my husband fifteen years ago.”