Love Handles (Oakland Hills #1)(78)

“Was it something in the house? We kept everything, Liam. Whatever it was, it’s in storage. We can find it. I don’t care if my mom objects, I’ll—”

“Bev.” His hard voice cut through her babbling. “Enough.”

One of the dogs at his feet jerked his ears up and scurried off into a corner. Bev was hurt but didn’t want to show it. “I was just trying to help.”

“You were trying to be nice again. Don’t bother.”

“I’m the nurturing type.” She reached her hand up to his face and smiled. “Let me nurture you a little bit.”

He jerked his head away. “I’ve already got a mother.”

Her jaw dropped open. To her horror she felt her eyes get warm. Grabbing on to her anger as a lifejacket, she dug her fingernails into her palms and tried to regain her breathing. “A better one than you deserve. Find me some wine and I’ll bring it to her.”

He closed his eyes for a moment. Shrugging, he pulled a bottle out of a case he didn’t bother to read and followed her back through the kitchen to the dining room.

Her mother’s face was probably disapproving, but Bev was careful not to look anywhere near it. Instead she turned all her attentions to Mark, sweet geeky Mark, and finished the meal exchanging teacher’s secret methods of mixing common ingredients to make model volcanoes explode until she could excuse herself from the party to go check on her old, vomiting cat.





Chapter 19

“Ellen is the only one who could've changed the locks,” Bev said, reclining in the couch next to Ball and eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes. She was going over the argument with her mother for the sixth time since the dinner the night before. “I know it wasn’t Liam. We discovered it together, and he was just as surprised as I was. Whoever did it had keys to the place.”

Gail and Kate were already at work on the cardio machines they’d hauled in from the rear bedroom. Neither one would eat until they had accrued a large enough calorie deficit to cover their breakfast; they’d been at it for thirty minutes so far and had another half hour to go.

“Well, Ellen was in New York with Johnny when you called me about the break-in.” Gail poked the buttons on her elliptical machine, making it hum into a new position. “That was the first thing I said to her, but she convinced me. She’s totally innocent on that. You’re just ashamed to admit this guy could have tricked you.”

Bev shook her head. “If you could have seen him—”

“I did see him.” Gail raised her eyebrows. “All six feet more, blond, strapping inches of him. That’s my point. It explains a lot.”

She got up with her empty bowl and headed for the kitchen. “It wasn’t him.”

Gail bent over for her water bottle. “It doesn’t matter what you believe. Ellen is family. Don’t assume the worst.”

Kate burst out laughing. “Weak argument, Mom. This is our family we’re talking about.”

Bev asked her mother, “Does she have an alibi for when the locks were changed too?”

“Alibi! You make her sound like a criminal.”

“You were the one who wanted me to call the police.”

“After the break-in! And you should have. The police should be involved when people—even tall, good-looking people—break into our houses to frighten us,” Gail said.

“She doesn’t have an alibi.” Bev leaned closer. “It had to be her.”

Gail scowled at the treadmill screen, face flushed and shiny, then swung her head to Bev. “She was overcome with grief. That’s a fair explanation. You were a stranger to her, coming up to steal away her career and her home. Perhaps you should be grateful that was all she did.”

Bev mouth dropped open. “You knew?”

“Not then, of course not.” Gail slapped the machine, the pedals hummed and slowed, and she jumped of with a towel in her hand. “Last week she opened up about a lot of things. I admit I was suspicious of her, but that was before. I didn’t feel right violating her confidence and sharing everything with you. Especially now that the sisterly relationship is so fragile.”

Bev’s feeling of triumph was short-lived. “She confessed to changing the locks, but she not to the break-in.”

“It’s impossible, Bev. Not that you’ll ever believe me now—you are so pigheaded. I knew you’d jump to conclusions.” Her mother got up on tiptoes to read the screen display then marched off to the kitchen, wiping her forehead.

“Well?” Bev asked Kate.

She shrugged. “Who cares? Nothing’s happened since.” After a long gulp of water, she wiped her mouth on the back of her forearm and picked up her pace. “I kind of like the pet fashion idea, don’t you? Or are you taking his side on that too?”

Fite had enough trouble with human beings. “I’m taking my side. And my side doesn’t want any more family drama inside that building.”

Kate gaped. “You can’t mean me?”

“Yup.”

“I came all the way up here, and you won’t even let me in the stupid building of the family business?”

“You’ve never mentioned it before,” Bev said.

“Well, it’s not like I want to, but jeez. My grandpa too, you know?”