Heather looked into two green eyes that blinked back at her. She tried to reach out and stroke her bedmate, but the tangled sheets made her into something of an Egyptian mummy. After breaking free, she gave Max a thorough scratch under his chin and behind the ears.
“What time is it?”
Since Max didn’t answer, she rolled over and looked at the clock on her nightstand. “Good grief. It’s twelve thirty. I’ve slept through half the day.” She reached for her phone, intending to call her office. “Double good grief. I forgot to plug it in this morning after I called Mother.” She looked again at her nightstand but didn’t see the cord. Then she realized Jack used it at the hospital and had stuffed it into the pocket of his slacks.
Heather sighed. “That’s what I get for being clutter-averse. I should’ve heeded Steve’s advice to get a spare.”
With teeth brushed, wearing leggings and a T-shirt, she pushed open the pet door that connected the dining room of their two condos. Using what they called a poor man’s intercom, she shouted a warning that she was coming over. She found Steve, not sitting in his recliner, but at the dining room table with laptop and phone at the ready. “You look industrious this afternoon,” said Heather. “Are you working on your story?”
“That was this morning. I’ve moved on to current events.”
Heather spoke through a yawn. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Chris and I spoke last night. I’m helping him discover how a foreign substance wound up in the bottle of eye drops.”
She interrupted. “I take it the police put a rush on analyzing it?”
Steve gave his head a single nod. “Chris hasn’t heard if the damage is permanent. The police came back and took every bottle from Chris’s practice.”
Heather dug a crusty from the corner of her eye. “That may be enough to put him out of business.”
“I asked him that very thing. He’s pretty sure nothing that drastic will happen, but he also said if it came down to it, there’s enough room on his credit cards to charge what he needs for another month.”
Heather groaned. “The interest will eat him alive.”
“I offered to make him an interest-free loan, but he turned me down. He believes so much in himself and doing things without help that he’s his own worst enemy.”
“If Chris is so self-reliant, why did he call you and ask for your help with the eye drops?”
Steve issued an impish smile. “I didn’t say he called me, and he certainly didn’t ask for my help. I’m a little sensitive to people losing their vision, so this is all my idea.”
“What can I do?”
“It’s not a murder and there’s no client. According to our agreement, those two things have to be present for us to take a case. Besides, you have deals to make and projects to complete, not to mention helping Jack and his mother over this rough spot.”
Heather shook her head. “Let me guess. You’ve already talked to Jack and you know all about Cora’s angina.”
“You were in no condition to talk when you arrived home this morning.”
“I should have known you’d be awake.”
“My sleeping schedule doesn’t coincide with most people’s. It’s always night to me.”
Heather yawned again. “I feel like a bus ran me over.”
“Hospital emergency rooms will do that to you. You were wise to take off today.”
Heather slapped her forehead. “Where is my brain? That’s why I’m here.”
Steve didn’t let her finish. “Get a cup of coffee and relax. Jack told me you left your phone charger with him. I wondered if you’d have enough power to call your office this morning, or if you’d even wake up at your normal time. Just in case you slept in, I called your personal assistant and told her you’d be worse than the Wicked Witch of the West if you came in.” Steve grinned.
“Seriously, between stress and fatigue, you needed sleep more than pushing yourself to go to work this morning. Your people can handle it for a day.”
Heather sighed and rose to pour herself a cup of stimulant. “Well, it’s probably not what I would’ve chosen to do if I hadn’t been dead to the world, but thank you for calling for me. It was a long night.” She set her coffee cup on the table. “Speaking of phones… Can I borrow your charging cord?”
“Only if you promise not to call your office.”
“Now that I know they’re not waiting to hear from me, there’ll be no work for me today. I’m going to take a ridiculously long bath, find a place where I can get a manicure and pedicure, get the frizzy ends of my hair trimmed, eat a healthy supper, and go to bed early with a good book.”
“There’s hope for you yet, McBlythe.”
“I need to get rested for what lies ahead.”
Steve tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“Call it a woman’s intuition. It won’t be long before you need my help.”
Heather thought she’d outguessed Steve until he said, “There’s another reason I called your office and told them you weren’t coming in today. If you’re not too tired, we’ll talk again tonight.”
Heather’s day passed in self-indulgent slow motion. She accomplished all her goals with a couple of modifications. Instead of soaking in a hot tub, she went to the gym, worked on cardio until she achieved a good sweat and followed the workout with time in the sauna to further clear out impurities. She cooled down under a cold shower and replenished lost fluids with a liter of sports drink. Next came a kale, mango, and powdered protein drink from the juice bar. Then came the trip to the beauty salon. Five o’clock traffic caught her on the trip home, after having her nails shaped and leaving the split ends of her auburn hair on the beautician’s floor. For once, she didn’t mind the slow pace of traffic, and sang along with songs she’d listened to during her freshman year at Princeton.
After throwing her sweaty exercise clothes in the washer, she beat a path next door to see what Steve wanted for supper. It appeared he hadn’t moved from the table where she’d left him many hours before.
“Have you been hard at work all day?”
Steve shook his head side to side. “My crazy internal clock told me I needed to take a nap. It lasted four hours, and I missed lunch. I’ve only been awake long enough to eat your leftover sushi and rice. I hope you don’t mind. A replacement order for you is on the way.”
“You didn’t have to do that, but I’m glad you did.”
“If you want something else, I can—”
“Don’t even think about it. My stomach growled all last night in the hospital waiting room. I couldn’t stop thinking about how good sushi would taste.”
Heather changed the subject. “You said earlier you worked on your story this morning. Did that work include some advice from Kate?”
Steve placed his hands over his computer’s keyboard. “We talked twice.”
His voice came out emotionless. In fact, it came out too flat. Time to back away from what she wanted to ask him and move to something safe. “How’s the weather in Miami?”
“Sunny.”
“And the temperature?”
“Hot.”
“The humidity?”
“Low in her condo. High on the patio overlooking the beach.” Steve placed his hands on the table. “I didn’t ask about the surf, the tides, the wind speed, the chances of rain, or the pollen count. I also forgot to ask if any major storms were forming off the coast of Africa. We talked about my short story.”
Steve took in a breath and let it out in a soft, slow blow. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap.”
Heather patted him on the hand. “No offense taken.” She paused. “Well, not much anyway. Some things happened yesterday that have my mind going in different directions. Things between me and Jack.”
“Ah. Your relationship is getting serious, and it has you scared.”
Heather’s head dipped. “You noticed.”
“I tested you yesterday by suggesting you buy a sailboat and take it to Belize together. If I’d suggested that a year ago, you’d have laughed and not given it a second thought.”
She gave him a pretend punch in the arm. “You old stinker. Is there no end to the mind games you play with people?”
He grinned. “You tried to play the same game with me.”
“When?”
“Just now. What difference does it make what the weather is in Miami? You wanted to know if Kate and I are getting serious.”
Heather leaned back. “What’s the answer?”
Steve rubbed his chin. “I’ll give you two answers. The first is, our relationship is where yours was with Jack about a year and a half ago. We live a thousand miles apart and have only been around each other on two occasions.”
Heather added, “And both involved us solving murders.”
“That brings me to the second answer. You and Jack have very little emotional baggage compared to me and Kate. For me, it’s Maggie. I committed until death separated us, which it did. That may be enough for other people to move on, but for me, I’m not sure the marriage contract didn’t get an extension.”
“But—”
“Let me finish. For Kate, she came out of one of the most abusive marriages anyone can imagine. That creep depleted every bit of trust she had in men. I’ll put this as blunt as I can. Kate and I are both damaged goods. We’re both scared of making the mistake of following some emotional whim and discovering in a year or two that our past is stronger than the present, or the future.”
Steve pushed away from the table, retrieved a glass of water, and sat back down. “In the meantime, Kate and I will continue to focus on stories based on cases I solved when I had my sight.”
To add an exclamation mark to the end of talk about relationships, Steve asked, “By the way, how are your mother and father?”
“Good,” said Heather before she thought. “Wait. I called Mother from the hall bathroom this morning. That’s the one place in my condo those bat ears of yours can’t hear what I’m saying. How did you know I called?”
“An educated guess. Cora’s trip to the ER had you thinking about the new season of life you and Jack will face, no matter if you do it alone or together. Your parents are reaching the age when things wear out. It made sense you’d want to check on your parents.”
The knock on the door saved Heather from telling Steve he’d been a step ahead of her… again.