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Nate poured Sandra a third cup of coffee. “Are you sure he didn’t give you a time?”
For the third time, Sandra said no. “He’s an angel, Nate. I try not to make demands of him and boss him around. He said he was going to show up and I’m grateful he’s going to show up, so I didn’t nail down a time.”
He gave her side eye. “You don’t need to be terse with me. You’re the one in the wrong here, don’t forget.”
She looked down at her cup. She wasn’t going to argue with him, but she didn’t think she was in the wrong at all. She was trying to be a hero. There was a crash from the living room but neither of them looked. Ethel was in there with the children, and if one of them went rushing in there, they would only mess with her methodology.
Nate sat down across from her and leaned back in the chair. “So, we wait.”
“Yes, like I said. We be patient.”
“And he’s not just going to show up invisible and whisk you away without my knowledge?”
She snickered. “He may be here right now and be invisible and be furious that I’ve told you the plan. But I don’t know if he can make me invisible.” She figured that he probably could, but she wasn’t going to tell Nate that.
“I can’t believe I’m the last one to meet him.”
“You’re not. Joanna still hasn’t met him yet.”
“That we know of.”
Sandra snickered. This was true. Joanna could have been chatting with him for months. She had lots of invisible friends.
“Sandra?” Bob said slowly.
She looked around the room but couldn’t see him. “Yes?”
“Yes, what?” Nate said. “Is he here? Is that him?”
“What’s going on?” Bob said just as slowly.
“I’m sorry, Bob. I didn’t mean to complicate things. My wonderful husband here found my bluff note in my purse. He wants to go with us on our mission—”
“But first, I want to see you!”
Sandra found Nate’s tone a bit too demanding for an angel.
Apparently, Bob thought so too because he didn’t appear. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. The more people who go, the harder it will be to hide.”
“Well? What’s he saying?” It was obvious that Nate did not appreciate the suspense.
“He says that it’s not a good idea to take a bunch of people on this particular mission. We’re trying to be discreet.”
“Stop calling it a mission! You’re going to drop a note off. And it’s not a bunch of people! It’s your husband!”
Bob appeared right beside the table. “You make a good point, sir.”
Nate let out a little shriek as he pushed his chair back away from the angel. The squawk of cheap furniture on flooring almost harmonized with the shriek that came out of his mouth. Then he froze and stared at the heavenly being in front of him. He opened his mouth but no sound came out.
Sandra wondered if she had acted this shocked during her first encounter. She didn’t think she had. She knew Peter and Ethel hadn’t. And Sammy, well, Sammy hadn’t even blinked. “Honey, this is Bob. Bob, this is honey.” She laughed at the charm of her introduction.
Nate did not laugh. He still hadn’t moved. Finally, he said, “You’re ... you?”
Huh? Her husband was cracking under the pressure. He couldn’t even use words. She got up and rounded the table to take his hand. “It’s okay. I know it’s a lot, at first, but you’ll get used to him.”
“He’s just ... not what I was expecting.”
Bob furrowed his brow in obvious offense.
“I thought you’d be ... bigger ... and—”
“Okay, enough about that.” She looked at Bob. “Thanks for appearing to him. So, what’s the plan?”
Bob looked at Nate. “You really want to be a part of this?”
“Honestly?” Nate spoke slowly, as if he had to work to push out each syllable individually. “I’m not sure, but I don’t want my wife doing this unless I go to protect her.”
Bob looked offended again. “I’m pretty sure I can protect her.”
Nate stood up and puffed out his chest. “But she’s my wife.”
Bob held up both hands. “Of course. I have no designs on her in that way. I didn’t mean to suggest—”
“We know that,” Nate interrupted, his tone softening. “I didn’t mean to suggest that either. I’m just saying that I want to be there. If she’s there, I should be there. There’s no such thing as too much protection.”
Sandra wasn’t sure this was true and thought about letting Bob go off and leave the note by himself, but she didn’t want to miss anything. “Okay, so I ask again, what is the plan?”
Bob took a deep breath. “I see that Ethel is here. Perfect. Right now, Daphne is home, and her vehicle is parked out front—”
“Where does she live, exactly?” Nate asked.
“At the end of a very long driveway on Osborne Hill Road.”
“In the new housing development?”
Sandra tried to shush him with her eyes. Did he really need an address at this point?
“Is that near where Richard lives?”
Bob narrowed his eyes. “They all live in the same house.”
“Really?” Nate looked incredulous.
Sandra couldn’t imagine why he cared so much.
“It’s a really big house,” Bob said. “And I don’t know how long she’ll be there, so we should get going.” He stared at them expectantly.
Sandra grabbed her purse and headed for the door. When she reached for the doorknob, she realized her husband hadn’t moved. Vaguely, she wondered if it was wrong how unenthusiastic she felt about his joining her unofficial detective agency. She looked back at him and tried not to sound snippy when she said, “Are you coming?”
“How does this work, exactly?” he asked, still not moving his feet.
How does what work, exactly? And when had her brilliant husband become so daft?
No one answered him, so he clarified, “How do we get there?”
Did he think they were going to fly? She held up the keys. “We take the minivan.”
His feet began to move then, and his eyes dropped to watch them. “Oh, okay.”