“Oh.”
“Yeah, ‘oh.’ ”
“I was going to tell you both tonight,” she said, “but I really didn’t think about Jeremy seeing me at the office.” She met her daughter’s curious gaze. “Things have been a little crazy, you know.”
“Aren’t they always?”
She nodded. Walking back to the table, she added, “I didn’t mean to upset you guys.”
“You didn’t upset me.” She said it sincerely, with a dismissive lift of her shoulders. “It’s your life. I kinda like Santana, but Jeremy’s not a fan.”
“I know.”
“And he thinks he’s got to be all protective and stuff. You know, the guy thing.” She rolled her eyes as her phone beeped. For once, she ignored it. “He’s like a total doofus, you know. Jer, he tries to be all cool and grown up, but he’s really . . . just clueless.”
“Did you tell him that?” Pescoli asked.
“I’m not suicidal.” She flashed her mother a smile as she wadded up the empty bag of chips. “He thinks he’s so badass. So, come on, show me your ring.” A little self-consciously, Pescoli thrust her hand across the table and her daughter actually squealed as she touched the stone. “So damned awesome!”
“Oh, I take it you approve?”
“Does it make a difference?”
“I am trying to take your feelings into consideration. But, no, I suppose not.”
“Are you going to have a big wedding and can I, like, be your maid of honor and Jeremy can walk you down the aisle?”
“Oh, God. You’re making my head spin. No.”
She appeared deflated. “So what’s the point?”
For a second Pescoli had forgotten how young she was. “The point is we want to live together.”
“Sooo . . . are we going to move to that new place he’s building? At the Brady Long estate?” she asked, the wheels turning in her mind. “That place is, like, the biggest in the county, right?”
“Not Santana’s portion, but, yes, eventually we’ll move into the new house.”
“Cool!” She reached for her phone. “Just make sure I get a bigger room than Jeremy does!” As she started to text with her rapid-fire precision, she added, “Tiffany Anderson is going to be soooo jealous.”
“Well, that’s important,” Pescoli said before she walked to the window and stared outside. She considered texting Jeremy because he was going to hear what a disaster she’d created, then thought better of it. He’d find out about it when he did. Rotating the kinks from her neck, she decided she needed a long, hot shower. Then she’d go to work again from home.
As long as Verdago was on the loose, she would be obsessed with him. That’s just how it worked with her; the closer she came to closing the case, the more all-consuming it became. And this one was close . . . so close.
She could feel it in her bones.
Chapter 31
Carnie Tibalt was sooo over camping in this pathetic little cabin that barely had running water. What had started out as an adventure, a romantic romp, had ended up being just plain boring. While Maurice left and did whatever it was he did, she was stuck here, in the middle of no-frickin’-where. Worse yet, he had the balls to take her truck all because his loser of a wife wouldn’t let him use her SUV.
That Wanda, what a shrew.
Big, fat, self-centered shrew.
Carnie had only met her once, but Maurice had told her all about Wanda and she believed every last word of it. Still, it would have been nice if he had at least filed the papers to finalize that divorce he kept promising.
Oh, well, she did have a fabulous ring, she thought smugly, staring down at her left hand where the clear stone glittered in the light from the fire. It was gorgeous. She smiled and dreamed of a fairy-tale wedding, then as the windows rattled with a blast of cold air, she was brought back to reality. She threw on her coat and grabbed up the lantern so that she could cut and haul in some more firewood. Hopefully, she wouldn’t freeze to death.
Outside the back door, she glanced at the woods, dark and foreboding, even with the snow falling and dusting everything. As a little girl she’d thought snow was magical, but now, it seemed little more than a frigid curtain that wouldn’t allow her to see beyond her lantern’s glow.