‘Sit down and drink your coffee,’ Annie said, pointing at the full mug on the table. ‘You must have emptied half the cupboards into your bag. You’re not going to need that much food, it’s a parade, not a week-long camp out.’
Kitty sighed with resignation and pulled out the chair opposite Annie, sitting down heavily on it. ‘Jonas likes to eat a lot,’ she said.
‘All those Klein boys do. That’s how they grew so big and strong. Jonas will be the same,’ Annie said. How did every conversation they had come back to Adam and his brother? Kitty wasn’t sure whether she liked it or not.
‘Let’s hope that’s the only way he resembles them,’ she muttered.
‘They’re good boys. A little overenthusiastic sometimes, and definitely too quick to judge, but they’re good nevertheless,’ Annie said. ‘And Adam has a heart of gold. The number of people he’s helped after the cameras stop running. Do you know he paid for those girls from that documentary to go back to school?’
‘The ones from the human traffic ring?’ Kitty asked. ‘No, I didn’t know that.’
She wasn’t exactly surprised, either. It sounded like Adam. He had a black and white sense of right and wrong. Of course he’d try to do anything he could to help the victims.
‘He’s got a big heart, that one. He loves his family, too. That’s why what happened in LA was so awful.’
Kitty leaned closer, her interest piqued. ‘What did happen in LA?’ she asked.
Annie shook her head, stirring at her half-drunk coffee with the sugar spoon. ‘I don’t know all the details, haven’t asked for them either. All I know is that the two of them had such a big fight Adam ended up getting arrested. He tore up Everett’s home office, by all accounts. Left him with a black eye, too.’
‘What did they fight about?’
‘I’ve no idea.’ Annie shrugged. ‘But Mrs Klein told me the only way Adam could get the charges dropped was by agreeing to come home here and go into therapy for a few months. Mrs Klein, she wanted him to stay here in the big house, but he refused. She didn’t have the heart to argue with him. So he moved down to the cabin, fixed it up within a week, and that’s where he’s been living since.’
‘And he isn’t working on anything?’ Kitty asked. ‘What about that documentary in Colombia I’ve heard about? The one about drug mules.’
‘I’ve no idea. He hasn’t said anything about that.’
Kitty rolled her bottom lip between her teeth, wondering what went on between those brothers in LA. How did they end up in a fight so bad that Adam had to flee the state?
None of it made sense.
‘It’s breaking Mrs Klein’s heart, the same way that slippery step broke her hip,’ Annie said. ‘The problem is that hips can mend but hearts can’t.’
‘Can’t they?’ Kitty asked, frowning as she looked up at Annie. ‘I think they can.’
Annie stared at her for a moment. ‘You’re right,’ she said finally. ‘I guess they can mend, but only if you let them.’
‘Are we going soon?’ Jonas asked, running into the kitchen with his coat already on. ‘We want to make sure we get a good spot. Oma always says the best place is outside Rinky’s Drugstore, that way you get a great view of the bandstand.’
He’d been talking about the parade non-stop all day, his voice growing more and more excited with each passing hour. Kitty was pretty sure that if they didn’t leave for Harville soon, he’d be practically exploding.
She glanced at her watch. It was two o’clock. The parade was due to start at five, just as the darkness would begin to creep in. All the better for seeing the lit-up trucks and characters, as they made their way to the bandstand to begin the annual Harville Christmas concert.
‘I guess we could go soon and have a walk around the town,’ Kitty agreed. ‘I don’t think we can stand around for two hours, though. We’ll freeze to death if we do.’
Jonas rolled his eyes. He had the gift of a speedy circulation, and hands that never felt cold no matter how long he spent making snowballs. Kitty wasn’t quite that lucky.
‘You grab that bag, and I’ll go and get my coat and boots,’ Kitty told him, knowing she wouldn’t be able to restrain him for too much longer. ‘Let’s go watch us a parade.’
‘You got a dog?’ Martin stared at Adam enquiringly, trying to disguise the smile on his face. ‘That’s a turn-up for the books.’
‘It’s not my dog, I’m just looking after it for my nephew,’ Adam told him. ‘I nearly brought him with me, but then thought better of it.’
‘I’m glad to hear it. I’m allergic to animals.’
Adam shrugged, thinking about the puppy’s thick black coat. ‘He’s hypoallergenic,’ he said. ‘Doesn’t moult, doesn’t cause reactions. He’s the perfect dog.’ Or he would’ve been, if it wasn’t for the crap in the kitchen every morning, which Adam had to clean up himself today. There had been no sign of Kitty, not that he blamed her. Christ, he really had messed everything up.
‘Anything else changed since I last saw you?’ Martin asked.