Thirty-Three and a Half Shenanigans
Page 16

“No!” I protested. “That was different.”
“No, it wasn’t. Not really.” A grin stretched his lips. “Besides, it’s a done deal. Like I said, I took care of it.”
I sat in my chair, perturbed. He was right, as hard as it was to admit.
“Nelly Kate dropped in earlier looking for you.”
I checked my phone. “She didn’t call me.”
“She was on her way to work. She said to tell you that she’d looked at the books last night.”
I sat up in excitement. “She did?”
“She also said she’d tried a new recipe, so she’s bringin’ some over for lunch. Said she’d tell you all about it then.”
That drew a less enthusiastic response. “Oh.”
He chuckled. “I suddenly remembered I’ve got somewhere I need to be for lunch. Sorry I’m gonna miss it.”
Neely Kate had experienced a recent burst of domestication. Ronnie had put his foot down—a rare instance—and told her that she couldn’t decorate the baby’s room until she found out if it was a boy or a girl. Instead, she’d poured her energy into watching cooking shows and trying out new recipes. Only Ronnie rarely liked what she cooked, so she’d been forcing it on me and Bruce Wayne . . . when she could actually catch him. It had only taken two meals for us to figure out Neely Kate’s gourmet adventure was akin to taking a joy ride on the Titanic. Mason seemed to have a sixth sense for when she was about to show up with leftovers. She’d stopped by his office with a stack of suspicious Tupperware a few times while I was over at the courthouse for a quick visit. He’d always claim he had a prior engagement or say he’d already eaten. I hadn’t been so lucky.
“Did she mention what she brought today?”
“Something about tofu burgers and Brussels sprouts muffins.”
I shuddered. “If she doesn’t find a new hobby soon, I’m gonna beg Ronnie to let her decorate that baby’s room.”
“Good luck with that.”
“Yeah, I know. Did she say what time she was coming?”
“She really wanted to talk to you, so she said she was coming early. Around eleven-thirty.”
I glanced at the clock on the wall—10:40. What could she have found in the books? Dread knotted my shoulders. I knew Violet had been irresponsible, but surely she hadn’t skimmed money off the business as Neely Kate had suggested was possible.
I looked around at what needed to be done. “Until we get the electricity situation sorted, we’re sunk on getting the computers and Internet set up.”
Bruce Wayne winked. “I got it covered.”
“How?”
“I borrowed my cousin’s generator.”
“He let you?” I regretted the words as soon as I said them. Bruce Wayne’s family had practically disowned him after he was arrested for murder last year. And they hadn’t welcomed him back into the fold after he was acquitted, either. Violet and I had our differences, but we’d never turn our backs on each other like that.
Bruce Wayne shrugged. “He’s on my biological dad’s side. I didn’t have much to do with them before . . . everything. But I’ve been thinking about my dad lately, so I called my cousin after Thanksgiving.” He grimaced as though he was wading deeper into cold water than he’d planned. “He said we could borrow it until our electricity gets fixed. Or until there’s a snow storm in the forecast, whichever comes first.”
We spent the next forty minutes getting the computers situated and had just started installing software when the front door burst open. Neely Kate stood in the threshold, holding a plastic tub of food. “Who’s hungry?”
Bruce Wayne’s eyes bugged out like she was pointing a loaded gun at him. He jumped to his feet and grabbed his coat off the back of his office chair. “I just remembered that I’ve got to go do that . . . thing.”
Neely Kate shot him a glare. “What thing?”
“Um . . . the electricity’s out, and I need to run to the hardware store to get some supplies for the generator.” Then he shot past her, faster than I’d ever seen him move.
Neely Kate shut the door, watching him beat it down the sidewalk. “He’s not goin’ after any parts, is he?”
“Um . . .” I didn’t want to tell her the truth, but a white lie wasn’t hurrying its way off my tongue.
She spun around and gave me an amused, disapproving look. “Rose, if you don’t want to share my tofu and chipotle burgers with Bruce Wayne, you don’t have to send him off. I’ll just make double next time.”
“Oh, Neely Kate. You really don’t have to.”
A smile lit up her face. “I don’t mind at all.” She grabbed Bruce Wayne’s chair and dragged it over to me, setting the Tupperware on my desk. “Eat up while it’s still warm. I heated it up in the microwave before I came over.” She popped off the lid and handed me a plastic fork. “I don’t have any plates today, so we’ll just have to share.”
“Okay . . .” I said as I looked down at the green goo-covered patty. Surely it couldn’t taste as bad as it looked. “Bruce Wayne said you had time to look over the books.”
“Oh, yeah.” She opened her big purse and dug out the ledger.
“I didn’t think you were going to get to it ’til today.”
“Neither did I, but I had a major case of indigestion and couldn’t sleep.”