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through the open doors of the balcony, the wind gently moving the curtains, my heart
light for the first time in months. Years. There was so much to think about, with Porter
and Kurt and the police& but my heart was eased and my eyes grew heavy and
finally...I slept.
184
In And Out
Chapter Eleven
I woke at 6:00 buried under a stack of blankets. Adam was long gone and Thayer
sat on the bed again looking nearly as young as Adam. You are such an idiot
sometimes, Hol.
I must be to keep dreaming of you. You told me that Porter was missing and he
was hiding in the den the entire time.
He shrugged. You said he was missing, jackass. I said he was in trouble. You re on
watch. And I m not real. You need to wake up.
I did, opening my eyes to the bright light of a fresh morning. I got out of bed, took a
leak and went straight to the gym, punishing myself for a solid hour before going to
hose off in the shower. The day felt better already. I needed to get back on track
breakfast and then eight solid hours of work. I finished the T recipes and their
accompanying stories and now it was time to consider the end of the alphabet. W is for
Wales. I had a plan for dinner tonight and that plan included Adam and a loaf of
good rye bread.
185
L.B. Gregg
Before I could do anything else I needed to gently remove my emotionally fragile
sister-in-law from the house. I d hug her and tell her to call me. Porter insisted I owed
him this, but I felt terrible for that girl. From this point forward, a No Girls Allowed rule
would prevail under my roof.
Mrs. Henderson s company excluded.
The forecast ensured Smithfield a sixty-five degrees and sunny guarantee, so I put
on shorts and stared balefully at my too-white legs. I d work on the sun porch today
and try to get a little color. I was going to fry, I knew it, but vanity must be served. I
currently looked like the underbelly of a dead fish.
I knocked on the door to my parents suite, but the room was vacant. Mitzie s bags
were gone and when I looked, her car wasn t in the drive.
My front door had turned into a revolving one, with people coming and going
willy-nilly. Everyone seemed capable of using the damn thing, except me.
Downstairs, Mrs. H puttered around the kitchen making coffee. I walked in and she
stared at my naked legs. She raised her brow, but wisely kept her mouth shut. She
handed me a cup of coffee and the Smithfield Gazette.
My photo was splashed across the front page. A nice above the fold quarter page
shot of yours truly sprawled on the patio with Adam s strong steady arm ready to haul
me to safety. How apt.
Local Celebrity Collapses from Strain.
Adam was half-naked and fit. His mole there for all of Smithfield to lust over. I
looked pasty but brawny as ever. My hair could use a trim, but otherwise I looked like
Holden X. Worthington, failed explorer.
That was nice.
The Morgan brothers took this photo. I wonder how much they made?
186
In And Out
Mrs. H nodded. I warned you. Are you going to fire him?
Who?
Don t sass me. Adam.
No. I m not going to fire him for taking care of me. Then I d have to fire you, too.
I handed her the paper. This is not a bad thing. I ignored her bulging eyes and
slackened mouth. This exposure wasn t the disaster I thought it would be. This is part
of my twelve step program to freedom.
Mm hmm. I hope one of those steps includes a therapist. Mrs. H slapped a
toasted, buttered bagel in front of me and a jar of currant jelly.
We ll see. Did you hear anything at St. Joe s?
No. No one has any idea. I think it was someone outside the parish. Or it was
Father David.
I stopped mid jelly smearing. You didn t come right out and ask people in church,
did you? I could hear her badgering the Altar Guild Was it you, Lettie? Or you,
Winnie? How about you, Sarah?
She gave me a stiff look that made me feel unappreciative and left to vacuum the
unused dining room. Leave it to Mrs. H to identify that our neighborhood Peeping Tom
none other than the good Father David himself was more than a confessor; he was
an eyewitness.
I took my bagel and my laptop to the sun porch to wait for the phone to ring. It was
only a matter of time before Tony returned my calls and I had a slew of questions for
my legal team. I had a call in to Detective Lewis for Porter. My editor would contact me
today to bitch at me about deadlines and contracts and I had yet to check in with John s
secretary.
I could use one of those. An assistant to help with the phone calls and the email.
187
L.B. Gregg
But not today.
In the back yard, the morning was every bit as stunning as promised. Blue skies and
smooth sailing. Spring had officially sprung. I opened the windows to let the breeze in.
Birds warbled in the trees, bees buzzed, black flies colonized the screens. Robins
hopped the stone path, gathering nesting material and yanked unsuspecting worms
from the mulch. The grounds were alive with chattering squirrels and worried
chipmunks. The forsythia had bloomed overnight a riot of vivid yellow lined the
south. Daffodils waved their swollen heads in the grass, trumpeting the end of winter.
I was& happy. Except for John lying in the hospital and the question of whether my
brother was guilty of a terrible crime, the day was bright. I felt unusually optimistic. I
was getting closer to finishing my book.
And I d had sex four times in two days.
Adam arrived sporting an old bottle green and white Celtics t-shirt. He had his
thermos and cooler but today no beanie. He waved tentatively, his expression as
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