Check back in a few minutes.”
I said thanks and rushed to catch up to Brickhouse. As we neared Room 5, I could hear all sorts of commotion coming from within.
The first person I saw when I peeked in was Kevin. All the tears I’d been holding back welled in my eyes.
“Donatelli!” Mrs. Krauss said, clutching the front of her gown.
Everyone in the room turned to look at us in the doorway.
My gaze skipped from Mr. Cabrera, who wore a pea-green-colored, short-sleeve button-down with a polar bear pattern, to an older woman with champagne-colored hair who I didn’t recognize, to my cousin Ana, all big brown eyes, and finally to Kevin.
25
Kevin’s gaze slammed into mine, and one of those dammed tears fell. “Where’s Riley?” I asked, though it didn’t sound like my voice at all, all choked and strained.
“Ursula!” I absently heard Mr. Cabrera say. “What are you doing here? Are you okay?”
In an instant Kevin was on his feet, headed toward me. I didn’t even mind when he pulled me into a hug. “He’s fine, Nina.”
I could almost hear Tam’s
“Ach,” Brickhouse said to Mr. Cabrera. “Like you care.
Who’s she?”
I heard the jealousy in her voice as Kevin’s hand cupped the back of my head, his fingers gently kneading. He said,
“A little accident.”
I rested my forehead against his chest.
“A neighbor,” Mr. Cabrera said. Out of the corner of my eye I saw his face turn three shades of purple. A neighbor, my foot. I didn’t recognize the woman.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Kevin said.
How could he have betrayed me? How could he have walked away from seven pretty darn good years of marriage? For Ginger Ho. Er, Barlow. Ginger Barlow, his police partner.
I hated her.
And I remembered that I was supposed to hate him too.
I pulled back, out of his hug. Okay, it wasn’t as fast as it could have been, but at least I did it.
Mind over matter and all that.
Oh no. There I went sounding like my mother again.
“Your mother’s on her way,” Ana said as if reading my mind. She came over, took my hand, held it tight. “Mr. Cabrera called her, and she called me. I was closer.”
Half of Freedom probably knew about the accident by now, thanks to Mr. Cabrera’s loose lips.
26
Heather Webber
“Is Riley really okay?” I asked her, not wanting to look at Kevin. I had the uneasy feeling he knew I still loved him.
That maybe, if he waged an all-out please-take-me-back war, I would. Take him back.
Would I?
I told it to please shut up.
That’s me. Nina Colette Polite Ceceri Quinn.
“He’s fine. He might have a broken wrist. He’s in X-ray now.”
“What happened?” I asked.
Mrs. Krauss was giving Mr. Cabrera’s new girlfriend the evil eye. She did it quite well. My mother would be proud of her efforts.
Mr. Cabrera puffed out his chest. “Well, Miz Quinn, it’s like this. Boom-Boom here—”
“Boom-Boom?” Brickhouse and I asked at the same time.
The older woman with sickly blonde hair stepped forward, smiled wide, her teeth as big and as yellow as the dingy locks on her head. I tried not to cringe.
“Boom-Boom Vhrooman,” she said, holding out a hand.
Reluctantly, I took it as she added, “I’m your new neighbor.
I moved into Mrs. Warnicke’s house.”
