Not with those red lips . . .
Making a noise of frustration, she swiped off the lipstick and applied a lighter shade of pink. Better.
“Oh, for God’s sake.” She lifted her palms from her makeup tray and left the bathroom.
Harley popped her head out of her cracked bedroom door at that moment and Duchess did the same, trying to squeeze out toward Jamie.
“Where are you going?” Harley demanded.
“I’m just getting ready.”
Jamie headed toward the stairs.
“For what? Are you meeting those women?”
“No.”
“Who, then?”
Jamie drew a breath and exhaled. She wanted to lie, but that would be counterproductive, and it would all come out anyway. “Mr. Haynes.”
“What? Really?”
Jamie hurried downstairs. Where the hell was the deliveryman? It was after six. She paced the kitchen. Theo was bringing Emma home tonight and that should be any minute, but what had happened to the dishwasher delivery?
Ten minutes later, she heard a large truck outside and hurried to the front windows to see it was Gold Appliances. Finally. At the same time, she saw the Theo’s Thrift Shop van slide to a stop on the street in front of the house. Theo got out and looked at the delivery truck, and Emma pushed out from the passenger side and also gazed curiously at the large, rumbling vehicle in the driveway.
Jamie threw open the front door. The sunlight was fading and the clouds were rolling in. “It’s the dishwasher,” she yelled to Emma and Theo.
Emma took a look toward the sky and hurried inside. She immediately called for Duchess, who, having escaped Harley’s room, had followed Jamie around as she paced, then, tired of that, returned to Harley’s room. Hearing Emma’s voice, the dog whined loud enough to be heard outside Harley’s door. A few moments later, Harley let her out and she bounded down the stairs and damn near knocked Emma over. Emma giggled, which brought Jamie’s head around with a snap. Emma never giggled. Or laughed. Or chuckled.
Theo was watching the man who was bringing in the appliance, which was strapped on a dolly, backward down a ramp out of the back of the truck. Jamie realized it was Allen just as Theo sketched a wave goodbye to Jamie.
“It was a pretty good day today,” Theo yelled at her. Jamie nodded her appreciation and waved back. No more Deke.
Allen immediately apologized for being late as he came up the front walk. Apparently, the man who was supposed to come to her house had suffered a family emergency. His wife had been in a fender bender and was in the hospital.
“Is she all right?” Jamie asked as she held the door for Allen, who gently bumped the dishwasher up the porch steps and into the house.
“Last I heard it was a broken arm, so yeah . . . I think she’s okay.”
He set to work pulling out the old dishwasher and replacing it with the new one. He had to turn off the circuit breaker to get the job done, and the kitchen and part of the living room went dark.
Emma had gone upstairs with the dog and into the bathroom—Jamie expected her makeup items to be lined up when she returned—but now she came back down with Duchess in tow. Duchess hung back from Allen.
“Oh, come on, you remember him,” Jamie chided the dog. “He was here on Monday.”
Emma was frozen in place, staring at Allen. Jamie, realizing this, touched Emma’s arm, hoping to break into her fixation, but Emma wouldn’t move as Allen muscled the first machine out of the way and set the new one in place. Luckily, there was enough room in the cabinet space for it to fit.
“What’s wrong?” Jamie whispered to Emma.
Her sister didn’t say anything, but Jamie could feel her tension.
“Let’s go in the living room,” Jamie suggested, gesturing to the far side of the room, away from the kitchen.
“It’s dark . . .”
“We could go upstairs.”
There was a long pause. Emma couldn’t seem to drag her gaze from Allen, who’d flicked her a look, aware of her odd behavior.
“Emma, come on.” Jamie would have pulled her arm, except that never worked with her. It only made things worse.
“I see his eyes . . .” she intoned flatly.
Jamie caught her breath. “Emma!” she said sharply.
“I see his eyes!” she yelled, ignoring Jamie’s attempts to distract her.
“Emma, stop!” Jamie snapped.
It didn’t do any good. “I see his eyes! I see his eyes!” she cried. Then she lifted her arm and pointed a shaking finger at Allen, who stood in stunned surprise, his mouth dropping open.
Jamie gave Allen a hard glance. She tried to see what Emma saw, but Allen was just a young man in Gold Appliance coveralls and boots, his name stitched on a front tag, looking at them through blue eyes wide with shock. To Jamie’s knowledge, Emma had never actually pointed at anyone before.
“That’s Allen. Our dishwasher repairman. We have a new dishwasher. He’s helping us,” Jamie told her.
Emma’s lips started trembling and Duchess, picking up on her distress, started growling. The dog stared Allen down, as if he were a criminal.
“No. No, Duchess. Emma, we’re going upstairs.” Jamie spoke sternly. “Emma, do you hear me? We’re going upstairs now.”
Emma came out of her trance. She blinked several times, then turned blindly toward the stairs, accidentally knocking one of Mom’s pictures cockeyed on the wall. She stopped, straightened it, then marched upstairs. Duchess didn’t want to give up on Allen and barked at Jamie.
“Go on up,” Jamie shooed her.
Reluctantly, the dog finally dropped her protective stance and obeyed, trotting up the stairs after her mistress.
Once they were alone, Allen looked at Jamie and asked, “What was that?” He was clearly shaken.
“I’m sorry. My sister has cognitive issues. It sometimes happens this way.”
“I didn’t mean to scare her.”
“No, it’s really not you. It’s just . . . I’ll go up and see that she’s okay.”
“Okay.” He
