I ran my hand over the soft blue leather and simple gilding that bordered the edges of the front cover. Abraham had allowed me to use this ratty old book as my very first restoration project. I’d chosen sky blue leather because it was so pretty.
I smiled at the memory of Abraham laughing about the book’s title since he’d claimed most of the so-called flowers in the book looked like scrawny weeds. The gilded title along the spine was slightly wobbly and I remembered I’d struggled with it so desperately. It was still one of the most difficult parts of the job for me.
As I opened the book, my tears spotted the flyleaf.
“Moisture destroys books.”
“I know, I know.” I shivered. It was as if Abraham were here in the room, giving me grief. I blotted my eyes, then stuck the Weeds book back on the shelf.
“Hey, you.”
I jolted, then turned and saw my mother standing in the doorway.
“Jeez, Mom, scare me half to death, why don’t you?”
“Sorry,” Mom said with a grin. “I figured you heard me clomping across the patio.”
I exhaled shakily. “I guess I zoned out.”
She smiled indulgently. “You do that.”
I bent to pick up a brush that had fallen on the floor. “What are you doing here?”
She wandered into the room. “I saw you driving up Vivaldi, but your car never made it to the house, so I figured you stopped here.”
I glanced around, unsure how to explain what I was doing here. There was no need to feel guilty, but this was my mother, after all. Guilt was a mandatory response.
“Ian asked me to take over Abraham’s Covington work, so I thought I’d try to find some of his notes on the books.”
“Wonderful.” She pulled her sweater snug around her waist and folded her arms. “Chilly in here.”
I hadn’t noticed until now. We were both circling around the five-hundred-pound elephant in the room, but I wasn’t going to go there right now. When she was ready, she’d tell me what she was doing at the Covington the night Abraham was killed.
“Come on, Mom, I’ll walk you back home.”
I locked the door and left my car in Abraham’s drive and we started up the hill.
“So, how is Ian?”
“Fine,” I said. “I told him to come out for dinner sometime.”
“That would be lovely,” she said. “It’s such a shame you two couldn’t make a go of it.”
“Oh, please.” I laughed. “You know we’re both better off as friends than we ever were as lovers.”
She smiled. “I suppose so. It’s just that Ian’s alchemy and body type matched yours so perfectly.”
“Yeah.” I rolled my eyes. “That was the problem.”
Mom placed her small hand against my sternum and closed her eyes. “Your fourth chakra was always so highly developed, even as a little girl. You need someone extremely sexual to stir your heart and passions into action.”
“Oh, thanks for that.” Just the conversation I wanted to have with my mother.
She took her hand away and opened her eyes. “Try adding more back bends to your exercise regime. It’s a powerful way to energize the Anahata within to attract the correct sexual mate.”
“I’ll get right on it,” I said. Nice to know she assumed I had an exercise regime.
“Good. Maybe you’ll meet someone nice while you’re at the Covington.”
Unbidden, a picture of Derek Stone flashed through my mind and I anxiously shook the image away.
“Doubtful, Mom, but I’ll keep you posted.”
She patted my arm. “I’m just so proud that you’re there, and you’re able to make a life for yourself doing this work. I hope Abraham didn’t… Well, I know he was hard on you.”
“He taught me everything I know.”
“I know.” She wound her arm through mine. “And if I never loved Abraham for any other reason, I would have loved him for giving you that world.”
I glanced at her. Were those tears in her eyes? She loved him? Did she mean love, as a friend? Studying Mom’s face, I found it hard to read what she was feeling, thinking. And honestly, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. I felt my stomach churn and doubted it had anything to do with the Speedy burger.
I lasted forty-five minutes at my parents’ house. While Austin coerced me into trying short tastes of the pinot he was so psyched about along with the newest cabernet they’d just barreled, Dad filled me in on plans for Abraham’s memorial service that would be held this Saturday at the town hall.
Mom insisted on regaling me with forty or fifty new photos of my sister London’s infant twins. I didn’t say anything to Mom, but for God’s sake, those babies were barely three months old and this made something like six thousand pictures London had sent Mom to ogle and giggle over. Could infants be blinded by overexposure? Could they develop flashbulb dependency?