“Good morning, Joyce.” I reach up into the cabinet and pull down a mug.
“Your father is in his office. Said he wanted to see you. What can I fix you for breakfast?”
“I’ll just have coffee for now, thank you.”
Joyce moves her attention from her list to me. “You’re not dieting, are you? You’re a rail already.”
“No. Just not hungry yet.”
Because my stomach is too twisted in knots over last night—Mariano’s smile, his lips, his hands—to consider anything more substantial than coffee. I fill Sidekick’s food bowl and then carry my coffee to Father’s office.
“Oh, good,” Father greets me. “I have to leave to meet Jane soon, and I hoped you’d be up before I left. Have a seat.”
I grab the chair that Nick often uses when they’re reviewing a case together and drag it over to the desk.
Father scribbles his signature on some official-looking document as he asks, “What do you have planned for the day?”
“I thought I would pay a visit to Mrs. Barrow. I haven’t seen their baby yet.”
Father’s pen stops moving. He looks up at me, eyebrows arched in amusement. “I’m sorry. I asked Joyce to send in my daughter, Piper Sail. You must be an imposter.”
“Very funny.” I sip at my coffee and curse my big mouth. Did I really have to be so vocal all these years about my distaste for children? “I’m just being neighborly.”
“I think you’ll have a chance to be neighborly very soon. Joyce was just telling me that Mrs. Barrow has an appointment of some kind and is bringing Cole here this morning. I’m sure she’ll welcome your help with him.”
I never thought the opportunity to look after a child would delight me, but this is perfect. Now I can observe Cole for extended time without the threat of David Barrow. “Oh, good. Do you know when?”
Father blinks at me. “You’re scaring me. The daughter I know would have fled the house the moment she heard a person under the age of ten intended to enter it.”
I grasp for a plausible lie. “Lydia used to look after Cole. I suppose I feel connected to her when I’m around him.”
“That reminds me. I have something for you.” He pats at his pockets. “I’ve had Joyce helping rearrange the bedroom to prepare for Jane, and we found something of your mother’s that had fallen behind a dresser.”
I sit up straight.
“Ah, here it is.” From an inside pocket, Father pulls out a long silver chain with a pendant of some kind. “Actually, it wasn’t exactly your mother’s. It’s yours. Mother bought it several weeks before she passed, intending it to be a present for your thirteenth birthday. She was so frustrated with herself for misplacing it. Joyce found it still in the velvet bag it came in. We’re guessing it slipped back behind the dresser.”
The oval pendant is actually a locket, silver and simple. My thirteen-year-old self would have been delighted to receive such a grown-up present.
One last gift from my mother. I must be the most fortunate girl in the world. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Open her up.”
I slide my thumbnail along the seam and pop the tiny clasp. Lydia’s beautiful face looks back at me. “Lydia.” The word is a whisper.
“I planned to put your mother’s portrait in there, but Jane suggested Lydia’s. This way, you have a piece of both of them with you all the time.”
I rub the pad of my thumb over my friend’s face. “It’s perfect, thank you.”
Sidekick erupts with a string of barks, and his nails scrape against the wood floor as he scrambles out of Father’s office.
“Cole must be here.” Father smooths his vest as he stands. “Last chance to escape.”
I tuck the locket into the pocket of my dress and stand as well. “Don’t tempt me. I’m trying to grow, Father.”
Cole’s cries for his mother pierce the air.
Father grins at me when I flinch. “Have fun.” He latches his briefcase and reaches for his fedora. “I’ll see you at supper.”
I grab my coffee and slip away to the kitchen. If I’m to endure a morning with a child, I cannot do it on an empty stomach.
“She’ll only be gone for a bit.” Joyce’s tone is soothing as the kitchen door swings open. She has Cole by the hand.
Cole rubs a tear-filled eye. His cheeks are red, and his lower lip is pooched out. “But I want my mama.”
“We’re going to have so much fun that the time will fly by. Would you like a glass of milk?”
I take a deep breath. “Hi, Cole.” My voice is high with fake cheer. Cole turns to look, one eye still covered by his fist. “Remember me? I’m Piper. Lydia’s friend.”
And that’s when Cole does the last thing I would have expected.
He runs for me.