Best In Show by Swan Maria Grazia

Author:Swan, Maria Grazia [Swan, Maria Grazia]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2015-10-22T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

The groceries Mina had purchased were long on convenience, short on nutrition. Nothing new there. But they sufficed for lunch. Then Mina went to her home office to check her messages.

Three of her regular clients wanted to book future dates. That she could do, since the Princess deal was only for a week. There was a repeat customer inquiring about dog boarding because she didn’t want to separate her two pets, a cat and a dog. Mina had been getting a lot of requests for dog boarding, but she simply wasn’t equipped or ready for that. Someday, maybe.

She paused and reflected how odd it was that Margo hadn’t called at all, nor Diego. Okay, Diego was just behaving like Diego. But Margo? Should she call her? And say what? Asking about other people’s misfortune felt like gossip. Oh, so what? Nothing wrong with well-intentioned gossip. Mina dialed Margo’s cell. It went to voice mail.

A lingering edginess kept Mina from being productive. She sat looking out her office window, appreciating the relaxing atmosphere of the older, settled neighborhood. What would it be like having Diego there with her? Images of couplehood bliss flashed though her mind. Other images intruded: growling Harley engines, black leather, and deadly guns.

Stop it Mina.

She got up and went to check out her back yard, still verdant and luscious in spite of so little rain. Southern California was so hard to explain to people back home in Italy. You said California, and all they thought of was Los Angeles and Hollywood.

Her house phone rang. She wished it to be Diego.

This time around Margo wasn’t whispering, “Eva is under house arrest,” she stated.

“House arrest? I’m not even sure I know what that means. Where is her house?”

“Ah, that’s just it. She doesn’t have one, at least that I know of. So she is in our—I mean, here.”

“Ouch, that must be so uncomfortable for everyone involved. What is house arrest? They chain her to a door? A bed? What?”

“That’s what I thought. Nope. She wears a thing around her ankle, the size of a pack of cigarettes, attached to a band. You know, like a watch. And, apparently, if she leaves the house it alerts the authorities. She sits around crying and moaning saying how sorry she is and didn’t know what she was doing and on and on and on.”

“Wow. What’s Gino saying?”

“Nothing. He isn’t here. He’s at the restaurant all day. The grand opening is only a week or so away. How convenient is that? I wasn’t brought up to be a prison warden.” She sounded bitter and angry. Very angry.

Mina liked her better when she was whispering. “How is Kalinda holding up?”

“I don’t know.” Now she pouted.

“Is Kalinda not there? Where did she go?” Could she be with Diego?

“She’s in her room, where do you want her to go? Eva was supposed to assist her and drive her places. Now she’s stuck, just like I am.”

“How so?”

“What do you mean how so? Have you not been listening? Is your boyfriend there? Well tell him to get the criminal out of here.

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