Pastries and Prophecies by Christine Pope

Author:Christine Pope [Pope, Christine]
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter 10

Enter the Lion

For a second, I could only stare up at Max, wondering whether all the strain of the past few days had been too much and I’d suddenly started hallucinating.

But no, that really was my friend standing there on the doorstep, looking way more tanned and relaxed than the wintry landscape just beyond him would normally have warranted.

Then I found my voice saying, “Wow — this is a nice surprise. Come on in.”

And I stepped aside, thinking he had a much bigger surprise waiting for him inside the house than he was probably expecting. At once, his gaze moved to the woman who sat at the dining room table, and one eyebrow lifted in question.

“Max, this is my mother, Alicia Petrucci,” I said. “Alicia, this is Max Sullivan, a friend of mine.”

At that introduction, Max looked absolutely flabbergasted, although Alicia didn’t appear quite so astonished. Considering I’d already picked up several clues that she’d been paying a bit more attention to my life than I’d previously thought, this didn’t surprise me as much as it once might have. She must have known that Max Sullivan had grown up right next door to me, and she probably also knew that the two of us had renewed our friendship after he came back to Las Vegas to shoot Perdition Row and had decided to buy the ranch and settle here, if only part-time.

But she smiled as she stood and extended a hand saying, “The world-famous Max Sullivan. It’s an honor to meet you.”

He was way too polite to refuse her handshake, although the sidelong glance he sent in my direction told me I’d have some explaining to do once the two of us were alone. “Very nice to meet you, Ms. Petrucci.”

“Alicia,” she corrected him, still wearing that Mona Lisa smile of hers. “No need to stand on ceremony.”

Because I could tell he wasn’t sure how to respond, I said hastily, “Max, why don’t you go ahead and sit down? We’ve got tacos to spare, if you’re hungry.”

That was for sure. I didn’t know which army Alicia had thought she would be feeding, but she’d brought enough takeout from The Skillet to stuff at least a football team and possibly the cheer squad to boot.

Maybe the slightest hesitation after I made the offer. However, this was Max Sullivan, a guy who could sail into just about any social situation and float through it with aplomb, so he said, “That sounds great, especially after all the airplane food I’ve eaten over the past twelve hours.”

“Then go ahead and sit down,” I said. “Let me get you a plate and a glass so you can have some water.”

This time, his eyebrow lifted just a bit. No, I didn’t have wine with every meal, but usually if I had guests, then there was wine on the table.

To my relief, though, he didn’t comment, only sat down opposite the spot where Alicia was already seated, placing him on my right side. She’d insisted on

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