I nodded and pointed down the hall. “First door on the left. It’s a spare bedroom, but I use it for painting.”
Hailey hopped down from the stool and took off.
“Would you like something to drink, Hollis?”
“No, thank you.”
He looked completely uncomfortable standing in my kitchen, so of course, I needed to make it worse. I tilted my head. “Did you touch any?”
“What?”
“My panties. Did you touch any while you were in the bathroom?”
He tugged at the collar of his polo and looked down the hall. “Where did she go? We need to get back on the road.”
Oh my God!
I’d been kidding around. But…holy shit…he had! I covered my mouth and cracked up. “You did, didn’t you! You perv!”
Hollis walked down the hall. “Hailey…let’s get going.”
I couldn’t get the smile off my face. Something about the thought of Hollis touching my underwear amused the hell out of me. I wished Hailey wasn’t around so I could ask him if he’d smelled them, too. That thought actually made me snort.
Hollis came back to the kitchen. His face was stern. “We’ll see you on Monday.”
I walked them to the door. Hailey surprised me with a hug. “Your stuff is awesome.”
“Thank you, sweetheart.”
I grinned at Hollis, who was impatiently holding the door open for his niece. “Your uncle thinks my stuff is awesome, too.”Chapter 15* * *ElodieI didn’t notice until I started brushing my teeth the next morning. And even then, I still couldn’t believe it. It had to be here somewhere. I pushed back the shower curtain for the second time, positive I must’ve overlooked my black thong the first time I’d checked. It must’ve fallen from where I’d hung it on the shower curtain into the tub. There was no way…
No damn way.
He would never…
Yet the tub was empty.
In denial, I searched the rest of the bathroom and all of my dirty laundry. I was positive it had been hanging in here yesterday when I’d shown Hollis to the bathroom. I’d seen it with my own two eyes. And the matching bra was still hanging right next to where my thong had been. I always wore sets, always washed them together, and always hung them next to each other to dry. But now…it was gone.
I couldn’t stop shaking my head. I had to tell someone. So I grabbed my robe from the bathroom hook, filled my coffee mug to the brim, and headed next door. I hadn’t checked in on Bree in a few days, anyway.
The door opened.
“He stole my underwear!” I marched inside.
Bree’s face wrinkled. “What? Who?” She closed the door and followed me into the living room.
“My new boss. I had four sets of underwear and bras hanging in my bathroom, and this morning my black lace thong is missing.”
I’d been so absorbed in my stupid story that I didn’t even notice Bree didn’t look so hot. Her skin was pale, and she leaned on the couch like she was dizzy.
I walked over and grabbed her arms. “Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”
“I’m fine. It’s just…the doctor changed my medication, and it makes me feel a little lightheaded, I think.”
“Well, come on, let’s sit you down.” I made Bree take a seat on the couch and crouched in front of her. “Should we call the doctor? What can I do? And why don’t you have your oxygen on?”
She waved me off. “No. I’m fine. Don’t call anyone. I think…I must’ve gotten up too fast. That’s all it was. And I was just heading into the kitchen to make some tea, so I took my oxygen off because I don’t wear it near the stove.”
I looked around for the tubing to her oxygen machine that snaked through the house, and found the end with the nasal cannula slung over the arm of a chair.
Grabbing it, I helped her put it on. “Sit and relax. Let me make you the tea.”
I went to the kitchen, boiled water in the kettle, and steeped Bree a cup of her favorite peppermint tea. I served it to her in the living room in her favorite Tiffany teacup, which she displayed, but never actually drank from.
“I don’t get collecting china and not using it. You love this set, why not use it?”
She sipped. “I guess I don’t want to break it.”
I arched a brow. “Do you often break cups?”
She smiled. It made me feel a lot better. “No.”
“Okay then. From now on, you eat and drink on your china. Take it from me, your pretty little china wants more than to be admired. It’s useful, too, if you give it a chance.”
I watched while Bree drank her tea—maybe a little too vigilantly.
“I’m fine. Stop waiting for me to keel over.”
“Are you sure we shouldn’t call the doctor? It couldn’t hurt to call your pulmonologist.”
“No. I just needed to sit down for a minute.”