“I know, and I appreciate it, but I don’t want to cramp your style.”
“I wish there was more of a style to cramp.”
I grinned. “I’m staying at Beasley Boarding House.”
“Mrs. B’s?” Nadia’s eyes grew to the size of half dollars. “Why?”
“It’s close to the firm and I don’t have a car. Also, it was the only place I could find that I could book for next week. Everyplace else had no vacancy.” Since the move was so spur of the moment, I planned on staying in temporary housing for the next few weeks while I got to know the area and found something more permanent.
“Oh, right, because of spring break next week. Well, all I can say is you have to try her homemade cinnamon rolls and don’t, under any circumstances, interrupt her weekly Mahjong game.”
“That’s so funny. That is exactly what she said when I checked in.”
My phone buzzed and I looked down. When I saw my mother’s face I put it on silent.
“Is it Blah-Blah-Blaine?”
A smile spread across my face. Nadia had never been a huge fan of Blaine and she’d never been shy about sharing that fact. She’d been with me the night that I met him and had taken an instant dislike to him. When I’d asked her why, she’d said, “He’s just… blah…blah.” Thus Blah-Blah-Blaine had been born.
“No, it’s my mom.”
“What does Tina want?” In contrast to her feelings about Blaine, Nadia absolutely loved my mom. Or at least, she loved being entertained by her.
“Let’s just say that Blaine got my mom in the breakup.”
“Does she know what that cheating bastard did?”
I filled Nadia in on all the sordid details of the past week. All of my mother’s campaigning to get Blaine and I back together, including their joint trip to the wedding planner’s this morning. She was appropriately horrified on my behalf.
We sat and talked and laughed for close to half an hour before she noticed the time and exclaimed, “Crap! I’ve got to get back.”
“Hey, what are you doing tonight? I’m meeting a client at Southern Comfort at six-thirty. Do you want to come?” I asked hopefully.
The truth was, I didn’t want to face Billy Comfort on my own. I was going there to be emotional support for Cheyenne, but I wanted Nadia to be there for me.
Her brows knitted. “To a client meeting?”
“No, it’s not like that. I met with her and her family this morning for a will reading.”
“You handled James Comfort’s will reading?”
I wondered how she knew that, but then remembered her saying things like, “You can’t wipe shit in Firefly without everyone in town knowing what you ate for dinner.”
I’d thought it was crude at the time, and still did. But it did paint a vivid picture.
“Yeah,” I confirmed.
“But you said that you’re meeting her, there are only men in that family.”
“Um,” I didn’t want to breach client confidentiality, but I assumed that she’d find out soon enough that Cheyenne was back in town. “Actually, there’s not only men. Cheyenne Comfort is-”
Recognition dawned on Nadia’s face. “Holy shit! That’s right. Cheyenne. Wow. What happened to her? She went to live with her grandparents or something, right?”
“She did.”
“She was always really sweet. She followed Billy around like a shadow.”
Shadow. That’s what he’d called her in the meeting.