“I’m keeping my wife as my partner,” Corbin said. “Watching her play Nertz is the highlight of my week.”
“Trivial Pursuit, anyone?” Nora suggested hopefully.
Zander’s cell phone rang and he stepped away to answer. The rest of them took a break to stretch and grab drinks.
Britt had just downed a long sip of iced tea when Zander returned to her, looking shaken.
“What?” she prompted. “Who was it?”
“Carolyn. I asked her to go through Frank’s things a while back. She’s been working on their closet each evening, sorting and organizing.”
“Okay.”
“Frank kept all his shoes in their boxes, two deep, on shelves. Carolyn just opened one of the boxes, took out the shoes, and found a cell phone and charger underneath them.” He gave her a eloquent look. “A cell phone Carolyn’s never seen before.”
Ah! Finally! A potential lead in their search for information on Frank. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go.”
“What about game night?”
“They won’t mind if we leave. Corbin and Willow will still have several poor, unfortunate souls to beat up on.” She went in search of her coat. “We’re going to Carolyn’s.”
Actual number of pages Zander wrote since kissing Britt: None.
Time he spent helping Carolyn: Fifteen hours.
Actual quality of sleep: Tragic.
Running accomplished: Too much.
Food: Too little.
Chapter
fourteen
Are you all right?” Zander asked his aunt when she opened the door to admit them.
“I’m better now that you two are here.”
When he embraced her, she held on to him for longer than usual. He stood, holding her fragile frame, allowing his stability to transfer to her until she was ready to step back.
The sound of dog paws against the hardwood floor drew Zander’s attention. A chubby mutt trotted toward their position in the foyer on its short, stubby legs.
“Did you get a dog?” Zander asked.
“Yes. A dog,” Carolyn answered. “I’ve been spending a good bit of time with friends lately. But whenever I’m here alone, I’ve been keeping the television on and playing music. You know, so it won’t feel so solitary? None of that was helping enough.” She resettled the brightly patterned scarf she wore in a loop around her neck. “I’m not usually a lonely person. In fact, I’ve always enjoyed time alone. But now that Frank ... isn’t coming back, whenever I’m alone here at the house it doesn’t feel peaceful so much as oppressive.”
“I get it,” Britt said.
Though Zander suspected that Britt had never found solitude oppressive in her life.
“Sunny suggested I consider adopting a dog. I was feeling really blue earlier today, so I stopped by the animal shelter. They had a few cats but only one dog. Aurora here seemed to need someone to love her, and since the feeling was mutual, she came home with me.”
Zander and Britt dropped to their haunches to greet the newcomer. “Aurora?” Zander asked.
“The people at the shelter gave her that nickname because, like Sleeping Beauty, she enjoys sleep.”
Zander had never seen a dog with less in common with Sleeping Beauty. This mutt wasn’t young or pretty. Her face was graying with age. Her nose was too pointy and too long for her body’s proportions. Her ears drooped. Her fur grew unevenly. Aurora might have some corgi in her bloodline, though Zander suspected AKC corgis would have been disgusted by the prospect that Aurora could be their relative.
