“Good.”I caught his hand before he could walk away, lacing my fingers through his.He glanced back, curious.I smiled up at him, warmth blooming in my chest.“Thank you.”
“For what?”he asked, voice soft.
“For showing me every day what real love should feel like.”
He kissed me.“Every day for as long as you’ll have me.”
Goingto the pharmacy after four o’clock in the afternoon was an actual nightmare.The pill dispensary was more like a closet than a store, and the line to pick up medications was out the door and down the corridor.
“Holy moly,” I whispered.“How many prescriptions does Doctor Patel write in a day?”
“A lot, apparently.”Ezra stood behind me, his body pressed against my back and his arms wrapped around the front of my waist.“I can wait in the line and hold your place if you want to sit down until the line shortens.”My shoulders must’ve tensed because he tacked on, “But only if you want to and not because I think you’re an invalid.”
His tone was teasing, so I swiftly tapped him in the side with my elbow.
“Oof,” he said dramatically, rubbing his side.
“That didn’t hurt.”
He shook his head.“You don’t know your own strength.”
“Har har.”While we made the journey to the pharmacy, I’d quietly filled Ezra in on both the visions, what Pippa had learned from Reese, and what Dr.Patel had said about Sebastian dying from a stroke.He’d been suitably impressed with all the information we’d gathered while he and the boys had been playing golf.
“Oh, and the rat thing on the ship is a real problem, apparently.I saw a maintenance guy with a tub of poison earlier.”I shivered at the thought.“Who knew?”
“You know there’s a reason for the phrase, ‘like rats off a sinking ship.’The old seafaring ships always had rats on them, and if the boat was sinking, the rats were always the first ones to go overboard.”
“So, you’re saying that if a rat takes a dive off a rail, I should follow it in?”
“Yep, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”He shook his head.
“Ezra!Nora!”a woman called out.
We both turned to see Helena Peabody, the young bride half of the honeymoon couple, heading in our direction.
When she got to us, she asked, “Have either of you seen Callie or Sebastian?”
I shook my head, debating on whether I should tell her that Sebastian was dead, and Callie was missing.“Why?”
“Callie was supposed to meet me for some hot yoga this morning and she didn’t show.”
Hot yoga sounded...well, it sounded hot.No, thank you.If I wanted to be hot, I would skip swapping my hormone patch out for a week.I’d have all the hot I could stand.“I wish I could help,” I told her.I thought about what Pippa had said about Kentucky.“Did I hear Jasper right last night?You all are from Louisville.”I made sure the hit the is with a long e sound.Helena didn’t bat an eyelash.
“We sure are,” she said, putting on a thick accent as if talking about Kentucky brought out the backwoods in her.
“Huh.”I forced a smile.I’d thought the couple pleasant and likable the night before, but now I could see there was something not quite right about them.“Cool,” I told her.“Go Cardinals.”
“What?”Helena’s expression clouded over for a moment, then she said, “Yes, of course.Go, Cardinals.”Her voice was bubbly and cheerful.“Well, if you run into her today, will you let her know I’m looking for her.”
“You got it.”I gave her a thumbs up.
When she left, Ezra leaned to my ear.“A thumbs up?Really?”
He was asking fate for another elbow to the ribs.“What do you want from me?I’m struggling here.”
“What’s got your hackles up about Helena?”he asked.
“It was Pippa.She said the way they said Louisville was all wrong for someone from there.It’s pronouncedLew-uh-vuhl.”I tried to drop off on the end the way Pippa had.“She said that she spent a week there, and that her pronunciation of the city was challenged and corrected by locals every time she opened her mouth.”I tugged my lower lip between my teeth then let it go.“It’s one thing not to correct someone when they get a word wrong, but it’s another altogether to be a native to the area and get it wrong.”
