I tried to go out the window!Quoth yelled inside my head.Your neighbors shot a gun at me!
“You’re okay. It’s just an air rifle,” I cried, lunging for him. But adrenaline must’ve been crashing through Quoth’s tiny body, filling him with the instinct to flee. He dived between my arms and sailed back toward the table.
“Hit it with the wine bottle!” Mum cried.
“No, Mum, it’s okay. He’s… um, he’s Quoth, our shop bird.” I tried to coax Quoth out from under the table. “He’s a bit possessive, so he must have followed us all the way here. I think the neighbors scared him.”
“Well, get it out of here.”
I tried to shoo Quoth back into the hallway, but he wasn’t having that. He skidded across the kitchen floor and squeezed his body into the gap between the counter and Mum’s dictionary boxes. The stack of boxes teetered, and the top one slid off and crashed on the floor.
“Oh, Mina,” Mum cried. “Stop him!”
As I scrambled over the furniture after a panicking Quoth, a sharp ringing accompanied his cries. Morrie raised his phone to his ear and made to leave the room. I clamped a hand over his knee. “You cannot leave me here.”
“Sorry, gorgeous, I can’t hear a thing over Quoth’s caterwauling. Besides, you seem to have everything under control.” Morrie winked.
“Tell them to call you back. Ineedyou.”
“I won’t be long.” Morrie slipped away. Heathcliff hadn’t even got up from the table, although his eyes followed me with an intense stare.
“Well, this is fun!” Mrs. Ellis beamed, helping herself to Morrie’s wine as Quoth shot out from behind the boxes and made a beeline for the sofa. I dived across the room and wrapped my arms around him.
“Gotcha!” I held up his quivering body. Poor thing, he was really terrified. I held Quoth against my chest and cooed to him.
Mina, Mina, they shot a gun at me!
I know. Shhh. It’s okay now.
“Is it safe for you to hold that bird like that?” Mum frowned. “What if he carries disease?”
“No, he’s fine. We give him shots.” Quoth nestled his head into my shoulder. I frantically searched for some way to salvage this situation. “I’ll just keep him like this, and he’ll behave, I promise. Did I see some kind of meringue in the kitchen?”
“Oh, yes!” Mum dashed off to fix dessert. I slumped down next to Heathcliff, Quoth in my arms. “Do you keep anything stronger than wine in your desk at the shop?”
“I have booze stashed all over the shop. It’s the only way I can tolerate customers. Why?”
“After tonight, I’m going to need to drink it all. Every last drop.”
“Not if I get there first.” Heathcliff’s dark eyes twinkled, and the corners of his lips tugged upward, almost reaching a smile. A weird, fluttering feeling tugged at my chest as I clasped my hand in his.
“Here we go!” Mum entered the room with a large tray. She frowned as she saw Heathcliff and I sitting together. “Where is everyone? Is Allan not back from the bathroom yet?”
“He said he was constipated,” Heathcliff mumbled.
I slammed my foot down on Heathcliff’s boot. He winced, but didn’t retract his statement.
“Morrie just had to duck out for a phone call.” I stared down at the dessert in horror. “Mum, whatisthat?”
“I call it ‘Helen’s mess.’ It’s like Eton mess, except instead of strawberry puree, I’ve used strawberry ice cream sauce and licorice allsorts.” She pointed at the giant pile of lollies. “And I’ve put some Cadbury chocolates all over the top. I thought we could have something fancy to celebrate your friends coming to visit.”
“It looks delicious.” I let her spoon a huge portion into a bowl for me. “Thank you.”
Morrie barreled into the room, waving his phone. “I’m sorry, Helen. We’re not able to stay for dessert.” He slid the phone back into his pocket. “That was Jo. Mrs. Winstone has been admitted to the hospital. Someone tried to kill her.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Oh, I’m perfectlyfine,” Mrs. Winstone croaked. “The doctors say I’ll be out tomorrow.”
