“The damn cat peed on the chair again.”
Freddie stomped into the kitchen, holding Celeste in her arms. I didn’t know what I was more surprised about. The fact that she was actually holding the cat without getting clawed to death or that she found it odd the demon cat had peed on furniture. It was her preferred bathroom. Turned out she didn’t like sleeping in the guest house and so she had claimed the ballroom as her own personal domain. Which was fine with me. I never went in there and as long as Celeste stayed out of my way, I fed her and changed her litter tray. The very one she hardly ever used. But the room was big enough that a few open windows easily got rid of the stench. And the fact that the housekeeper had magical potions on hand that could clean anything didn’t hurt either.
“What were you doing in the ballroom anyway?” I asked. Nobody went in there. We all knew it was Celeste’s realm.
“I was just, um, trying to find something.”
“In the ballroom?”
“Like a chandelier?”
“Are you asking me or telling me?”
“No. Telling you. And I was looking for a chandelier for a school project. They want us to find something unique in our house. So I thought to myself, what do we have that nobody else has in their home? And it came to me. A chandelier.”
I raised my brows and really looked at her. Her face was red and sweat beaded on her forehead. Which was a sure sign she was lying. Like big time—no holds barred, I’ve done something wrong—lying.
“You didn’t think to do your project on the giant chessboard we have outside? Or the hideous unicorn statue out the front? Or how about the indoor pool? All these options and you pick a chandelier?”
“It’s more traditional?”
“Again, are you asking me?”
“No?”
I put down the breadknife I had used to make us all sandwiches for lunch and walked around the counter. She shifted on her feet, her eyes darting from me to the door and back again. Definitely hiding something.
“What did you do?” I asked, trying to walk around her to see for myself.
“Nothing,” she squeaked. Every time I stepped to one side, she mirrored my movements, effectively blocking me from leaving the kitchen.
“This better not cost Rhett more money to fix. You already crashed the car and put a hole in the wall.”
She swore both incidents had not been her fault. But since she was alone in the car when she’d backed it into a tree, smashing the rear light, and there was nobody else in the room with her when she’d supposedly lost her balance and fell into the wall.
“Nothing is broken. I just need you to stay where you are for another,” she looked at her watch, studying it, “five minutes, give or take a few.”
Now I was worried. She was up to something, and if the last few months had been any indication, it would be something expensive. “And what exactly are we waiting for?”
She made a locking motion in front of her mouth and shook her head. Great, now we were onto charades. Might as well finish the sandwiches while Freddie was being cryptic. “Fine. But you are grounded if it’s got anything to do with boys. Or pregnancy. Or come to think of it, anything that will mean you can’t finish high school.”
Freddie’s eyes went wide and nearly bugged out of her head. Fudge, it was one of the three. I huffed out a breath and stopped stacking ham on top of cheese.
“Okay, out with it, which one is it? You pregnant?”
Freddie glared at me. “What the hell, Mimi. Of course I’m not pregnant. I’m not stupid.”
“Good. That’s good. But what is it then? You got kicked out of school and are now running an illegal bar out of the ballroom? It’s big enough, that’s for sure.”
“Mimi,” Freddie exclaimed, looking put out by my suggestion. To be fair it wasn’t that farfetched. She’d always been the little entrepreneur. Her first venture made a lot of money with some weird cartoon cards. That is until she got caught and was suspended for three days. She was ten. And I’d nearly lost her because the principal was hell-bent on calling Anna. Luckily, Oma was onto it and talked his ear off until he relented and let Freddie go with a warning. “Of course I wouldn’t do that. And I only have less than two years left. Why would I get myself kicked out of school now?”
“Just saying,” I defended myself.
“Whatever.”
Loud music started playing and, Freddie’s face lit up. “Finally. Let’s go, chicka.”
She came around the kitchen island and pulled on my arm. “Come on, no time to waste.”
