Choosing to play dumb, I hurried toward the room that was supposedly now Eddy’s.
When I got inside, it was to find her propped up in the hospital bed with a pillow in her lap, staring at the remote that was at the end of the bed.
She was trying to scooch her toes toward it, and she had a distinctive look of concentration on her face that was honestly quite cute.
The motion of the door opening had her glancing up, and her face lit up. “Weaver!”
“Hey,” I said. “I can’t stay for long. I have to be at work in an hour. But I brought you a little pick-me-up.”
She looked all but ecstatic when she saw the duffel. “Please, please tell me that it’s something food related. The food here tastes like dog food.”
“How do you know what dog food tastes like?” I teased.
She rolled her eyes. “It’s a saying. You know I don’t know what it tastes like.”
I placed the bag on the bed and the cat inside gave a hiss.
“Oh, my god,” she breathed. “Please tell me that’s Jekyll.”
“Hyde, yeah,” I teased.
She rolled her eyes. “He’s not that bad.”
I held out my hand, which was covered in claw marks. “Not that bad?”
She bit her lip. “He’s kind of crazy with new people. He’ll get better.”
I snorted and opened the top of the duffel bag.
The cat jumped out and went carefully to Eddy, who was holding her hands out for her kitty to walk into.
Hyde/Jekyll got to her and started purring up a storm, curling himself in on his owner.
“Awww,” Eddy said. “You’re way better than a hamburger.”
I made a mental note to bring her dinner later when I came back.
Just as I was picking up the remote to hand it to her, my phone rang, and I groaned.
“Call out?” She laughed. “How’s this gonna work? You can’t leave Jekyll here.”
I frowned when I saw who was calling.
“I don’t…” I trailed off and answered the call, but didn’t say hello.
“It’s us,” my mom said carefully. “Honey, Bossy is missing.”
My entire body locked. “What do you mean she’s missing?”
“Pippa came over yesterday and said some stuff about you like she always does,” Mom said. “And when Boston took offense, Pippa laid into her.”
I cursed under my breath. “Mother, we’ve talked about this. She can’t keep doing this to Boston.”
“That’s what we said,” Mom said quietly. “And then Pippa put out an ultimatum. Either she gets to say what she wants, or she stops speaking to us, too.” She hesitated. “But it was her next words that really got to Boston. She said that she would fight us for custody since we’re treating our son like he isn’t a murderer. According to her, it’s clear that we aren’t fit to be raising a teenager when our loyalties lie with a murderer.”
I was so angry at those words that it took me a second to realize that the room beyond me had gone quiet.
When I looked up it was to find Eddy’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
