She smelled coffee when she got out of the shower, and found a mug waiting for her on the counter, perfectly doctored. She tracked him to the kitchen where he was scrambling eggs, wearing sweatpants and no shirt. She bit him on the biceps out of appreciation. Then she kissed him.
The day went up from there, with an email from their realtor saying their offer had been accepted. They made an appointment to put down their deposit and Cindy went back to work, after they celebrated for a little while. Olivia texted to say she was supposed to meet Jen at the Sheriff’s Office after she got off work, and did Cindy want to meet her there? Cindy texted back that she would certainly be there, and why didn’t she see if Jonas could go over and feed Tasha dinner, so she wouldn’t be alone?
Olivia responded with enthusiasm, so she got Jonas on board.
She wasn’t at all nervous when she left the house, but by the time she got to the station, she was a little worried that she wouldn’t know how best to help Olivia. There wasn’t much she could do but go in and see what happened though, so in she went. She gave Olivia a hug in greeting, then followed her to a small office where they were invited to sit.
The deputy who came in with Jen to question Olivia was polite and courteous. He walked her through her first days at the truck stop, and what she’d seen and heard, what had caused her to be suspicious. Cindy kept her mouth shut, and Olivia was straight forward and factual. He seemed excited by the info she had and took a lot of notes. When he was done, Jen gave him John Rodriguez’s number and suggested they chat.
Olivia wilted when they walked out of the station and Cindy pulled her into a hug. “You were amazing! I’m so proud of you, and impressed, and you must be exhausted.” She looked at her watch. “I think that was the longest two hours of my life.”
Pulling herself back up, Olivia nodded. “This may have been the longest Monday of my life. All day at work I expected federal agents to burst in. Or drug runners or something.”
“I bet. I should have met you at your house so we could take one car and you wouldn’t have to drive home.”
“Plus, Jonas is at my house so you could have driven home together. I guess we didn’t do a very good job of thinking past the meeting. But it went well, and that’s what matters. I really, really want to thank you for being there for me.”
“You’re very welcome, I was happy to lend some support, though you handled it perfectly. Come on, let’s get you home and to your girl.”
Since she did have her own car, she went straight home and poured two glasses of wine while she waited for Jonas. She’d eaten an early dinner so that she wouldn’t be starving during the meeting, but now she was feeling peckish. She grabbed a cutting board and knife, a block of asiago cheese, a handful of crackers, a bunch of grapes, and carefully toted it all to the dining room table.
When Jonas came home, she was cutting slices, so she kept her seat and waited for him to come to her. She lifted her face for a kiss, and he complied before sitting down in front of the second glass of wine and snagging a grape.
“Olivia said it went pretty well,” he said.
Cindy nodded. “How was Tasha?”
“Worried, but not terribly so. Relieved when her mom came home tired but in a good mood.”
“Excellent. Did you look at house plans today?” she asked
“I did. But there’s something else I need to talk to you about first.”
She raised her eyebrows at him as she popped a cracker with a slice of cheese into her mouth.
“Your father called me.”
She gave him wide eyes and hastily swallowed the food. “You have got to be kidding me. What did he say?”
“He said he was sorry their visit hadn’t gone well, he and your mother have been under a lot of stress lately, and they let it get to them. He’s embarrassed that they lost their savings and they handled it badly.”
“To which you asked why he hadn’t called me?”
He tipped his glass to her. “Precisely. He said Brenda had told him I wasn’t working, but he thought he’d talk to me directly rather than assume the information she’d passed on was legitimate.”
“What? What does that even mean?”
“He was calling because he wanted to find out why I wasn’t working and how I was planning on supporting you. But he started with the apology, probably because he guessed I’d hang up on him if he didn’t.”
“Hm.”
Jonas took a piece of the cheese she’d sliced and ate it with another grape. “I told him it wasn’t any of his business, but our financial situation was in order, and that if he wanted any advice or a sounding board on his situation, I would be happy to be there for him.”
“Hm.”
“He said he’d think about that, but he was glad to hear things were okay on my end. He asked if you were home, and I told him you were helping out a packmate and tomorrow might be better to try and reach you.”
“Hm.”
