MINA
My fingers shook as I checked the display. I was that excited — and pathetic. For the three days that Marius had been away, I’d practically kept my nose pressed to a window like a faithful mutt, waiting for his return. Every time my phone rang, my figurative tail wagged, and every time someone else spoke on the other end of the line, that tail drooped again.
Like now, with caller ID showingGeneviève. I loved my sister, but talking to her didn’t give me all the feels talking to Marius did. Either I was infatuated…ordestined matesreally was a thing.
I slid into my car and answered the call, trying to sound chipper.
“Hi, Gen.”
“Hi. How are you?” she asked sweetly.
Red flags flapped in my mind. Gen rarely used that tone with me.
“Good. How are you?” I braced myself.
“Good.” She hesitated. Another red flag, because Gen blasted through conversations the way she blasted through life — unencumbered by the thought process, as our favorite radio talk show hosts liked to say.
“I need a favor,” she finally said.
“Pick you up at the airport? Any time,” I declared.
I’d inherited Château Nocturne together with Gen and our cousin, Dora, and we’d agreed to devote all our resources to turning the neglected estate into a viable business…somehow. But so far, I’d been the only one on-site dealing with cobwebs, cracked walls, and leaks.
Finally, Gen dropped her bombshell. “Unfortunately, I’ve been delayed.”
“Again?” I screeched.
Originally, Gen had been scheduled to fly to France a week after I had, way back at the beginning of the summer. Now, it was late September, and I was still dealing with the place alone.
Well, not quite alone, because I had taken in three shifters and a vampire as boarders — a game changer as far as renovation work was concerned…and in other ways. But I still shouldered sole responsibility for the place, and every nerve-racking decision, no matter how small or how big, was up to me.
“I’m really sorry. I promise I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“I need you herenow,Gen.”
“I know, I know. And I’mreallysorry. I just have to sort out a few more things…”
A few more thingsmeanther life, and, much as I loved my sister, I had my doubts.
“Gen…” I grumbled, torn, as always, between sisterly support and tough love. Tough love was definitely winning.
“I swear, I’ll rebook the ticket soon.”
I clenched my jaw. She’d probably paid more in rebooking fees than the original ticket by now.
Then again, I was the lucky one not to have blazed through a string of toxic relationships. Maybe I should be more understanding…if I didn’t scream into the phone first.
And, ha. What a stir that would cause in sleepy little Auberre! Mesdames Fontaine and Martin would burst out of theboulangerieto investigate. Curtains would be yanked aside asfolks in the surrounding houses eagerly listened in. The houses that were still occupied, at least, and by people whose hearing was still sharp. No great danger, because Auberre, like most of rural France, had seen a demographic shift over time, with a heavy tilt toward the over-seventy end of things.
“The problem is, Gordon asked me to meet some people, and now I can’t make the date,” Gen said.
Whooping alarms joined the red flags in my head.
“Hello?” Gen said when I didn’t reply. “Can you hear me?”
I swallowed hard. “Say that again, please. I didn’t quite catch it.”
“I said, Gordon asked me to meet some people for him,” Gen hollered. “And I won’t be able to make it now, so I was hoping you could.”
