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“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I forgot. That girl is loopy, and she has loopy friends. She had some guy with black fingernails in tow. I’m not sure she should be around Kendall without supervision.”
Christina nibbled on the end of her own fingernail. Vivi must’ve still been traveling with Darius Cole. “Did she come to see me?”
“No, she knew you weren’t here. She dropped by to see Kendall.”
“Did she say where she was going?”
Her mother expelled a long-suffering sigh. “We didn’t talk that much, Christina. I offered her lunch, but she said she was in a big hurry. She played with Kendall for a while and took off. She is Kendall’s aunt. I’m not going to deny a family member—even a loony one.”
“And I don’t want you to.” Vivi never would’ve attempted to test Kendall’s supposed powers with Mom hovering nearby. “I’m just wondering if she said anything about where she was headed.”
“Not to me, although the guy with the eyeliner mentioned something about the city. Is the cross-examination done now? We’ve got a playdate to get to.”
“Have fun and give Kendall lots of kisses from me.”
Christina scooted off the bed and paced by the window. Why would Vivi stop in to see Kendall on her way into hiding? San Miguel could’ve been on her way, but then she made a detour back to San Francisco.
Eric knocked on the door.
She laced her fingers behind her back. “Come on in.”
He poked his head into the room. “Private call’s over?”
The less she said about that call, the better. Tapping the phone against her chin, she said, “Where are we having lunch? I’m starving.”
“How about Fisherman’s Wharf?”
“Kind of touristy.”
“I don’t live here anymore. I’m a tourist.”
“Bread bowls with clam chowder? All the tourists love those.”
“You read my mind.”
They took the Muni to the Wharf, and walked two blocks on streets crowded with performers and tourists and hustlers.
They ordered their food and carried their trays to a patio where they nabbed a white plastic table beneath a red umbrella and shrieking seagulls.
Christina dipped her spoon into the thick white chowder and stirred. “I’ve been craving one of these ever since I got into the city.”
“I’m surprised you don’t live here anymore.” He broke off a piece of bread from the bowl and swirled it in the soup.
“I like the slower pace of San Miguel.”
Chewing slowly, he gazed past her toward the water. “Are you seeing someone?”
“Seeing someone?” Her spoon paused in midair.
His eyes shifted to her face and locked on to hers. “Dating someone. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“Oh, God, no.” Who had time to date between work and Kendall?
He raised one eyebrow and she mentally kicked herself for being so vehement.
“I just thought,” he hedged as he plunged his spoon into his bowl, “the private phone call might’ve meant a boyfriend.”
“Oh, that?” She patted her lips with a napkin. “That was my mother.”
“Oh. Didn’t mean to pry.”
She dropped her napkin back in her lap. “You’re not. In fact, she told me something strange.”
“It’s your mother. Strange doesn’t surprise me.”
“This time it wasn’t how to organize my underwear drawer, although that could be coming next.”
“What’d she say?”
Christina traced her finger around the soggy rim of her bread bowl. “She told me Vivi stopped by a few weeks ago.”
“Really? Was she looking for you?”
“Yeah, she was.” She had to come up with some good reason for Vivi’s visit other than to see her niece.
“I thought that Darius character said they were in the city, and Vivi must’ve known where you were staying since she told Darius.”
“It could’ve been the same time I was in Portland.”
“Why didn’t she just call you? She does have your number, right? Or she could’ve gotten it from your mom.”
She held up her hands. “As far as I know she has it. But logic and Vivi don’t belong in the same sentence.”
“That must’ve been just about the same time she left Santa Cruz.”
“On her way from there to here to somewhere else, but where?”
“My brother hasn’t called me back either, so no progress on that front.” Eric picked up his phone. “Wait a minute.”
“Is it Judd?”
“An email from the dermatology clinic.” He tapped his phone and whistled. “I think we just found our connection.”
