Page 6 of Protect My Heart

“Marion will bring you a tea if you would like.” Joy gestured to the tufted chair.

“I’m good. You look lovely this morning.” Liz emphasized the word ‘morning’ as she poured her coffee and returned to the table. “I love the colors in that scarf.”

A smile played on Joy’s nude-colored lips. “Alright, don’t get cheeky with me. I don’t let my own boys get away with that attitude.”

Smiling over the rim of her bone china cup, Liz shrugged. “But I’m not scared of you like they are.”

Joy laughed. “God how I’ve missed that smart mouth of yours, but I have a committee meeting at ten thirty. Let’s go to the Galleria this afternoon for a little shopping... and look at those nails.” She tsked. “A manicure is in order, too.”

Her fingers went to her mouth as Liz mocked chewing on her nails. She never seemed to kick that bad habit, no matter how many times she tried.

Joy picked up the newspaper but looked over the top. “You always were the funny one, my little Lizzie.”

“Well, someone has to make you smile.” Liz’s cell phone beeped, and she glanced at the screen, a text from an unknown number: 1 p.m.

Liz’s mind blanked for a moment before she remembered Detective Swenson was going to set up a meeting. His message was short and to the point. They would be meeting with Luis and his mother at one this afternoon.

She typed back: One at the Lopez’s apartment. I’ll be there.

Radio silence.

It shouldn’t surprise her. She smirked and clicked the contacts button. Her fingers hovered over the keypad. She typed out Detective S then paused. She bit her lip. What the heck. She finished then closed her phone.

A second later, her phone buzzed and a text flashed on her lock screen. Detective Sexy: Ok.

Liz set down her phone and turned to her aunt. “Can we go tomorrow instead? I have an appointment with my client today.”

“Sure, honey. Will I see you at dinner?” Joy crossed to her niece and pulled her into a quick hug.

“I’ll be here. Six sharp.”

Her aunt shook her head as she left the dining room, but Liz saw the corner of her mouth lift. Her cousins, Carlton and Harrison, would never tease their mother, but Liz had always seen through the upper-crust facade. Joy Whittier cultivated the cool-to-a-fault veneer, a polished lady of privilege, but her tough shell cracked the day she found the house cleaner’s daughter playing under the table. Liz didn’t have school that day. She still remembered her mother’s boss lifting the tablecloth to find her reading a picture book underneath. And the soft smile Joy quickly concealed before she dropped the linen cloth.

In the week she’d stayed with Aunt Joy and Uncle Mark, she noticed a softening in them. Not the kind that comes with too many donuts but a sweetness and love for their family that was always there, below the surface, but now was visible to the naked eye.

Her eyes stung. She pulled her T-shirt collar up to wipe away the dampness. Where had all this sappy emotion come from? Picking up her phone, she hit the top number on her favorites and waited for her mother to answer.

“How is my sweet little chick today?” Rosa Garcia Whittier’s voice filled the line. The ball of tension that loomed in Liz’s stomach dissolved, and she took the first deep breath since she received the letter a day ago.

“Better now that I hear your voice.”

“What’s wrong?” Concern clear in her tone. “Were you able to help Ana and her grandson? I know you’re on vacation, but when Ana called all frantic…”

“It’s alright, Mami. I’m glad I was home when they needed me.”

Emotion balled in the back of her throat. What was it about being home that made her miss her mother and Walt? It didn’t feel the same here when they were in Tennessee. “I miss you guys. Maybe I need to plan a weekend visit.”

“We’re scheduled to come home in two weeks. Walt has an annual board meeting then he wants to take a few days off to do some ice fishing. But I could fly home now and spend time with you before you go back to Florida.” Her mother and stepfather kept a home across the metro on Lake Minnetonka for when they came back to visit. Liz figured her mom wanted to move back when Walt retired in a couple years. That’s assuming he ever actually retired from WTF, the family trucking business.

Liz had her doubts.

“Why don’t you stay in the house while you’re there?”

“We already talked about this. I want to spend some time with Titi and Tio.” Her mother didn’t need to know the thought of being in their mammoth house without them didn’t appeal to her. She loved the warm wood, polished marble, and lake views. Not having any children of his own, Walt’s joy was evident when she and Mami moved in. But Liz was sixteen, and even though it’s been thirteen years, it would always be Walt’s house to her. His first wife died there. It didn’t bother her mom, but it creeped Liz out, even if it was from ovarian cancer, and not a bizarre accident or a freaky possessed doll. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of the creaks and clunks the big house made.

Shaking off a chill, she looked around the opulent dining room. Not her taste, but at least she wouldn’t lay awake at night listening to what was surely an axe murderer outside her window. Nope, it was better for Liz’s active imagination to stay at her uncle’s with people, even if Aunt Joy’s iron clad dinnertimes drove her to the brink of insanity some days. The woman ran her family with a militant social standard.

“You know, if you would move back permanently and oh, I don’t know... settle down and have babies, I could get Walt to retire and move back sooner.” The hope in her mother’s voice was evident.