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The trick was to somehow turn this “haunted” house thing into a credible story that would sell magazines and keep her journalistic integrity intact. She sighed and burrowed further under the covers. She’d need her sleep to deal with whatever happened tomorrow.
Would Tom be upset that she’d gone over his head? Probably. But that wasn’t her problem. After all, he was the one who suggested (rather sarcastically) that she go to Steve Pappas in the first place, so she was just taking his advice. The fact that she was going through his wife would hopefully work in Allie’s favor.
And if Allie was being honest, there was a tiny part of her that would love to see the look on Tom’s face when he found out his precious schedule was being turned over in favor of her story.
Allie felt the bed vibrate. Was that an earthquake? Impossible. This was Florida. Hurricanes, yes. Earthquakes, no. She opened her eyes to see her niece staring down at her.
“Wake up, Aunt Allie. Mom says she’s supposed to take you to get your car this morning.” Claire sprang off the mattress with all the enthusiasm that only a sixteen-year-old could muster. “Are you staying till Friday? Because if you are then you can go to the football game and watch me cheer. I’m co-captain this year.”
Allie blinked away the sleep in her eyes. Dear God. Her last visit had been Fourth of July weekend. Only three months and Claire had grown at least two inches. And there were now boobs. Claire Bear had boobs!
“Who is this evil Victoria’s Secret model interrupting my beauty sleep?”
Claire glanced down at her chest with a mixture of awe and pride. “I know! It’s like they just grew overnight!”
“Definitely a gift from your mother’s side,” Allie muttered. She took a longer look at her niece. Claire wore a tank top and a tiny denim skirt that was way too short for anyone other than a toddler. But then, Claire Bear was still a little girl. At least, she was in Allie’s mind. She’d given her niece the nickname Claire Bear after Allie had babysat her one weekend and Claire had insisted on watching her Monsters, Inc. DVD non-stop.
Allie got out of bed and shuffled her way to the bathroom but the door was locked.
“Cameron’s in there. The little shit takes all morning to get ready. I think he has a GIRLFRIEND,” Claire said loud enough for Cameron to hear through the door.
“Little stinker,” Allie said, automatically correcting Claire’s use of profanity. Buela had drilled it into Allie that young ladies of good breeding simply did not use four letter words (despite the fact that an occasional caramba had been heard from Buela’s lips). So Allie had come up with appropriate alternatives, like Captain Crunch.
She’d seen the look of amusement on Tom’s face when she’d uttered the expression last night. Maybe he thought she was weird. Or maybe he’d remembered her using it before. Whatever. It didn’t matter to her what Tom Donalan thought.
Mimi appeared in the hallway looking like a general ready to lead the troops into battle. She pointed to Claire’s little denim skirt. “You’re not wearing that outfit to school.”
“But there isn’t time to change.”
“Then make time.”
“You don’t think this skirt is too short, do you, Aunt Allie?” Claire looked at Allie like she was Obi-Wan Kenobi and the fate of the galaxy rested on her shoulders.
She hated to play the adult card, but in this case, Allie had to agree with Mimi. “Kiddo, I haven’t had my coffee yet, so, er, please, just listen to your mom.”
“Fine!” Claire stomped off to her bedroom.
Yikes. It looked like Claire Bear had gotten hormones along with those boobs. This new parent-teenage dynamic hadn’t been in play three months ago. Did things really change that quickly? Allie now understood why Mimi’s hair was beginning to gray.
Mimi handed Allie a mug of steaming hot coffee, which Allie gratefully took. “Claire’s right about the bathroom. You’ll never get in there. Feel free to use mine. But you only have about five minutes.”
Allie took a big swig of the java and moaned in ecstasy.
“It’s almost seven-thirty,” Mimi continued. “And we have lots to do. We need to drop the kids off school, swing by The Bistro, pick up Kitty, and then head to the senior center to get your car.”
“You forgot establish world peace.” Allie took another sip of the coffee. “Wait. You already talked to Kitty?”
“Yeah, and she talked to Steve. Unfortunately, Steve says that although it’s his company, this is Tom Donalan’s project and he’s the guy in charge. Says he was really lucky to get a guy with Tom’s experience to come work for him, so he’s not going to undermine him on this. Which means the only person who can stop this demolition is Tom himself.”
“Flippity Flop.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Mimi said. “Sorry.”
“Thanks anyway for trying.” Allie finished her coffee, but it didn’t taste nearly as good as it had a few seconds ago.
She’d known the thing with Steve Pappas wasn’t a done deal, but she’d thought there was a good chance he’d stop the demolition. At least for a day. Especially since it had been his wife making the request on her behalf. Begrudgingly, she had to admire that Steve had enough respect for Tom to not interfere with his business decisions. She just wasn’t sure if that made Steve a good boss or Tom a really valuable employee.
“Did you say Kitty’s meeting us at The Bistro?”
