“Oh, if you’re having electrical issues, I can look at it,” said John, taking a sip of water from Aunt Lou’s blue goblet. “I’m pretty good with electrical work.”
“Good to know, thanks,” replied Archie, his gaze meeting mine. “We’re okay now, but I’ll let you know if something comes up.”
“Yes, thanks, John,” I said, smiling. Like hell you’re hanging around my attic doing electrical work. I raised my blue goblet and took a long drink. “It’ll be good to have a friend who’s so handy with home repairs.”
A look of relief flashed across Archie’s face. “Definitely. So, John, still have room for chocolate cake with peanut butter icing? And ice cream?”
“Sure,” he replied. “Well, that’s a treat we wouldn’t be having if Robin was here. Not with her peanut allergy.”
Archie and I both nodded.
“That’s right,” I replied, standing up. “You know a lot about Robin.”
“I guess so.” John smiled, directed at me, his eyes seemingly friendly, but I could feel something else lurking behind those dark eyes.
THIRTY2023
Aimee
“Girls’ night!” Robin exclaimed, walking into the spacious family room with two large bottles of sangria.
“Yeah!” I agreed, holding up my wine glass. “Fill it up!”
I was spending the night at Robin’s house. A fun girls-in Saturday night. She lived with her parents, but they left that morning for a three-week trip out west. She wanted to have a wine and movie night. Sleeping over made sense if I was drinking wine. Archie was on his own tonight. He was going out for pizza with John. Of course he was.
“I wish Caitlin could have made it,” she said, pouring the wine. “You’d really like her, but she has a new baby, and the sweet boy consumes her time, understandably so.”
I nodded. “I’m sure I’ll meet her one day.”
Robin flopped on the large, dark leather sectional next to me and clicked on Netflix. She scrolled until a creepy thriller caught our attention.
“Creepy, but not gory,” she said, digging her hand into the bowl of popcorn sitting on the wide coffee table in front of us. “That’s the kind of movie I like.”
“Agreed,” I said, sipping my wine.
The movie was short, but effectively scary, in a psychological sense.
“Should we call for a pizza?” she asked.
“Do they deliver out here?” I asked. That was something I had to get used to living out in the country. No food delivery.
“No, we’d have to pick it up,” she said. “Nah, let’s look in the freezer downstairs. There might be a frozen pizza in there.”
We did and there was, thankfully. Now we sat at the kitchen table waiting for the oven timer to go off.
“This feels very teenage slumber party,” I remarked, smiling at her.
“I know, right? Sometimes it’s fun just to hang out with nothing in particular planned. After such a busy week at school, I wasn’t in the mood to go out.”
“True, I understand. So, your parents went to visit your younger brother in college and then were going to Yellowstone?”
“Yeah. Three weeks on my own. I’ll help with the farm work as much as I can, but we have a few guys that will do the milking, feed the animals, and whatever field work that needs to be done. I have my school schedule first, of course,” she said.
“Nice,” I replied. “When do you think you’ll get your own place?”
“I don’t know,” she said as the oven timer went off. “I have it pretty good here. I don’t pay rent, and Mom still does my laundry. I know, I sound like a spoiled baby. It would be nice to have my own place though. Eventually.”
“Maybe when we find that sexy cop for you,” I teased while she took the pizza pan out of the oven and placed it on the stove to cool.
“Yeah, when am I going to meet that guy?” She laughed. She pulled out a pizza cutter and sliced the pizza.
“We need to be on high alert,” I replied. “Any old boyfriends that you can’t forget?”
“Well.” Robin paused. “There was someone serious in college, but it didn’t work out. He got back together with his high school girlfriend. They’re married now. He was the one who got away.”
“The one that got away,” I repeated.
“Do you have one that got away?”
I laughed. “Maybe, but it’s probably best that he did.”
Robin retrieved two plates from the cupboard and placed a slice of pizza on each one. “I took your advice. I told John I wasn’t interested in dating him.”
“Really?” I raised my eyebrows. “What happened?”
“He didn’t say much. It was a few days ago, but…” she sighed. “I think I saw him parked in the school parking lot, in the back, when I left yesterday.”
“Oh, no, do you think he’s doing the same thing he did to your friend, Margie?”
