Her gaze slid out the window to the Purdy house, and she peered at the windows, noting the tightly closed curtains that covered each one, before her attention went to the newspapers stacking up against the front door. There had to be half a dozen of them, delivered but never collected. Between that and the sad state of the garden and the fact that the yard was in need of mowing, the house almost looked abandoned.
Frowning, Pet cleared her throat and said, “I know Mr. Purdy’s cousin is a bad immortal, a rogue, I think you called him last night?”
“Sì,” Santo agreed. “A rogue.”
Pet nodded. “A rogue then, but just how bad is this guy?”
Santo didn’t hesitate. “The very worst.”
“How?” she asked.
“In all ways.”
Pet stared at him briefly and then heaved out an exasperated breath and asked, “Do you think you could elaborate on that a bit? Like tell me how he’s the very worst?”
Santo didn’t look as if he wanted to tell her anything else, but finally said, “He is dangerous.”
“He’s dangerous?” Pet echoed, her voice somewhat strangled with the frustration building in her. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say? He’s dangerous?”
When Santo nodded, she set her coffee cup down with a sharp click and stood up. “We should get going. It’s already noon and I need to pick up Parker at three o’clock.”
Pet didn’t wait for him to agree but walked to the French doors. She was just reaching for the handle of the door on the right when the door on the left started to open. Pausing, she took a surprised step back and then relaxed when she spotted Marguerite on the porch with her big dog at her side.
“There you are,” Marguerite said with obvious relief when she spotted her. “When I went to check on you and found you gone, I did not know what to think. I started to worry that last night’s intruder had returned and stolen you away.”
“Oh.” Pet’s eyes widened, but she said quickly, “I’m sorry. I looked through the house when I woke up, but didn’t see anyone anywhere and came over to find out where Parker went. I was in a bit of a panic myself.”
“It must have been when I took J to the backyard,” Marguerite said with a grimace. “I am sorry for the confusion. I meant to be there when you woke up to tell you where Parker had gone.”
“Ah, well, best laid plans,” Pet said with a wry smile, waving away the apology. “It’s all good now, though.”
“Yes.” Marguerite glanced from her to Santo. “Were you heading somewhere?”
“Shopping,” Santo growled.
Pet rolled her eyes at that and explained, “I mentioned to Julius about needing to get a few things for Mrs. Wiggles, and he decided it would be a good idea if Santo accompanied me. That way I can help pick out the coffee table and headboard to replace the ones they broke up last night.”
“Oh, yes. A good idea.” Marguerite smiled and moved inside and out of the way for them to leave. “I will go see if Julius needs a second pair of eyes watching the Purdy house while you are gone then. Have a nice time.”
Pet managed a smile and murmured, “You too,” as she led Santo out of the house and headed for her car. She was nearly to it when Santo took her elbow and urged her to continue down the driveway past it.
“What—?” she began.
“The SUV is bigger,” Santo announced.
Pet glanced back over her shoulder at her pretty little red Toyota 86 and sighed as she realized that they wouldn’t be able to fit a coffee table and headboard in it. The SUV would work better. Still, it would have been nice if he’d said more than the SUV is bigger. Shaking her head, she turned forward again and allowed him to lead her around the hedges to the black SUV parked in the Caprellis’ driveway. Her gaze went from it to the huge RV next to it, and Pet commented, “When I first met Marguerite and Julius yesterday, they mentioned that they drove here in the RV.”
“Sì,” Santo said as he opened the door for her.
Pet climbed inside and turned just in time to see the door close. Sighing, she watched Santo walk around to the driver’s side and slide in, but when he merely did up his seat belt and started the vehicle, she asked, “Why did they drive the RV? Why not drive an SUV like you guys did?”
They were the only two vehicles in the driveway, and the RV had been the only one there when she’d first arrived and met Marguerite and Julius, so it was a safe bet the men had arrived in the SUV, she thought as she waited for his answer. She just didn’t understand what the RV was for. They were gas guzzlers. Not something you’d drive around in unless you needed a place to sleep, but they were all sleeping in the house.
“They were already in the RV,” he said, and then added, “Do up your seat belt.”
Pet reached for the belt and drew it impatiently across herself to snap it in its holder, but asked, “Why were they in the RV? Were they on vacation or something?”
“Sì.”
That was it. Just sì. Was he saying sì to the vacation or the something? she wondered grimly, and shook her head. It was like the man had no comprehension of how conversations were meant to go. That was a thought that recurred to her several times over the next two hours as they stopped first at the pet store and then at her sister’s favorite furniture store. Pet was naturally chatty and cheerful, but it didn’t matter what she asked Santo, his answers were either sì or no, with the occasional three- or four-word almost-sentence that revealed little more than sì or no. Frankly, talking to the man was hard work and exhausting. She soon grew tired of the effort and allowed a heavy silence to fall between them. She also rushed the trip along, eager to be done with it.
In the end, they weren’t gone more than an hour. It felt like a hundred, and by the time he pulled into the driveway behind her Toyota, Pet was so angry she couldn’t stand another minute with him. She’d decided that he definitely must have controlled her to make her want him last night, because there was absolutely nothing about him that was attractive to her now.
The minute the SUV came to a stop, Pet had her seat belt off and was sliding out of the vehicle. She had nearly two hours before she had to go pick up Parker, and she was thinking she should load everything she could into her car now, to save time later.
“Food?”
Pet was crossing the front yard to the porch when Santo said that. Pausing at the porch steps, she turned and arched her eyebrows in question. “I’m sorry. What does ‘food’ mean? Do you want some? Are you asking if I have any? What?”
Santo’s eyes widened at her snarky tone, but he said, “I was asking if you are hungry.”
“Well, then, why didn’t you ask that?” she said with exasperation, and spun around to jog up the steps.
Santo stared after Pet for a moment, trying to figure out what had happened between the SUV and here to upset her. Everything had been going rather well as far as he could tell. They’d done all they’d needed to do, and managed it all rather quickly. A successful trip to his mind. Obviously, things hadn’t gone as well as he’d thought, though. That, or he’d done something to annoy her. Or perhaps it was the front door that had been installed while they were gone, he thought as he watched her open the new door and enter the house. It was similar to the old door but not exactly the same. Perhaps that distressed her. Nodding at that thought, he followed her inside.
Pet was at the base of the stairs about to go up when he entered the house. Santo forestalled her by commenting, “You seem angry.”
Pet snorted and started up the steps.
“Is it the door?” he asked solemnly.
“What?” Stopping abruptly, she whirled back with an expression of disbelief and then turned to look at the door and blinked. Her face softened at once, the angry tension leaving her as she moved back down the stairs and walked over to run her hand down the oak door. “Wow, they did a great job fixing it. I can’t believe I didn’t even notice. It looks good, don’t you think?”
Santo grunted agreement, his thoughts on what might have upset her. It obviously wasn’t the door. She appeared to approve of that, he thought.
“Tell me,” Pet said suddenly, “when you grunt, is that a yes or a no?”
Santo glanced up with surprise at her question.
Before he could say anything Marguerite appeared in the hall behind Pet and came forward smiling. “You are back. How lovely. How was shopping?”
“It went well,” he assured her and Pet swung on him, her expression shocked.
“It did?” she asked with disbelief.
“Sì,” he said, surprised by her reaction.
“How did it go well?”
Santo’s eyebrows rose slightly at the question, but he said, “We got everything.”
When she narrowed her eyes at that, he added, “The table is nice.”
“You liked it?” Pet asked, seeming surprised.
“Sì.”
“And the headboard?” she asked now.
“Perfect. Almost exactly like the original.”
“You liked that too?” she asked.
“Sì,” Santo said, starting to frown now. She was getting more upset by the minute and he didn’t understand why. She let him know why, of course.
“That’s interesting,” Pet said now. “Because when I asked you in the store for your opinion, all you did was grunt. In fact, all you’ve done since I got up today is give me grunts, sì or no answers, or very short responses to my direct questions. Honestly, getting information out of you is like pulling teeth. I can’t figure out if you’re just too stupid to be able to put more than three or four words together at a time, or if this is your way of letting me know that you consider last night a mistake and regret it. But, really, I don’t care anymore. ’Cause I’m definitely over whatever craziness had me responding to your kisses. I’m done. The door’s fixed. You’ve replaced what you broke. Feel free to go back to the Caprellis’ and forget I even exist, because I fully intend on forgetting all about you.”