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“All right! All right! It’s four thirty! Why couldn’t you wait till six o’clock, when decent people get up to make breakfast?” Jake muttered on his way to the bathroom.

“Because I never sleep. I consider sleeping a waste of time. I have worlds to conquer, and as you can see, I’m not getting any younger. I like to get an early start on the day, unlike some people I know,” she said, jabbing the spatula in Jake’s direction. “For your information, I have an aerobics class at six thirty. Then I have my martial arts class at eight, and I do my yoga for an hour. No decent person eats breakfast at ten thirty. Ten thirty is time to start thinking about lunch,” Mitzi insisted as she made her way back to the kitchen, Elway hot on her trail.

“How stupid of me,” Jake continued to mutter as he stepped under the spray. Maybe if he stayed there long enough, Elway would eat the shitty breakfast his aunt was making. Had made. It sounded like it was just waiting for him to choke it down.

When Jake trundled into the kitchen ten minutes later, he promised himself he would make a valiant effort to eat everything Mitzi made him, even if it killed him, because he adored his aunt and didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

Jake settled himself at the table but not before he looked around. Newspapers were everywhere. He raised a questioning eyebrow even though he already knew the answer.

“I was cutting out coupons to make the time go faster until it was time to wake you. I have eighteen dollars’ worth. You don’t mind, do you, darlin’?”

“Hell no! Just don’t buy me any more bargains. I have two hundred rolls of toilet paper jammed in my linen closet, sixty-four rolls of paper towels under the bed, forty-four cans of string beans sitting on top of my dishes, and sixteen tubes of Colgate toothpaste in my medicine cabinet. There’s no room for my aspirin bottle, and I don’t even like Colgate, I like Crest.”

“Get over it, darlin’. A bargain is a bargain. A penny saved is a penny earned.”

Why did he think he could win with Mitzi? “What’s on sale?”

“All kinds of good stuff. I heard about your dinner, or lack of it, with your father.”

Jake slapped at his forehead. “How
do
you do that, Mitzi? It was last night. Do you have some kind of pipeline that automatically feeds you information?” Jake asked as he picked up a piece of dry, burned toast.

Mitzi ignored the question. “He had a bad time on the golf course. That means something’s brewing with that . . .
that woman.
Tell me I’m wrong, darlin’.”

Jake jabbed his fork into the mound of rubbery eggs. There had to be at least six scrambled eggs on his plate. He shrugged. “I didn’t give him a chance to tell me whatever it was he wanted to talk about. I left and went to Burger King. He did say Sarabess Windsor wanted me to do some traveling for her. Yesterday was the anniversary of her daughter’s death. Miss Clara came in to change her will again and told me she saw Sarabess at the cemetery. Maybe there’s some kind of significance to the two things. That’s all I know, Mitzi. Do I really have to eat these eggs?”

“Of course not, just dump them in the disposal. I heard
she
was at the cemetery. I guess we can assume your father’s golf game had something to do with that visit.”

Jake dumped his breakfast into the sink before he slid his plate into the dishwasher. “Mitzi, do you remember Trinity Henderson?”

Mitzi’s cheeks puffed out. Jake thought she looked like a squirrel with flaming red hair. “Of course I remember her. I loved that girl as if she were my own. Time or her absence will never change my feelings for that young woman even though we don’t talk about her these days. You should know that. Why are we talking about Trinny? She ran away when she was fifteen. I remember it clear as if it was yesterday. I was the only one alarmed, but no one cared if I was concerned or not. They just let her go. I could never understand that. The Hendersons work for
that woman,
so what do you expect? As far as I know, the police weren’t even called in. I had the feeling back then that it was something like good riddance. The child never came back here as far as I know. I even hired private detectives to try to find her, but they didn’t. Why do you ask, darlin’?”

“Her name came up yesterday during my conversation with Miss Clara. Clara went on to say Sarabess was doing the weeping-and-wailing thing. Then I got to thinking about Trinity last night when I got home. She was a tough little cookie. I was wondering what happened to her, that’s all.”

“Your mama thought Trinity had a crush on you. I thought so, too. I
know
you had a crush on
her.
Oh, well, that was then, this is now. She’s probably married with little babies. I have to go now, darlin’. You don’t mind cleaning up this mess, do you?” Mitzi asked, waving her arm about to indicate the mutilated newspapers and the countertops.

Jake shook his head, dismayed at her words. “Thanks for the breakfast. How come you didn’t eat any?”

“Are you crazy? I only eat legumes, Jell-O, and greens. Your cat really likes me.”

Elway hissed as the door opened, then closed.

Jake sat down, exhausted. He looked at the clock. It read 5:15. He waited until he heard the roar of the racy Jaguar his aunt drove before he opened the door for Elway. The cat looked at him, then trotted off toward the living room. Jake didn’t know if he should laugh or cry. Actually, at that precise moment he felt meaner than a snake for some reason.

With nothing else to do until it was time to dress and head into the office, Jake made fresh coffee and toast. While he waited for the coffee to drip, he cleaned up his aunt’s mess. A wry smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He loved Mitzi, and he knew she loved him.

He wasn’t sure if the term
misfit
applied to Mitzi or not. She was certainly her own person and marched to a different drummer. Everyone in town loved Mitzi except his father and Sarabess Windsor. Mitzi could always be counted on to lend her name to any worthy endeavor, give generously to causes, and work tirelessly for children’s and animals’ rights. It was true, she never slept; well, hardly ever. He’d seen her take what she called power naps. She had more stamina and energy than he had on his best day, even though she puffed on cigarettes all day long, to everyone’s disgust. The truth was, he couldn’t keep up with her.

Once he’d asked his mother why Mitzi wasn’t married and her response was that Mitzi had had her heart broken and didn’t trust another man to mend it. His mother seemed to approve of her sister’s wild and wicked lifestyle. In later years, he thought his mother would have liked to cut loose, but her upbringing wouldn’t allow it. His father made no pretense of liking Mitzi. He called her a disgrace to the family, a rebel who chased rainbows. Mitzi retaliated by saying he was a shitty lawyer with his brains in his ass. After she thumbed her nose at him, she attacked Sarabess Windsor and hinted at secrets she would divulge when she wrote her memoirs. Jake was a kid at the time, and it was the first time he saw fear on anyone’s face. It wasn’t until years later that he wondered why his aunt’s words would make his father so fearful.

From that day forward, Mitzi had taunted his father with her dark secrets. His father had made it his business not to respond to her taunts, Southern gentleman that he was, and never to be in Mitzi’s company if he could help it.

One of these days I’ll have to ferret out those secrets. One of these days . . .

Jake was tying the knot in his tie when his doorbell rang. He looked at his watch. He was almost certain it wasn’t Mitzi, who at the moment was probably exercising, turning herself into a pretzel. Amanda Pettijohn? He laughed at that ridiculous thought. Then, who?

Jake didn’t bother to look through the little peephole. He yanked open the door and found his father. “I know it’s early, Jake, but I thought I would stop by before you left for the office. I have court all morning, so I won’t be in the office till after lunch.”

What happened to, “Hello, Son”
? Jake wondered as he motioned for his father to enter the apartment. Elway skirted his father’s ankles, his back arched and the fur standing on end.
What does that mean?
Jake wondered.
Mitzi would probably say it meant the cat didn’t like Rifkin Forrest.

“What’s up, Pop?” Jake asked coolly. If his father came for an apology, he was going to grow a beard before that happened. “Coffee?”

“No thanks. I had some earlier. Look, I’m sorry about last night. I’m here to ask you if you’ll go up to Windsor Hill to talk to Mrs. Windsor. She wants to hire you. You, Jake, not me.”

“I’m not taking on any new clients. What part of ‘I don’t want anything to do with Miz Sarabess Windsor’ didn’t you understand? There are two other lawyers in this town, let her hire them. I’m not interested, and you know what else? I resent you trying to coerce me into it. Maybe you make house calls, but I don’t.”

“Jake, I think you know I wouldn’t ask you to do this if it wasn’t important. Can’t you do it for me? If Mrs. Windsor is agreeable to an office visit, will you at least talk with her?”

Jake snorted. “I don’t
think
so. For the second time, what part of ‘I want nothing to do with Sarabess Windsor’ don’t you understand? How many times do I have to say it? I never made a secret about my feelings where Sarabess Windsor was concerned. Mom might have closed her eyes to it all, but mine were wide-open. You put that in your pipe and smoke it,
Pop.
By the way, Mitzi stopped by earlier to make breakfast for me. Did you know she’s writing her memoirs? I’m going to represent her,” he lied, with a straight face.

Rifkin’s eyes narrowed. “Your aunt has supposedly been writing her memoirs for twenty-five years. I’m sure she hasn’t written a word, and there’s no reason to think she’ll actually sit down on that bony ass of hers to do it now, either. My guess would be that she’s bored and wants to stir up trouble. She excels at stirring up trouble.”

Jake turned belligerent. He hated such discussions with his father. He really hated it when his father turned on Mitzi. For some reason, the old man always made him feel like an errant schoolboy whose punishment he was debating. “Oh, yeah, well, how do you explain the fact that she’s on chapter six? She’s doing it!” he lied again. “What do you think of
that?
”

“What I think, young man, is, you’re acting like a petulant schoolboy and lying about Mitzi. I wish you’d reconsider and talk with Mrs. Windsor.”

“You do have a one-track mind, don’t you? You’re the one on retainer with the Windsor family, not me. I’m way past the age when you can tell me what to do,
Pop
. I gotta go now.”

Elway scurried around his ankles. Jake bent down and picked him up. He was stunned when the mangy old cat started to purr. For some reason, Jake felt a lump form in his throat. Mitzi always said every single person in the world needed someone at one point in their lives. He wasn’t sure, but it looked like Elway needed him right now. And he suddenly needed Elway to hold on to, for some strange reason. He made a move to open the door for his father to leave.

Rifkin’s narrowed eyes were now mean-looking slits. “Jacob, would it make a difference to you if I told you the reason Mrs. Windsor wants to see you has to do with your old childhood friend Trinity Henderson?”

There was that name from his past again. Elway was purring so loudly, Jake felt light-headed as he struggled with his father’s words and the cat’s uncharacteristic behavior. He needed to say something and he needed to say it
now
. “No, it wouldn’t.”

The door was wide-open. Elway could leap out of his arms at any second and be lost to him. He wished his father would leave. He stepped forward, Elway secure in his arms. As Rifkin walked through the door, he said, “You’re turning into a jackass, Jacob.”

Jake knew his mother would be appalled at his response. Mitzi would clap him on the back and say something witty. “Takes one to know one,” Jake muttered under his breath. An instant later, he was sorry. The man was his father, and he owed him a modicum of respect. Just a modicum.

When the door closed tightly, Jake locked it. Only then did Elway leap out of his arms to head for the couch, where he settled down in the mound of pillows and started to groom himself. Jake walked back to the kitchen for a second cup of coffee. If it hadn’t been so early, he would have poured a jolt of Southern Comfort into the coffee. Instead, he added three sugars and some heavy cream.

As he sipped at the coffee, Jake’s mind raced. What the hell was going on that involved Trinity Henderson? More to the point, why was Sarabess Windsor interested in Trinity? Sarabess had to be aware of his feelings where she was concerned. Over the years he’d never made a secret of those feelings, to his father’s chagrin. Yet, Sarabess had sent his father to plead her case. “Well, lady, you can plead till the proverbial cows come home, and I still won’t give you the time of day.”

Jake rinsed his coffee cup, set out some food and water for Elway, and left the apartment. The minute he reached the office he was going to do an Internet search to see if he could locate his old playmate. Something was going on, and he wanted to know what it was.

FERN MICHAELS
is the
USA Today
and
New York Times
bestselling author of the Sisterhood series,
Fool Me Once, Picture Perfect
, and dozens of other novels and novellas. There are over seventy million copies of her books in print. Fern Michaels has built and funded several large day-care centers in her hometown, and is a passionate animal lover who has outfitted police dogs across the country with special bulletproof vests. She shares her home in South Carolina with her four dogs and a resident ghost named Mary Margaret. Visit her website at www.fernmichaels.com.

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Copyright © 1996, 2009 by Fern Michaels

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ISBN: 978-1-4201-0845-3