Mad, Bad and Blonde - Cathie Linz [34]
Chapter Seven
“Your dad is over the moon about you joining the firm,” Faith’s mom, Sara, said as she joined Faith in her condo on Saturday. They sat together on Faith’s couch, sipping herbal tea. “He’s probably given you a prime corner office with a view.”
“Actually, I insisted on having a regular cubicle. Didn’t Dad tell you?”
“No. He just keeps gloating about you working with him. Your father was never happy with you working as a librarian,” Sara said.
“I know. He wanted me working with him. But I didn’t quit because of him. He never asked me to leave the library.”
“Of course not. He would never do that. You know I was a librarian when I married your father.”
“Right. And you left your job when you had me.”
“I planned on going back to work when you started kindergarten,” she said wistfully.
“Really? You never said that before. What stopped you?”
“Your father needed my help and support because West Investigations was just starting to take off then. Your grandfather had run a small-scale operation, but it doubled in size during that time. Anyway, enough about all that.”
“Dad didn’t manipulate me into quitting,” Faith assured her mom. “The only men who have manipulated me are Alan and Caine.”
“Who’s Caine?”
“Didn’t Dad tell you?”
“No. Who is Caine?”
Faith jumped to her feet. “Your tea is cold. Let me make a fresh pot. Would you like a chocolate-and-Brie panini with that panini maker you got me? Is it okay that I kept it, even though I didn’t get married? Was that rude? I know it was rude to have you do all the work of returning the wedding gifts.”
“The gifts were still in their boxes, so it wasn’t all that difficult. And Megan was a big help.”
“I owe both of you big time. Here.” Faith handed her mom a delicately wrapped jeweler’s box. “I got this for you in Italy.”
In addition to the two cameos she’d bought for her mom and Megan, Faith had also chosen one for herself. Instead of the traditional profile, Faith’s cameo depicted the Bay of Naples. She had yet to wear it. The cameo for her mom was the most intricately done of them all.
Her mother held up her large cameo pin. “It’s lovely. Thank you so much, honey.”
They shared a heartfelt hug. “You’re welcome.”
Her mom pinned the cameo on her sunshine yellow cotton sweater and then said, “But let’s get back to Caine. You still haven’t told me who he is.”
Faith shrugged. “He’s a guy I met in Italy.”
“He’s an Italian?”
“No. American.”
“You said he manipulated you. How?”
“By lying to me. He told me he was a lawyer from Philadelphia, but he was really a private investigator from Chicago.”
“Did you father send him? If he did, I’ll—”
“No need for threats. Dad didn’t send him. Vince King did.”
“Vince?” Sara blinked, clearly startled by this news. “But why?”
“To spy on me. You know how paranoid that guy is. He thought I was trying to steal some new Italian client of his. Which is ridiculous.”
“So this Caine lives here in Chicago?”
“Yes.”
“Is he the reason you joined the firm and left the library?”
“Why do people keep asking me that?”
“What people?”
“Megan. You. Caine.”
“This Caine seems to know you pretty well, even if he hasn’t known you very long. What about Alan?”
“Huh?” The abrupt change in subject threw her.
“Alan. The man you were going to marry. The man who broke your heart. Unless Caine did that too? Did he break your heart?”
“I only knew him for a week.”
“You haven’t seen him since you’ve returned to Chicago?”
The look on Faith’s face gave her away.
“I thought so,” her mother murmured.
“What do you mean?” Faith knew she was saying that a lot, but she couldn’t help herself. She was having a hard time keeping up.
“Just that you seem . . . different.”
“It’s the hair.”
“Don’t give me that. It’s not the hair,” her mother said. “You seem . . . I don’t know . . . angry.”
“You’d be angry too if you’d been dumped on your wedding day.”
“I don’t know,” Sara said. “Sometimes when your dad is being a bear, I do wonder . . .”
Faith