Since the panicked phone call from their mother, Mia had tried everything she could think of to chip away at Tabitha’s wooden demeanor. She had provided pampering at the local spas, endless walks on the beach, home-cooked meals of comfort food. Most of all, a non-judgmental space free of younger siblings and parents, where Tabby could just breathe.
Nothing had worked. Nothing, at least, until this last hour with five wriggling bodies.
Why hadn’t Mia thought to try a puppy offensive earlier?
When the six-week-old golden retriever licked her on the nose, Tabby giggled. “I love this little guy.”
“That’s Buster,” Mia said. “He’s a heartbreaker, all right.”
“Which one would you keep if you could? And don’t worry,” Tabby added with an eye roll. “I know you can’t because of your job.”
Jobs, more like. When you worked for a temp agency, doing everything from payroll to filling in for sick resort staff, to dog-sitting for a few hours, as Mia was doing now, the lifestyle was not conducive to owning a pet, no matter how adorable.
Instead of answering, Mia decided to address the elephant in the room. “Tabs… I have to take you home in a few days. If you’re going to talk to me, it’s time.”
Tabitha stiffened and her eyes slid away. She placed one last kiss on the puppy’s nose and set him on the kitchen floor before stepping out of the nursery pen. As he rejoined his littermates in a tug-of-war over a length of rope, she kept her gaze averted and wrapped her arms around herself. The room fell silent save for the sound of mock puppy growls and the hum of air conditioning.
“You’ll be so disappointed in me,” Tabitha finally said.
“You really think that’s possible?”
“I know it.” Tabitha’s voice held the certainty of adolescence. She swung herself up onto the kitchen counter to sit beside Mia.
“Then let me tell you about a much younger and stupider Mia. I was twenty, so four whole years older than you are now, when I went to Greece for a holiday by myself—”
“Three and a quarter,” Tabitha said, turning her head to fix Mia with a direct gaze.
“Excuse me?”
“You were three and a quarter years older than me, because my birthday is in March. And if this is about your ex, Garrett already told me the story.”
“He did?” As far as Mia knew, their mother Nadine’s fourth husband, and the father to Mia and Tabby’s two younger half-siblings, spoke of her as little as possible. “How did that subject come up?”
“I was nervous about coming here.” Tabby shrugged. “He thought it would help me relax if I knew you were human.”
Mia blinked. “Why would you be anxious?”
“We don’t visit that much anymore.”
Then it had been a surprisingly sensitive move for a man who sold muscle cars for a living. But were she and Tabby really that estranged?
“I see,” Mia said carefully. “And did it work?”
“Not so much. My problem is worse.”
An incredulous laugh escaped Mia. “Worse than being tricked into bigamy?”
“Yes.”
There was such bleakness in Tabitha’s expression that Mia’s heart clutched. If the kid hadn’t been put through the medical and psychological wringer before being sent to Hilton Head, Mia would be worrying about a pregnancy, eating disorder, or addiction. Certainly, a problem in that order of magnitude.
A hank of dark hair had fallen across Tabby’s face. Mia couldn’t resist tucking it behind her ear. “Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.”
Tabitha pulled back, shaking her head vigorously. “If I tell you, you have to keep it a secret. There is no we other than the two of us.”
“I—”
“I mean it.” Tabby hopped to the floor. As her voice edged higher, the retriever mother looked over sharply and the puppies halted their play. “You can’t tell anyone. Not Mom, not Garrett, not the police—”
“Police? You’re involved in something illegal?”
When Tabitha’s response was to set her jaw and watch Mia through glittering eyes, Mia could have kicked herself for speaking so hotly.
Priorities, she reminded herself. First get the confession, then figure out what to do about it.
Before she could apologize, though, Tabby spoke. “I’m only talking to you because we might be able to fix it. If you’re up for something.”
So whatever this was about, it wasn’t permanent. That was encouraging, at least.
On the other hand, Tabitha was inviting Mia to enter an ethical quagmire. Nadine had asked for Mia’s help in identifying the problem. At no point had there been a discussion about solving it, especially without parental involvement.
Mia slid to her feet. “I can’t promise anything until I know what you have in mind. But I’ll listen. And I’ll keep your confidence until you’re ready to share it.”
“That won’t happen. Ever.”
“I understand.” When Tabitha fell silent again and began to worry her lips with her teeth, Mia jerked her chin toward the villa’s back deck. “Come on. It’s always easier to talk when your legs are moving.”
After a final sweep of the bungalow to make sure all was intact, and that the dogs had adequate food and water, they paused in the foyer to set the alarm. This was the part of house-sitting that Mia most dreaded. Security systems had it in for her, and this one bristled with buttons.
Eying it doubtfully, she pulled out the printed instructions that had been emailed to her by the villa’s dermatologist-owner. It was only a three-step procedure, and she had managed to get them inside. Unfortunately, there was a reason why she was on a first-name basis with most of the security company’s personnel.
She was still dithering when Tabitha huffed out a breath and swept Mia aside. “Let me do it.” A few seconds later, without once referring to the paper a sputtering Mia tried to shove under her nose, Tabitha stepped back and threw up her hands. “Walla!”
“It’s pronounced vwa-la, but never mind. How did you do that?”
Tabitha shrugged, but a pleased smile played about her mouth. “I’m good at that stuff.”
“So you are.”
“But if we don’t get out of here in the next—” Tabitha squinted at the panel “—forty-three seconds, you’re gonna have a run-in with the alarm company.” Then she laughed—actually laughed—as Mia pantomimed an exit worthy of a cartoon character.
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