your house key before the alarm sounds.”
As the tone sounded, she dropped her keys and then spilled the contents of her purse onto the step when she bent to retrieve them. Change scattered. Lipsticks and tampons rolled off in every direction.
“Fifty seconds,” the box said in a pleasant tone.
Rebecca dropped to her knees, digging through the rubble for the house key. She pulled it up and jammed it into the lock, but still the knob wouldn’t turn.
“Forty seconds.”
“Oh, shut up.” She rattled the knob and hit the key with the heel of her hand, all to no avail.
“Thirty seconds.”
Reflecting on the lesser points of living with a retired computer science professor turned-inventor, she quickly picked up her things and walked around the side of the house to the dining room window. The table was set, ready and waiting for dinner to begin. Hugh Bradshaw occupied his usual chair. Rebecca scowled at the headline of the sports section he was reading. SUPER COOPER SENT DOWN TO MAVERICKS .
“Dad!” she yelled.
Hugh glanced up and looked around. “Daughter, what are you doing out there?”
“The door won’t let me in. It’s that crazy alarm system.”
He shook his head. “Don’t go blaming my alarm system just because you’re not mechanical.”
“I shouldn’t have to be mechanical to get into my own house,” she pointed out irritably. “Will you let me in before that thing summons the Marines or whatever it does at the end of sixty seconds?”
“The alarm was disconnected,” Hugh said, swinging the back door open moments later. “I was just testing the timing mechanism.” He pulled her key out of the lock and held it up. “Why didn’t you use this?”
“Because it wouldn’t work.” She gritted her teeth at the shake of his head. His expression clearly bemoaned her lack of mechanical ability.
Rebecca strode past him and dumped the armload of stuff that had fallen out of her purse onto the kitchen table.
“I hear Jace Cooper is back in town,” Hugh said in his quiet, matter-of-fact voice.
“Yes. Do we have any mega-strength aspirin?”
Her father scratched the back of his head with one hand and propped the other at the waistband of his jeans as he watched her hunt through the cupboard. He was a trim, wiry man, two inches shorter than his eldest daughter. Age hadn’t lessened his ability to read her every mood. “I take it you’re not pleased.”
“An understatement, to say the very least. I’m not pleased to have him in Mishawaka. I’m not pleased to have him as a patient in my PT department. And I’m extremely displeased to have him living across the alley from me.” She washed the aspirin down with a gulp of tap water. Her thick black brows drew together in confusion. “Don’t you think it’s odd Muriel rented a room to him? She never mentioned wanting to do that.”
Hugh mumbled something unintelligible as he bent to pull a casserole out of the oven. His thin cheeks were rosy with heat when he stood up, and his blue eyes were glued to the steam rising from the Stroganoff.
He pulled a long-handled spoon out of a crock on the counter and sank it into the fragrant mass of noodles and beef. “Who knows what Muriel thinks anymore, locked up in that mausoleum with all those cats. She needs something to get her blood going. Maybe Jace will be good for her.”
“I guess it would be nice if he were good for somebody,” Rebecca remarked dryly.
“But not you?”
She shook her head. “Not anymore, Dad. Not again. He wasn’t any good for me before.”
“That’s not quite how I remember it. As I recall, you were in love with him.”
“Was—past tense. I learned my lesson.”
“Maybe too well,” he muttered, his mustache drooping as he carried their dinner out to the table.
Rebecca stared at the back of his white head as he walked away from her. Just what had he meant by that? Somehow she didn’t think she wanted to know, not at the moment at least. All she wanted
As the tone sounded, she dropped her keys and then spilled the contents of her purse onto the step when she bent to retrieve them. Change scattered. Lipsticks and tampons rolled off in every direction.
“Fifty seconds,” the box said in a pleasant tone.
Rebecca dropped to her knees, digging through the rubble for the house key. She pulled it up and jammed it into the lock, but still the knob wouldn’t turn.
“Forty seconds.”
“Oh, shut up.” She rattled the knob and hit the key with the heel of her hand, all to no avail.
“Thirty seconds.”
Reflecting on the lesser points of living with a retired computer science professor turned-inventor, she quickly picked up her things and walked around the side of the house to the dining room window. The table was set, ready and waiting for dinner to begin. Hugh Bradshaw occupied his usual chair. Rebecca scowled at the headline of the sports section he was reading. SUPER COOPER SENT DOWN TO MAVERICKS .
“Dad!” she yelled.
Hugh glanced up and looked around. “Daughter, what are you doing out there?”
“The door won’t let me in. It’s that crazy alarm system.”
He shook his head. “Don’t go blaming my alarm system just because you’re not mechanical.”
“I shouldn’t have to be mechanical to get into my own house,” she pointed out irritably. “Will you let me in before that thing summons the Marines or whatever it does at the end of sixty seconds?”
“The alarm was disconnected,” Hugh said, swinging the back door open moments later. “I was just testing the timing mechanism.” He pulled her key out of the lock and held it up. “Why didn’t you use this?”
“Because it wouldn’t work.” She gritted her teeth at the shake of his head. His expression clearly bemoaned her lack of mechanical ability.
Rebecca strode past him and dumped the armload of stuff that had fallen out of her purse onto the kitchen table.
“I hear Jace Cooper is back in town,” Hugh said in his quiet, matter-of-fact voice.
“Yes. Do we have any mega-strength aspirin?”
Her father scratched the back of his head with one hand and propped the other at the waistband of his jeans as he watched her hunt through the cupboard. He was a trim, wiry man, two inches shorter than his eldest daughter. Age hadn’t lessened his ability to read her every mood. “I take it you’re not pleased.”
“An understatement, to say the very least. I’m not pleased to have him in Mishawaka. I’m not pleased to have him as a patient in my PT department. And I’m extremely displeased to have him living across the alley from me.” She washed the aspirin down with a gulp of tap water. Her thick black brows drew together in confusion. “Don’t you think it’s odd Muriel rented a room to him? She never mentioned wanting to do that.”
Hugh mumbled something unintelligible as he bent to pull a casserole out of the oven. His thin cheeks were rosy with heat when he stood up, and his blue eyes were glued to the steam rising from the Stroganoff.
He pulled a long-handled spoon out of a crock on the counter and sank it into the fragrant mass of noodles and beef. “Who knows what Muriel thinks anymore, locked up in that mausoleum with all those cats. She needs something to get her blood going. Maybe Jace will be good for her.”
“I guess it would be nice if he were good for somebody,” Rebecca remarked dryly.
“But not you?”
She shook her head. “Not anymore, Dad. Not again. He wasn’t any good for me before.”
“That’s not quite how I remember it. As I recall, you were in love with him.”
“Was—past tense. I learned my lesson.”
“Maybe too well,” he muttered, his mustache drooping as he carried their dinner out to the table.
Rebecca stared at the back of his white head as he walked away from her. Just what had he meant by that? Somehow she didn’t think she wanted to know, not at the moment at least. All she wanted
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