I sat up. “Or you could just let him look like a pig.”

“You think? Maybe.”

“Did I hear voices downstairs earlier?”

She slid out of bed. “Cole had a bunch of food and beers delivered for his party. Oh yeah, the main reason I came in here was to tell you that your mom called. We had a long chat this morning while you snoozed.”

“She did? Is something wrong?”

“Step off the panic button, my friend. Nothing is wrong. They’re going up north to check out some fry cook job for your dad, and they’ll be back in three days. Oh, and let’s see, I talked to Sophie, and it turns out that Parker Smith, the boy who liked to push her, actually really liked her. And he gave her a candy necklace on the last day of school, but Janie licked it and now it’s too sticky to wear. I explained to her that stickiness was one of the pitfalls of jewelry made from candy. And I talked to your dad a minute, but it kind of sounded like he was hyperventilating because I mentioned that he should come out here when my dad was in town. Your mom took the phone back and told him to breathe into a paper bag.”

“Way to keep your cool, Dad,” I muttered. “Does she want me to call her?”

“Nope. She said she’d call you as soon as they got back.”

“Up north? I wonder where?”

“Your mom said something about near Yosemite.”

“Whoa, all the way up there?”

“Hey, I’m just the messenger. Now get out of bed. I’m going to go work out in the gym. Do you want to join me?”

I pulled my legs around to the side of the bed. “I probably should do something in the form of exercise. Jude won’t be there, will he?”

“Nah, I think he’s painting already. I saw a model walking to the pool house.”

I looked over at her. “Those women that visit him, those are models?”

She laughed. “Yes.” She laughed again. “I guess you thought he was entertaining all kinds of women out there. Not that Jude hasn’t had an obscene amount of girlfriends, but a different one every week would be a lot even by his standards.” She shook her head as she walked to the door. “Too funny.”

She closed the door behind her, and I wanted to kick myself for feeling ridiculously relieved that they were only models. Then I wondered just how many an obscene amount would be.

Finley and I hopped up onto two side-by-side exercise bikes, but we did far more gabbing than riding.

“After yesterday’s excursion, I think I’m ready to go a good ten steps past the hedge,” Finley said brightly.

“Let’s make it a place this time and not just a ten steps. Maybe a tree, or something.”

“There are two apricot trees about a third of the way across the lawn. I used to go out there and pick them in summer. But they’re kind of far out there.” For a few seconds her mind seemed to be humming like the gears on the stationary bikes. “Let’s do it. There isn’t any fruit yet, but there will be next month and then maybe I can pick some again. They’re really good apricots and I can never get Jude or Cole out there to pick them.”

“I suppose if there were steaks or hamburgers growing on the tree, you’d have better luck with that.”

“So true. They’re like a couple of cavemen when it comes to food. Me want saber tooth flank steak, no green stuff.”

The door to the gym opened and Cole walked in.

“Hey,” Finley called to him, “it’s ladies’ day at the gym.”

He walked over and hopped up on a treadmill but didn’t turn it on. “Great. I love ladies’ day.”

Finley stopped her bike. “We’re done here, so you can have the place to yourself.”

The door opened again and Jude walked in.

Finley threw her towel over her shoulder. “It’s like you two have radar or something.” She looked over at me. “Trust me, they don’t usually follow me around like this. It all has to do with you.” She glanced toward Jude. “Thought you were painting.”

“That model wasn’t right. I wasn’t inspired.” Jude walked over to the panel on the wall and music blared out of the speakers. Finley and I made a quick escape.

By the time we’d showered and eaten, Finley had talked herself out of the apricot tree excursion, and I decided not to push the point. She seemed distracted and tense at the prospect of seeing Max, so it was probably a mistake to adventure out of her comfort zone.

Tilly, the housekeeper, called to us on the intercom while we rinsed breakfast dishes. “Miss King, there’s a package for you.”

Finley’s eyes rounded. “Your suit is here. Perfect. The morning fog has cleared, and we can get some color before tonight.”

I stood looking in the mirror pulling at the meager amounts of pink fabric and when that didn’t work, I began pushing at my skin to see if I could tuck more of it underneath the skimpy suit. The brief meeting with the lawyer had had me so flustered, I hadn’t really taken a good, critical look at the suit. It was definitely the most revealing suit I’d ever worn or imagined wearing.

Finley knocked and walked in. “I can’t wait to see it.” Her heavily glossed bottom lip dropped. “Uh oh, you’d better wrap up in a towel.”

“Maybe I should put the old one back on. Does it look that bad?”

“No, that’s the problem. We’ll have to take a stealthy path through the house to make sure we don’t run into a brother. They’re already fighting with their inner demons when it comes to you. And while I’m finding their turmoil completely amusing, I don’t want to be cruel. You look drop dead gorgeous in that suit.”

“I’m feeling more naked than drop dead.” I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around like a toga.

Finely tapped her various points of interest down the staircase, and we traversed the hallways unseen. Some Pig’s hooves clicked along behind us.

“I think Cole’s still working out, and Jude probably went back out to the pool house.” She waved Some Pig to the rug in front of the television. “You stay here. I don’t want another disappearing incident like yesterday.” Finley picked up the remote and turned on the television. As she walked away, Some Pig snorted loudly. She stopped, swung around, and picked up the remote. “Sorry, I thought you liked Animal Planet.” More snorts of protest and Finley lifted her hand. “Yeah, yeah, snort to the hand. I know, I know, they’re a bunch of furry tools. You’ve said that before.” Finley pointed the remote at the screen. “Here’s the cooking channel instead. Just don’t complain to me if someone makes a pulled pork sandwich.” Some Pig dropped down to his stomach. “Let’s get out of here before he changes his mind about the channel.”

I slid the glass door open and motioned her through. “You two are like a friggin’ Vaudeville act.”

The pool area was deserted which made my towel removal much less daunting. We stretched out on the lounges and buttered up with a fruity smelling suntan oil.

I smoothed the lotion over my shoulders. “I don’t usually burn, but since I don’t have any color yet and since I have just about every inch of my skin exposed, I better not stay out too long.”

Finley was so busy adjusting the straps on her bikini top, she hadn’t heard me. She moved them up and down and then up and down again. She grunted in frustration. “I knew I shouldn’t have worn this suit. The straps are going to annoy me.” She shook herself like a dog throwing off water. “There, I’m just going ignore the straps and relax.” She looked anything but relaxed. Her phone buzzed which took her mind temporarily off the straps. She looked at it, smiled, and texted something back. “That was Max. He was checking to see if I was going to show at the party tonight.”

“Definitely a good sign.”

Finley leaned back and closed her eyes. “Now I’m going to need that paper bag.”

“How long has it been since you’ve seen him?”

“About three months and six days.”

I couldn’t hold back a smile. “About three months and six days?”

“Well, I’m not exactly sure about the hours.”