Carpet Diem Read online

  I shrugged, because, really, what else could I do? “I don’t make these things up, but I’m glad I have a whole crew now instead of just trying to do it myself.”

  “Yeah, me too. I guess we’ll just have to see which one of us gets picked. I don’t quite understand why she’s doing it this way. We both gave her references, and we both have good reputations. She could have just picked one and gotten on with it.”

  She smoothed the waist of her dress with her long fingers and expertly manicured fingernails. I had no idea how she actually cleaned with those things, not that it was any of my business. I knew from my cousin that the lengthy and pointed gel nails were in style, so you could just call me styleless, then. My nails were blunt and short, and they got the job done.

  “What time are you getting there tomorrow?” Audra asked.

  “She told me eight. You? We’re cleaning at the same time, right?”

  “Yes, of course. Of course.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder, then smiled at me again. “Well, good luck. From what I hear, we might have to ask for at least half the money up front and make sure we actually cash her check instead of just putting it in the bank.” She laughed again just as the lights flickered, signaling the end of intermission.

  “It was great seeing you,” I said, hoping she felt the same way.

  “And you. I’ll see you tomorrow, and we should really get together while Max is here, if you have time.” Her smile widened as she looked at Max and squeezed my hand. Then she sauntered away. I would never be that classy—I never was even when I had all the money—but I appreciated her time and her enthusiasm. You could never go wrong with more friends.

  The black dress I had dug far back into my closet for swished against the gold and maroon carpet. I’d pulled out all the stops for this night out, and I still meant to enjoy myself immensely.

  I could be doing worse things, like working for my dad at the funeral for Mr. Peterson, which was currently happening at Graver’s Funeral Home.

  Although, to be fair, work at the funeral home hadn’t been as bad lately. I just wasn’t going to tell my dad that. He was still pulling for me to join the family business full-time, and I was still pushing back. Working part-time, surrounded by my father, my mother, and one of my two brothers, was enough for me at this point. And I’d heard that the shop next to Gina’s café could be coming up for sale, which gave me the hope that I might be able to finally open my tea store. I wasn’t ready financially yet, but I had Max, my tax guy, whom I trusted to help me figure out where to get the money and how much it was going to cost me.

  I held Max’s hand and kept an eye out for a Second Coming of Preston, but he appeared to be holding court in the far corner with a bunch of other sour-faced men. Perhaps this was their night out. I couldn’t imagine it was a ton of fun for the crotchety old men, but then, who was I to judge anyone?

  Except that Preston caught me looking his way and raised his nose into the air. If the indoor sprinklers would come on right now, he’d probably drown.

  Man, was it going to feel good to grab that contract.

  Max and I stepped away from the small settee and headed back into the theater for the second half. We didn’t have box seats, but there were no bad seats in the Hershey Theater, twenty miles from home. We settled into the plush chairs, and he took my hand in his, then kissed my knuckles.

  I smiled at him and caught Audra waving to me from her box seat, with her boyfriend next to her. I didn’t know where he was during intermission, and would have loved to meet him, but another time was fine. I waved back, then glanced at my phone one more time.

  Nothing new had come in from Bethany. The photos she’d promised me were still hanging in the electronic cloud, which I knew nothing about. I’d just have to wait for another ninety minutes to see what we’d be dealing with. As the curtain rose, I glanced back at the box and found Audra standing and dragging her guy with her, with no smile on her face now. The music swelled from the orchestra pit, and I turned back to the stage and to my date. I was so thankful that Max and I didn’t have that kind of drama in our lives.

  Of course, with Preston on my tail, my dad wanting me to work full-time at the funeral home, and the chief of police giving me the side-eye every time he saw me, I had plenty of other drama in my life. But for tonight I was drama free, at least until I got those pictures from Bethany and finally was able to see what I’d set myself up for.

  Chapter Two

  After watching the rest of the play with Max at the theater, I’d headed to my apartment with him. Saturday morning came a whole lot faster than I had thought it would following our fun night out. My alarm went off way too early. I tried to get out of bed, but I was caged in by Peanut, the enormous Saint Bernard I’d taken in a few months ago, and Max, who I’d taken in over a year ago. Mr. Fleefers, my cat, who I’d had before either of them and who stayed away from me as often as he could, the little brat, was lying on top of the big dog.

  He very deliberately gave me the evil eye when I tried to disrupt everyone so I could get to the bathroom before my bladder burst.

  “Up already?” Max asked sleepily, then ran a hand over my rat’s nest of a hairdo before kissing me on the cheek.

  “I have that cleaning to do today, and then we’re going out tonight. I have to get moving if I don’t want to be late. And I have a feeling that being late would put me at a great disadvantage. Preston seems to be gunning for me, so I want to be there early. I don’t want Mrs. Petrovski to have a single reason to doubt that giving me the job is the right thing to do.”

  Max smiled at me, then climbed out of bed. After scrambling past him, I walked the three feet to my bathroom. Living above my parents’ funeral home meant that I had a small apartment above the dead. It wasn’t a bad situation, but it did make for limited space. Quiet neighbors, but limited space.

  As I did my morning ritual stuff, I heard Max take Peanut out. One less thing I had to do before leaving for work. Thank God for him. I only wished he was around more. Not only to help with chores, but also because I really enjoyed him. Although the chore help certainly wasn’t a bad thing.

  Since I planned on grabbing something to eat from my best friend, Gina Laudermilch’s coffeehouse across the street, to go with the coffee I adored, I skipped making myself breakfast in my tiny kitchen. I was thinking another whoopie pie latte might make this morning sing, but I hadn’t completely decided yet. I might need something with a couple of shots of espresso to be able to deal with the chaos that was cleaning a house I hadn’t seen with a crew on our maiden voyage.

  I’d had nightmares last night about Preston tearing up in his car and blocking the entrance to the house or calling the cops on me and saying I was an intruder. At this point, I didn’t think I’d put anything past him.

  I got that the job was a big one and was supposed to be long running, so I knew the money was going to be coming in constantly while the refurb was being done. But something about his desperate attempts to get me to back out had my curiosity soaring, and my competitive streak along with it. If I was going up against anyone but my friend Audra, I might find my aggression running high.

  That part of me didn’t come out often, since I didn’t want anything badly enough to compete for it. But right now I felt like I had back in seventh grade, when our last volleyball match had been sprinkled with insults and all I’d wanted was to wipe the smirks off the faces of our opponents from an all-girls’ private school.

  We’d done that by trouncing them with some seriously hard work. I wasn’t afraid to work hard this time, either, in order to secure this job. At this point I’d do the hard work simply to show up Preston.

  I kissed Peanut good-bye and then Max. Mr. Fleefers raised his tail at me and stalked away. As I was walking out the door, Max’s cell phone rang. I stopped in the doorway to listen to his side of the conversation.

  “Yes, sir, I can do that. When do you want me to start?” He paused, and my heart dropped to the vicinity of m
y stomach. Max was supposed to have a long weekend and be here until Tuesday. If this was work, then he might be on the next plane to some state across the country. This promotion seemed to involve a whole lot of travel, and while I was extremely proud of him, I also missed him.

  “Where?” I mouthed, but he shook his head at me. I glanced at my watch. I had twenty-five minutes to get to the mansion. Fortunately, my car was packed up tight with all the necessities of my business, but I’d be cutting it very close if I didn’t leave within the next ten minutes.

  “So, I have to cut my vacation short?” Max asked, and my heart hit the floor. I had plans for us to hang out with Gina and my brother, Jeremy, tonight. We were going to have dinner, then go to a movie. I so often ended up feeling like the third wheel with them now with Max gone. Gina still wanted to do things with me, but also with her boyfriend, who happened to be my brother. It wasn’t awkward, necessarily, but it did often highlight the fact that I wished Max lived much closer than over two hours away in Washington, DC.

  I set my purse down and waited for him to hang up so I could kiss him good-bye now. Knowing how this worked, I assumed he’d probably be on the road before I returned from the mansion. We might have to talk about our relationship soon. While I enjoyed my independence, I also enjoyed him and his company. If things kept going well for him, then I might need to make some decisions.

  I gulped at the thought of moving to DC. I had no idea what I’d do there, and I didn’t want to leave all my family, but I couldn’t expect him to give up his job. This was not something I wanted to be thinking about right now when I needed all my concentration in order to work out how to do such things as stripping wallpaper and cleaning like a fiend.

  He finally said good-bye to whomever he was speaking to, and I swooped in on him before he had completely ended the call. Better to make it quick, I thought. I’d see him again. I didn’t know when, but it would happen.

  “Okay, you gotta go. Love you, be safe, and have a good trip. Make sure to let me know when you can maybe come back up here,” I told him. I turned to leave, because I wasn’t going to be able to do this for a whole lot longer without at least one tear leaking from my burning eyes.

  “That ready to get rid of me, huh?” He tried to pull me onto his lap, and I resisted . . . well, at least for a second. If this took too long, I wasn’t above flying down the back country road in my old Lexus, if necessary. A minute late to the mansion wouldn’t make or break this job, I hoped. However, Max was more important than showing up exactly on time.

  “No, of course not. But I’m trying not to be that girlfriend that nags about you not being here enough or whatever.” I had spent too much time before being told I was a nag and so many other negative things. While I fully knew that my ex-husband, Waldo, had just been a jerk, some of those criticisms still stuck in my head. Needless to say, I avoided nagging at all costs.

  Max kissed me square on the mouth and then laughed against my lips. “You could never be a nag.”

  “Oh, you’d be surprised . . .”

  “About many things, but not that. Now, I don’t want to be the boyfriend who asks too much . . . but the job is actually in Harrisburg, and I was wondering if I could stay here for the next month.”

  I whooped and laughed and hugged him tight. Then I ran out of the apartment above my parents’ funeral home, feeling lighter than I had in a long time. I’d tell him how much fun this was going to be after I went through the mansion and made my list of things to do and who would do them, and then we’d celebrate with my brother and my hopefully soon-to-be sister-in-law. Life was good, so very good.

  Of course, I still might have to deal with Preston, if he decided to be a truly poor loser and show up at the mansion, even though he was unwanted, but nothing could dampen my happy right now. Nothing!

  With only a few minutes to spare, I ran to my car and hopped in. After cranking the key in the ignition, I put on my seat belt and checked behind me so I wouldn’t hit the hearse my dad had parked in close after yesterday’s funeral.

  Something banged on my driver’s side window, and I almost peed myself. I whipped my head around so fast, I nearly gave myself whiplash. My fight-or-flight instinct was set on high fight.

  Only to find Gina at the window, grinning like a loon.

  She enjoyed catching me off guard, the brat. I debated not rolling down the window and just letting her stand there, but then I saw the to-go coffee cup in her hand and the bag, which surely contained some kind of breakfast goody. I wasn’t stupid.

  “You almost killed me,” I said after I rolled down the window. Then I frowned at her when she laughed.

  “I did not. Don’t exaggerate. I thought you might like this, since I know today is a big day. When you didn’t stop by, I figured you were running late or something had come up.” She was perky and pretty and my best friend, and not only because she brought me delicious food and made the best coffee.

  Still, I scoffed at her, as you did with your best friends. “I’m not going to be late. I’ll get there right on time.” She scoffed back, and I ignored her. “Anyway, I was held up because Max has a new assignment, which he has to start tomorrow.”

  Gina’s face fell into a frown. “Bummer. I’m sorry, Tallie. I wish he could stay longer.”

  It was my turn to grin like a loon. “The assignment is right across the river, so he’s going to be here for a month.”

  She whooped, and I whooped back. “That’s awesome. We’ll have to do lots of fun stuff to show him what he’s missing when he goes back to that small place he has in DC.”

  I thought about telling her my whole line of waffling about moving down there, but that would take far longer than the two minutes I had left.

  “We’ll talk after I win the job cleaning the Astercromb mansion. Are we on for dinner tonight?”

  “You bet. Jeremy will be there, too. Maybe we can play some games. You haven’t been thrashed at a board game in quite some time. I might need to drag out the ones from the back that you don’t know how to play.”

  “I don’t think you could dredge up something I don’t know how to play. Besides, we’re going to the movies tonight, like adults, remember?”

  “Ha! I’ll consider the game night a challenge for a later date, then, since we have a whole month.” She leaned on my windowsill, with her chin in her upturned hand. “Are you really ready to take on this cleaning job? It’s a whole lot more than you’ve ever done before.”

  “I wish I knew how much more. I’m still waiting for pictures to download into my phone from last night, and Bethany never got back to me about emailing them. I like her, but I’m a little afraid I shouldn’t have taken a chance on her.”

  “It’ll be fine. Your girl Letty is a good judge of character, especially since she didn’t like her previous employer, Darla. I’m sure everything will work out okay.” That previous employer was the first dead body I’d ever found, and it had placed me directly in the sights of the chief of police in our little town when I got involved in the investigation. I’d hired Letty after Darla’s husband expected her to fill in for Darla and do everything that Darla had done but with no increase in pay. I’d never regretted that decision.

  “I hope so. I’ve got a pretty reliable crew. We still need a name, but I’ve got them, and we will be able to pull it off.”

  “If anyone can, it’s you.”

  I laughed, grabbed the coffee and the bakery bag, then waved good-bye. As I carefully maneuvered my way around the hearse, I made my game plan. Details and plans started coming together as I took a sip of the wonderful whoopie pie latte Gina had made for me.

  I really was blessed with the most fabulous people around me. I had Max, who was my heart; Gina, my best friend; and my employee and friend Letty. They were all very important to me. And then there was my family, who alternately made me laugh and groan. I had a crew to clean while I figured out what I wanted to be when I finally grew up. Life didn’t get much better than this.

/>   And once I figured out what exactly the mansion needed, I could make some serious headway on making my own dreams come true. I only wished I had gotten those pictures from Bethany. Hopefully, she had actually sent them. I had been leery about hiring her, but Letty had been insistent. We’d just see what happened when I caught up with her in a few days, after her vacation with her boyfriend.

  I flew down the back roads, keeping an eye out for any one of the four cops we had in my little town in central Pennsylvania. I did not need a speeding ticket, and I couldn’t afford the chunk of time that would be wasted if I got one. I stayed right at the speed limit, just in case.

  Thankfully, I made it with one minute to go. Of course, Preston was already there, chatting up the owner, Mrs. Petrovski. I boiled for a moment, until I saw Audra there, too, with her sparkly long fingernails flicking back and forth as she talked and then threw her head back to laugh. They were all laughing at something that was obviously hilarious. Mrs. Petrovski’s silver hair glinted in the sun, and Audra’s nails nearly blinded me. Perhaps between the three of us, we could just make Preston go away.

  Only once before had I been tempted to shove a toilet-cleaning brush down someone’s throat, and I would not let myself be tempted today. Preston had irritated me in the past with his shenanigans and his cruelty, and he’d threatened me in the present. My future was in my own hands. I’d like to see him do his worst.

  I would be the bigger person. I would get this contract. Audra was part of a huge commercial cleaning company, and so she could have a ton of other jobs in a heartbeat. She’d be fine. Preston, though, needed to step off.

  I played it nice and pasted on my best smile before getting out of the car. I did not, however, pass up the chance to flash my biggest smile as I handed Mrs. Petrovski the fragrant and still warm pastry in the bag Gina had given me.