Read Online The Big Chili by Julia Buckley - Free Book Online Page B

October wind had picked up in the last half hour, and now it was moaning against the panes of glass in my living room like a ghost demanding entrance. Mick whined and looked uncertainly at me.
    â€œWe’re both a little bit nervous these days, aren’t we, Mick?” I said.
    Mick nodded.
    I sat down and grabbed my television remote, then saw Parker’s money lying on my side table. “Oh, shoot!” I yelled. I picked up the phone and dialed Ellie.
    â€œHello?” said Ellie in her hearty voice.
    â€œEllie. It’s Lilah.”
    â€œOh, Lilah! I’ve been meaning to call you. I’m so sorry for what happened with Jay. He did apologize to you, didn’t he?”
    â€œYes—and it was almost as embarrassing as our morning meeting. Not only that, but I had to lie to him again.”
    Ellie sounded intrigued rather than annoyed. But that was Ellie; she liked stories and gossip, even, apparently, if they involved her own son. “Why is that?”
    â€œBecause he paid me and apologized, but then he still wanted to know what I did for you.”
    â€œMy goodness, that boy! He has always had such a type A personality. And he can’t stand an unanswered question or a mystery. Hence his chosen profession. So he asked you again. And what creative story did you tell him?”
    â€œI said that I cleaned your house.”
    Ellie’s laughter rang in my ear, comforting me. “Oh, Lilah. You’re priceless. Jay told me what you said about the lawn—you need to do a little research
before
you lie.”
    â€œYeah, so I’ve learned. Anyway, he claimed that if I cleaned the house, you didn’t pay me enough. He put a hundred dollars on my table, Ellie! And I couldn’t think of a way to give it back to him!”
    â€œWhy don’t you just keep it?” Ellie said. “You deserve a bonus, and he’s paying a price for his endless curiosity.”
    â€œ
Ellie
. I will bring it to you as soon as I get a chance, and you’ll have to find some way to give it back. But listen—I’m really tired of telling him lies. I understand that old line about the tangled web. Who said that?”
    â€œWalter Scott, dear. In
Marmion
. ‘Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.’” Ellie was a former schoolteacher, and as far as I could tell, she knew everything.
    â€œYup. That’s the one. So now I’m stuck with your son’s hundred dollars and a whole lot of other problems that I’m not going to divulge right now.”
    â€œAre you worrying about this dead woman? Jay told me she was in your parish.”
    â€œNot worried, no. But there have been some . . . mitigatingcircumstances . . . and I’m smack-dab in the middle of that web we speak of.”
    Ellie laughed again. “Lilah, ever since I met you I have been so entertained by the drama of your life. Especially because you don’t go looking for it—the craziness just finds you.”
    â€œGlad to oblige,” I said, my voice dry. “It seems to me that some recent drama could have been avoided if a certain person had been home when I dropped off a casserole.”
    Now she was repentant. “Oh, honey, I am so sorry! I knew Jay was going to come by, but I didn’t know he’d be there that early, and so I thought I could run out to my shed and do a bit of harvesting. And somehow I missed you both.”
    â€œSomehow,” I said.
    â€œCome over soon,” she said. “I’m sorry I missed you last time, and the casserole was wonderful, as always. We need to have one of our talks.”
    â€œYes, we do. I’ll call you when I have a free hour and see if you’re available.”
    â€œSounds good, Lilah.” Ellie’s good humor transferred itself to me. Mick looked more cheerful, too. Now we climbed the spiral stairs in a better state of mind, warmed by the reality of