Read Online The Comforts of Home by Jodi Thomas - Free Book Online Page B

had Wil amina to deal with, or more accurately, not to deal with. His housekeeper, who’d worked for the Wright family most of his life, had left him a letter saying she was taking her vacation days, eighty-three to be exact, and then going into retirement. When he tried to contact her, Wil amina’s sister, Dottie, told him she’d gone on a cruise. He’d be more likely to believe that the two old women in their seventies got in a fight and Dottie kil ed her. Wil amina usual y left town to visit her children on her days off and, to his knowledge, never took her sister along or ever went anywhere else.
    Now he was worried about Wil amina and what it would be like to cook his own meals, do his own laundry, clean his own kitchen. He could easily survive the weekends alone or even a week now and then, but eighty-three days?
    He decided the only thing to do was forget about it until Kate left. Wil amina had threatened to quit every time he asked her to make liver and onions. Surely she hadn’t gotten mad when he interrupted her soap opera on Wednesday? Or maybe he’d left everything out on the counter when he made Kate a sandwich? At Wil amina’s age, it wasn’t likely that she ran off with a man, so everything would probably be back to normal in a few weeks. Nothing real y ever changed in his life.
     
    “You worried about something?” Kate interrupted his thoughts when she noticed that everyone, except him, had moved to the living room with their coffee and dessert.
    “No, just thinking.”
    She laughed, that laugh he loved. “Wel , stop thinking and give a hand with the dishes.”
    He did, thinking about how he might be washing dishes at home soon. Maybe he should buy paper plates and cups to weather Wil amina’s absence. Who knows, maybe the woman had planned her escape for years. For al he knew she was dancing on some island right now with nothing on but a grass skirt.
    Final y, everyone left and the dishes were done. Martha Q climbed the stairs to her bed and Mrs. Biggs went to her room beyond the kitchen.
    Tyler knew it was late, but he poured two glasses of wine and sat down on the couch. He tried to hide his disappointment when Kate joined him and took the chair to his right. He smiled and passed her one of the glasses.
    “That was a wonderful meal,” he said for the fourth time.
    “Friends made it so,” she said, then took a sip. “I never get to cook like that when I’m working. Never in a place long enough to settle in and buy the groceries.”
    “But you have friends?”
    She shook her head. “Not like I do here. They see me as this dumpy middle-aged woman who’s an expert on arson fires. If we do share a meal, it’s usual y to talk about a case.” She ran a hand through her short graying hair, and it al fel softly back into place as if perfectly trained.
     
    “You’re not dumpy,” he said, thinking she made him feel tal . “And you’re not middle-aged. You’re stil young, Kate, barely out of your thirties.”
    She shook her head, then smiled. “That’s why I love being here with you. You make me feel like who I am inside and not just what I do.”
    He didn’t know how to direct the conversation to where he wanted to go, so he just jumped in. “Kate, I liked holding you while you slept.”
    The parlor lights were too low to tel if she blushed. He didn’t know if he should say more, so he waited.
    Final y, after she took another drink, she lifted her chin slightly and whispered, “I’m sorry about the way I came in.
    I’d been sleeping on planes and in airports for three days. I was exhausted and hadn’t had time to shove al I saw at the last site out of my head. I cal ed you to come get me when I laid over an hour in New York because I knew I didn’t have the strength left to drive.” She stared at her glass, then added, “I should have taken the time to sleep a few days before . . .”
    “No,” he said. “You did the right thing. You came here.”
    “Wel , thanks for