Tiny Glitches: A Magical Contemporary Romance (36 page)

“Got it. Not a word to Ma.”

“You, too, Dempsey,” I said. “You can’t mention anything to the family about the elephantini, Jenny, the FBI, Atlas, Edmond, Sofie being kidnapped—”

“Maybe it’d be easier if you told me what I
can
talk about,” Dempsey said. She crossed her arms over her chest. “I do have a brain, you know. Smaller doesn’t mean stupider.”

“Fine. But if you mention something you shouldn’t, I’m not rescuing you,” I said.

“From what?”

“Carmela,” Ari and Antonio said together.

“You guys go ahead.” I ducked around the car and set my bag on the driveway. I pulled a lightweight wrinkle-resistant blouse from a zipper pocket, crouched down, and yanked my grimy T-shirt over my head.

“Nice.” Hudson stood near the hood of the car, watching me.

I tugged the blouse over my head, stood, and brushed it smooth, checking to make sure it covered the bruises on my wrists that would otherwise elicit unwanted concern. I stuffed the T-shirt into my bag and examined myself in a side-view mirror. Fortunately, the scrape on my nose had healed enough to pass as a bad sunburn, but I couldn’t do anything about the dark smudges under my eyes. I ran my fingers through my hair and patted my cheeks for a little extra color.

“Got a date I don’t know about?”

“I want to avoid questions.”

“What about another shirt in there for me?”

“Weren’t you the one who said you needed to pack a spare change of clothes if you were going to hang around me?”

Hudson stepped up behind me, where I was bent to see myself in the mirror. He planted his hands on my hips, then ran them lightly up my sides. When I straightened, he turned me to face him. We were inches apart.

“I’m sorry, Eva. I shouldn’t have gotten so upset with you when you straightened my office.”

The apology felt like it came out of nowhere from an argument that happened a lifetime ago, not this morning. Even if I hadn’t forgotten about it, I would have forgiven him for much worse: I had Sofie back; everything else was insignificant.

“I shouldn’t have touched your things without your permission.”

“It’s not like you ruined anything. That was the first time I’ve seen the surface of my desk in months, years. And Sofie was right. Your feng shui skills are uncanny.”

“Are you saying my assessment of your life was accurate?”

“Dead-on.”

“Score one for feng shui.”

“You must be damn good at what you do.”

“Hmm. Flattery. I like it.”

Hudson leaned down and I went up on tiptoes for a kiss. His hand slid up my back to cradle my head, and he deepened the kiss. When he pulled back, I swallowed a moan and reminded myself that I was in Carmela’s driveway.

“Are you ready for this?” I asked Hudson.

“How bad can it be?”

Everyone was getting seated in the dining room, the food already on the table, when Hudson and I arrived.

“Eva!” Carmela burst from the kitchen with three extra sets of plates and silverware in her hands. She thrust everything at Antonio and swept me into a hug, kissing the air beside each cheek. She was five-five, had dyed dark brown hair that had more body than a Victoria’s Secret model, and she exuded energy. “Who’s this handsome stranger?” She clutched Hudson’s hands and pulled his arms out to the sides so she could run her eyes over him.

I kept it simple. “This is my friend Hudson.”

Carmela gave me a one-eyebrow-raised look that said she didn’t believe the
friend
status; then she performed the introductions of the family.

“That’s my wonderful husband, Caesar.” He sat in the middle of the table tonight, not at the head. I had a special place in my heart for Caesar. Here was a man who had fathered five children and not only stuck around to raise them, but he also seemed to genuinely love them all and want to spend time with them. He had been married to Carmela for over forty years and faithful to her every single day. He was the exception to the rule: a man who could be trusted.

He stood to hug me and shake Hudson’s hand.

“I’m so glad you could make it, Eva,” he said.

“Me too.” The da Vias were the family I’d always dreamed of having: large, boisterous, united, loving. My informal adoption into their clan was one of my proudest achievements.

Michelangelo, the oldest son, sat next to his father, along with Georgino and his wife, Helen. Their three kids, Josette, Emilio, and Desirée, were at the kids’ table. Dempsey had been given a seat next to Georgino, and they were deep in discussion about the endangered El Segundo blue butterfly.

“Yes, Hudson, there’ll be quiz later,” Carmela teased as she introduced Georgino’s twin sister, Gianna; her wife, Miriam; and their daughter, Isra. Gianna had a tamed-down version of Ari’s dimples, and they flashed now even as her serious eyes examined Hudson. Miriam was Iranian, exotic-looking even among this good-looking family, with a black bob and startlingly bright brown eyes. She smiled benignly, but when Carmela wasn’t looking, she mouthed,
“We need to talk,”
to me.

I bit my lip. How much did she already know? Did she know about the FBI questioning me?

“And you know Antonio, right?” Carmela continued.

“We’re familiar. You have a lovely family, Carmela.”

“You say that because you know me,” Ari said, coming in from the side room with two additional chairs. “Be warned: I’m the nicest and the smartest.”

Michelangelo beaned her with a roll.

I sat. I ate. I chatted. Normalcy settled around me like a blanket, soothing frazzled nerves and washing away the stress of the last four days. I was home, with family. I was safe and loved. Sofie was safe. For a suspended moment in time, everything in the world was righted and everything was going to be okay. We’d find Jenny, rescue Kyoko, and save the world from Jenny’s stupid life-lengthening, doomsday formula. I found my sense of humor again and teased and verbally sparred with the da Vias. I laughed for what felt like the first time in years.

When Gianna and Georgino rose to clear the table, and Dempsey was locked in a discussion with Carmela, Miriam motioned to the door and I followed her from the bright dining room to the dim family room down the hall, grabbing my bag from a hook near the door on the way. When I slung it over my shoulder, the weight of the world settled with it, and my good mood floated away.

Miriam halted near the window farthest from the doorway, looking out over the moonlit pool and patio. A steel infinity symbol twisted above her heart.

“Do you want to explain to me why there’s a detail assigned to you?” Miriam asked quietly.

“You mean Coutu and Sevallo?”

Miriam cocked her head and waited.

“What do you know?” I asked.

“Why don’t you tell me what you know and we’ll go from there.”

I licked my lips nervously. “It’s about Jenny. Jennifer Winters. She dumped her crazy into my world four days ago, and everything’s been shitty since.” I told Miriam a heavily edited version of the last four days, never mentioning Kyoko by name or explaining what she was, just that Jenny had left me a “package.” Everything else I told her was the truth: about meeting Hudson and him pretending to be my boyfriend, about delivering the “package” to Sofie and then later moving it to Annabella’s. I told her about Atlas and Edmond, about the ninjas’ botched kidnapping of Hudson and me, about my ransacked home. I poured out the tale of Sofie’s kidnapping and the exchange gone horribly wrong. I didn’t figure it was necessary to mention all the broken-down cars.

“And now what?” Miriam asked when I wound down.

“I don’t know. I have sketches of the women who took her. And I found the original ransom note, not that it’ll help you. It’s in kanji, and a bit worse for the wear. Any DNA is gone from it.” I pulled the notebook with Sofie’s drawings out of my bag and handed it to Miriam. The ransom note was tucked inside the notebook. Miriam took it without looking at it.

“You’ve had a rough few days, haven’t you?” she said.

“It’s been surreal.”

“Mmm.” She shifted so that my face was in the light, hers in the shadows. “So your life and Hudson’s were threatened, your aunt was
kidnapped
, and you still don’t want to tell me what is in this mysterious package Jenny gave you? What are you asking for here, Eva? What do you want me to do?”

“I need your help. I need to know who these people are that took Jenny.”

“And then what?”

“I’ll . . . I don’t know. Maybe then it’ll be time to involve the FBI. Officially.”

“Maybe?” Miriam shoved a clump of ebony hair behind her ear and leaned in closer to me. “I don’t work in the same division as Coutu and Sevallo, and even I’ve heard all the speculation about Jennifer Winters. She was turned in by her own company, some scientific research lab funded by the government. Did you know that? They suspect her of treason—
treason—
and Coutu has been building the case. You don’t want to get in the middle of that.”

“I’m not here by choice.”

Miriam’s infinity symbol disappeared. A squirming malamute puppy in a rumpled suit and tie sat at her feet. I’d seen that puppy before, though usually when Isra was trying to pull one over on her mothers.

“Why didn’t you tell Sevallo and Coutu about Sofie being kidnapped? Why are you not in their office right now with these sketches?” She waved the notebook at me.

“Because those women took the package, too,” I said. I trusted Miriam to help with finding Jenny, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her about the life-lengthening formula. Not yet. Not unless I had to. I suspected Miriam would feel it necessary to tell her superiors. Once they knew, there’d be no stopping the secret from spreading, and all the cover-up Jenny had done and I had assisted in would be for nothing. Plus, I was pretty sure those treason charges would sweep me along with Jenny, straight to prison.

“Is it drugs?”

“No! Something— Oh, it’s impossible to explain, but it’s something we don’t want falling into the wrong hands, and that includes the government’s hands.”

“You do realize who I work for, right?”

“Of course.”

“You want me, a
government employee
, to help you find something you don’t want the government to find.”

“No, I want
your
help.”

“My help. So long as it includes using the FBI’s resources?”

“I wouldn’t be asking you if I had another option. It’s imperative that we find Jenny and the package.”

Miriam stared at me, waiting. I listened to the grandfather clock in the hallway tick away the seconds and did my best not to squirm.

“The FBI is already looking for Jenny—”

“But they don’t know she’s been kidnapped by—”

“Eva.” I shut my mouth. “I will help you, but”—Miriam paused—“but if this backfires on me, on Arianna, or even on you, I will make sure you suffer the full penalty.”

“I understand,” I said. “You can’t break the law.”

“I’m not talking about the law. If this goes sideways, I’ll tell Carmela.”

Carmela’s wrath would shred my flesh from my bones if she discovered I’d aided a traitor to the United States. She wouldn’t care about extenuating circumstances or listen to reason. After she was done picking over my carcass, she’d tell her friends what I’d done, and in days, all of LA would know. Not that it would matter. Because I’d be in jail if this backfired.

The risotto churned in my stomach, and I took my time following Miriam back to the table for dessert.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Dempsey took a taxi home after I crossed my heart and pinky-swore we would contact her if we learned anything. Then Hudson drove the two of us to his house. His car survived all but the last six blocks. He took it well, just gathered his keys, locked everything, took my hand, and with an enormous cherub flapping ahead of us and a red wagon bringing up the rear, began walking.

The two bars we passed spilled drunken people onto the sidewalk in clouds of alcohol fumes and smoke, and jazz music drifted from a coffee shop. I peered into the darkened store fronts of the strip malls and up at the bright LA night sky, content to allow the sounds of the city to fill the space between us. Hudson and I hadn’t had many quiet, normal moments, and it was nice to pretend that we were walking home after a long date, not after an insane day of desperation.

Sofie had called Ari after dinner to let me know that she and Bernie were at his house with Dali, where she’d be staying until she heard from me. I breathed lighter knowing she was tucked away where all the people tracking Jenny didn’t know to look.

Hudson had held his own at the da Via table. He was the first date I’d ever brought to dinner, and the da Vias had grilled him like any family members’ dates. I had no idea where my relationship with Hudson was headed, or even if we had a relationship that could survive outside this high-stress whirlwind Jenny had dumped on us, but at least I knew my family approved of him.

My footsteps were dragging by the time we reached Hudson’s door. The strain of the day combined with little sleep the night before had caught up with me. While I flopped on the couch, Hudson called Matvei to watch the house. It didn’t seem necessary since the ninjas had Jenny and Kyoko, but I was too tired to argue. After his brief conversation, he hit the play button on his answering machine. A woman’s soft, Southern voice filled the house’s silence.