Page 27 of The Attraction File

THIRTEEN

Evaleen

“Tea time, Jensen?” I strolled into the small kitchen and shifted around the small table where Grace Jensen sat.

She lifted her delicate wrist and stared at her big metal watch. “No, technically tea time doesn’t start for another four hours, Ms. Bechmann.”

Grace giggled and shook her head.

“Oh, good to know. It’s just, you are drinking tea out of a tea cup. So, what’s in the cup then? Molasses?” I slanted my eyes to her yellow cup before turning to the coffee pot.

My mom went on a date last night, and I stayed up until she got home. She was trying Internet dating and I was worried. Men trolling the Internet looking for women couldn’t be trusted.

I was on my third cup of coffee and needed to be awake for the meeting I had with Jacob Mimir in a half hour. Don’t think it would look good if I fell asleep in front of the president of the company.

“No, it’s tea. That is how you properly drink tea. In a tea cup,” Grace said covering her mouth with her fingers as she laughed. “Oh, Ms. Bechmann, you are so funny. I thought Ms. Drake was the funny one around here, but I like your humor too.”

Grace was so easily amused. Sometimes I thought Grace wasn’t some crazy stalker that Payne had painted her out to be. Maybe Grace just had a simpler way of looking at things.

“I’ll be performing here all week, Jensen, so stop on by,” I said as I poured the last of the coffee into my white and blue Mimir mug.

“What? Performing?” Grace asked behind me.

“Another joke, Jensen. Never mind.”

Taking a sip, I realized it was the backwash of the coffee.

I poured it out into the sink and reached up into the cabinet above me for another coffee packet. It was on the third shelf, which was a ridiculous location for the extra coffee.

As the tips of my fingers reached the packet, another hand came up beside me. I turned my head to find Edgar gazing at me.

“Here let me.”

The deep vibrations from his voice caused me to shiver, and I shirked back to give him room. As he handed over the coffee, our fingers touched and that shiver from a moment ago turned into a lightning bolt up my arm.

“Thank you,” I said and felt the giggle bubbling to the surface.

I resisted its power as best I could, bringing my hand up to my mouth to fake a cough but it was too late. The immature titter escaped.

I wondered if that was my body’s way of punishment for not acting more like a ridiculous teenager when I was an actual teenager. I didn’t get a choice in the matter and had to grow up fast. Apparently, my body still held on to all that youthful silliness and was letting it out at the worst times, like in front of Edgar.

“Anytime, Evaleen.” He winked at me.

“I’m heading back, Ms. Bechmann.”

Just before Grace turned to leave she smiled at Edgar.

The hairs on the back of my neck rose. It wasn’t that she grinned at him, it’s how she did it. Like she had some secret.

“That was weird,” I said as I eyed her retreating figure before she turned the corner.

“Well, Grace has always been a little . . . odd.”

When I turned back to face Edgar he was fidgeting with a napkin. He never fidgeted. Edgar was always cool, relaxed, and in control. The only time I saw him lose it was last week in front of the detectives.

I figured Edgar was right about Grace and turned back to the coffee maker.

“Um,” Edgar said.

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