Page 17 of Hiding Hollywood

The man infuriated her. She closed the bedroom door gently, keeping her frustration inside and not letting him know more than her inappropriate hand gesture had given away. But the last thing she wanted to do was discuss Cameron’s idiot comments with his mother and rattling the house with a slamming door would surely raise a few eyebrows. Although, based on what she could tell of Mrs. Dempsey, she might actually agree. He’d probably run Jennifer off with his negativity.

Damn it! She’d left her coffee in the kitchen.

Addie would find Mrs. Dempsey, as soon as she was sure Cameron had disappeared under his rock again, and she’d beg to access their computer. The most she could hope for is that the operating system wasn’t more than a couple years old. With the things she had to do to gain access into the secure server forWhite Rabbit, Addie might as well send a telegram by pigeon if the computer was any older.

At the sound of the back door closing, much harder than necessary, Addie peeked out into the hallway. Mrs. Dempsey walked out of the kitchen.

“He’s gone.” Mrs. Dempsey laughed and motioned her out of the room. “I meant to show you something yesterday.” Addie followed her down the hallway and into a part of the house she’d not been before. “I don’t know what my son said to you or you to my son, but I’ve never seen two people more determined to avoid one another. He grabbed a plate of leftovers for a late lunch and took it to go. Without heating it up. What happened?”

Probably shouldn’t tell her that she’d stopped barely a second shy of dragging her son back to her bedroom.

“Nevermind. I can only imagine based on his attitude when he left. He’s had a tough go of it the past year or two, but I promise he is a nice guy. I’m sure you’ve heard about the break-ins in town? His dad has let him take over the investigation completely.”

“Right. The case.” Had she misread the look in his eyes?

“I think he sees it as a way to prove to the town that he can do this job.”

“Do what job?”

“Become Sheriff. He’s going to run when his dad retires.”

“Oh.” Cameron’s work stress didn’t excuse him for being rude, but that was the second person that seemed to forgive him for acting that way. She wished she could justify his attitude as quickly. The fifteen-year-old inside of her still held on tight to the image that he was perfect. He’d managed to absolutely crush that fantasy in the past few days.

Too bad she had another three or four dozen fantasies that he starred in that would take a little more effort to snuff out.

They stepped into a laundry room. “I figured, since you’re here for a little bit, you might need to wash your clothes. Feel free to use anything you need.”

She took a deep breath. “Can I use your computer?”

Mrs. Dempsey began changing the clothes from the washing machine to the dryer. She pressed the button on the dryer, and the rumble of clothes started. “Absolutely. I turned it on after that day at the library. It works. I’ll show you where it is. We haven’t used it in about six months. My husband bought me a tablet for my birthday last year, and I haven’t needed the computer since. I never even think about it, to tell you the truth. You could have used it all along to check your email.”

“When did you get the computer?” Did that sound too pointed of a question? She didn’t want to draw attention to herself, but the more information about the computer she had before she got into the guts of it, the easier it would be.

“About two years ago, I think.”

That might not be bad, then. She smiled at Mrs. Dempsey. “I’d love some time on there.”

“Of course, it was my mother’s computer before she passed away. She might have gotten it a couple years before that. She loved to play solitaire.”

Maybe not. “Can I see it?” No way to tell if she could make it work until she got in there and poked around.

Mrs. Dempsey led her into an office to the left of the dining room. The computer sat in the corner. A layer of dust would have complimented the relic, but the Dempseys had better housekeeping skills than that.

“Is there a password to log on?”

“No. And it should be hooked up to the internet.”

Taking the chance of sounding too smart, Addie said, “I might have to download a program or two. If it needs updating, that is. Is that okay?”

“I really never use this thing, darling. Download whatever you need.” She patted Addie’s shoulder. “I’ll leave you to it. By the way, I’m making meatloaf tonight. I guessed by the egg whites you ate this morning, that you’re completely off your vegan diet?”

“Yes. Definitely.” She wouldn’t miss another one of Mrs. Dempsey’s fabulous meals. Brian could take his vegan diet with him when they finally broke up.

“Head to the kitchen around five. You can learn how to make it.”

Addie swallowed. “You want me to cook?” Meat. In a loaf. She’d heard of it before, but how did that work? Like in an actual loaf of bread?

“Anyone can make meatloaf.” Mrs. Dempsey left the room, leaving Addie with the feeling of dread. For the computer and her horrible cooking skills.

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