Page 47 of Hot for the Jerk

“Let me help,” I said, after she glanced at me with her tired eyes.

The older woman nodded.“If you wouldn’t mind cutting up the fruit for the fruit salad, please, dear.”

“On it.”

We worked mostly in silence, since I could tell she was nursing a splitting headache.She alternated between drinking coffee and chugging water, and I watched her pop two little tablets of Advil at one point.She also kept rubbing her temples and eyes.

“When was the last time you had a night like that?”I asked, removing the tops off a bunch of strawberries.

Lenora exhaled, her shoulders rounding.“Long time.It was fun, but I’m paying for it.”

Smirking, I quartered the berries before adding them to the bowl with the other diced fruits.“It’s not fair.It tastes so good going down, makes you forget all your troubles, and enjoy life.Then it makes you feel like death the next day,” I joked before cracking my neck side-to-side, grateful that I didn’t have to sleep on the floor.Otherwise, my back would surely be wrecked and not just a little stiff from chopping wood yesterday.

“I think it’s so we don’t always do it.Otherwise, the world would be full of unproductive drunks.Nothing would get done.”

Nodding, I grabbed the bowl of freshly washed grapes.“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“Breakfast will be a little different, I’m afraid,” she said with a defeated look in her eyes.“Normally, I prepare all the pastries the night before, then bake them in the morning.But with no power and … the wine last night, I just didn’t.”

“And everyone will understand.”I held her gaze, driving home the fact that she need not worry.“We’ll put out a dandy spread, I promise.”

She didn’t seem convinced, and went to the freezer.“I have store-bought English muffins.We could fry up some eggs, slice some cheese, and I think I have some frozen, store-bought sausage patties we could cook up in the air fryer.Do you think they’d mind that not everything is homemade?”

“Is that what you advertise, you crazy woman?”

Her cheeks pinked up a little beneath the wrinkles and dark smudges under her eyes.“No, but it’s what I like to do.”

“Hey, lady, if it’s not on your website or in your pamphlet, you don’t have to stick to it.Do what is easiest.Especially right now.Nobody—at least not anybody staying here right now—is going to give you anything less than five sparkly stars if they review this place.If I could give you ten, I would.”

She blinked a few times as tears welled up in her blue eyes.“Thank you, Jagger.”

“Haul those muffins and patties out.It can be our little secret that they’re not homemade, hmm?”

Reopening the fridge, she pulled them out, then went to work defrosting them and getting them in the air fryer.

Voices in the sitting room pulled our attention before Julian and Cynthia appeared in the doorway.“Anybody else forget to turn off the light switches before they went to bed, then woke up to a blinding light in their eyes?”Julian asked, before covering his mouth to yawn.

I snorted.“Yep.Us too.I ran around the room, shutting them all off before they woke up Raina.”

“Coffee is fresh and there is hot water for tea,” Lenora said to them, pointing to the carafe and teapot on the island that we hadn’t yet moved to the console table in the dining room.

“We see you two stayed up and finished the puzzle,” Cynthia said, stepping forward to pour herself some tea.“How long were you guys up?”

“I think we finished it just after midnight,” I replied, stopping my fruit chopping to take a sip of my coffee.

Cynthia added cream and sugar to her tea, all while gauging me with a cheeky, knowing look in her eyes that made me rather uneasy.Almost like she knew something.A secret, or … oh fuck.

“Which room are you guys in again?”I asked, hoping my tone was casual and not panicky.

“Number six,” she said, stepping out of the way with her teacup so Julian could fix himself a coffee.

I swallowed.Raina and I were in room number five.Five and six were right next to each other.They shared a wall.

Oh, fuck.

Did Cynthia and Julian hear us last night?

I didn’t think Raina was that loud.I also thought all the grandparents were passed out.

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