Page 30 of Tempting as Sin
When he finally pulled into the circular drive of a mobile-home park, rocked over three speed bumps, and came to a stop in front of the shabbiest and saddest trailer in the place, he got out of the car fast and slammed the door behind him.
The relief was absolutely physical.
“Chuck’s still barking,” Bailey observed.
“Excuse me?” Rafe said. “Your mouth is moving, but there are no sounds coming out.”
“Stop it,” Lily said. Loudly, because Chuck could still make heaps of noise even with the windows mostly closed. “You are not deaf.”
“Close enough,” Rafe said. “Right. Here we go, Bailey. Ready for our close-up.”
Bailey eyed him and Lily dubiously. “What time is it?”
Rafe looked at his watch. “Four-ten.”
“It’sFamily Feud,”Bailey informed him. “It’s probably not even a commercial.”
“Nice try, kid,” Rafe said. “Let’s go. We’ll wait for you to announce us.”
Bailey sighed and led the way around an ancient Pontiac riddled with rust spots and up a rickety set of wooden steps. The trailer was bordered by the kind of latticework you might have seen in a garden, except that it was broken in spots. Lily pointed and said quietly, “Chuck’s domain,” and Rafe said, “You’re joking.” She’d said the dog had been sleeping under the trailer, but he hadn’t expected it all to be this…marginal.
When Bailey opened the metal screen door and went inside, the smell of cigarettes and ancient carpeting nearly knocked Rafe backwards. He heard some excited game-show voices, but he couldn’t see much through the filthy, brownish screen. Then the volume dropped, and after five more long seconds, Bailey came back and opened the door, her elfin face blank and her mouth, for once, shut.
Lily stepped inside, and Rafe followed her. A woman in a housecoat and slippers heaved herself upright on a yellow-flowered couch and said, “What’s going on?” She looked from the two of them to Bailey and back. “If Bailey did something, she didn’t mean to. She’s a kid, that’s all.”
The oxygen tube clipped to her nose was fastened to a tank on wheels beside her. It probably would have worked better without the cigarettes. Not to mention the “No Smoking” sign and the “Highly Flammable” warning on the tank.
Lily stepped forward. She’d tidied herself while he’d been in the shower, and her hair, neatly fastened into a braid now, shone brighter than anything in the drab, cluttered living space. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Lily Hollander, and this is, uh, Clay Austin. You must be Bailey’s grandma. It’s such a pleasure to meet you.”
She actually looked like she meant it, and if any woman had ever sounded and looked sweet, it was her. Other than with him, of course.
The woman, whose own graying-blonde hair was in a ponytail, looked from one of them to the other and said slowly, “Ruby Johnson. Have a seat. Do you want iced tea?”
“Oh, no,” Lily said, taking a seat on the side chair. “Thank you. We just had a snack.” Which was the right answer as far as Rafe was concerned, since he’d bet Ruby was talking about a jar of powdered stuff in a cupboard, and that it would be sweet. Iced tea was something he still couldn’t wrap his head around. Lily went on. “We just wanted to introduce ourselves, that’s all. Bailey didn’t do anything. She’s been hanging out with me, though, and I told her she could come visit some more and help me in my garden, but I thought we should meet you first and make sure it’s all right, and give you our addresses and phone numbers and so forth. Clay’s my neighbor up on the mountain. We sort of share a dog, so he’s here, too, since Bailey’s planning on visiting him. The dog, that is.”
“Well, sure,” Ruby said. “If you’re sure. But I don’t know about her visiting a strange man.”
That was rich, considering that Bailey seemed to have about as much supervision as a goldfish, but Rafe said, “I’m not so strange, I hope. I’m borrowing a friend’s cabin for a month or so this summer. Obviously, I wouldn’t have kids inside when I was home alone.”
Ruby looked at him out of narrowed eyes, which may just have been because she was taking a long drag on her cigarette, which was followed by a fairly spectacular coughing fit. When she finished, Lily asked, “Can I get you a glass of water?”
“That’d be nice,” she said, keeping her gaze focused on Rafe like he would probably be making some suspicious moves at any moment. Possibly stealing her collection of tabloid magazines.
Oh, bloody hell. The one on top featured him and Kylie in happier days. He could read the title upside-down, too, since the type was of the big and bold sort.Kylie’s Australian Heartbreak.
Brilliant.
He leaned against the wall, scratched the back of his neck, realized that was probably a flea bite, and dismissed the thought. After that, he crossed his ankles, hooked a thumb into the front pocket of his jeans, and projected “Not an Australian. Or a Werewolf” with all his might.
Ruby took the glass from Lily and said, “Aren’t you sweet,” so she clearly passed the test. As a bonus, Ruby wasn’t staring at Rafe anymore.
Lily said, “Bailey called you from my phone, so you may have the number already, but if you have a pad of paper and a pen, maybe I could write it down. My address, too.”
“Be my guest,” Ruby said. “You’re not social workers, are you? Because Bailey’s fine.”
“Oh, no,” Lily said. “No. I own Sinful Desires, the shop in town.”
“Thepornostore?” Ruby sat up a little straighter. “You’re kidding.”
