Page 77 of Kiss Across the Universe
“Thank you,” Alannah said with deep gratitude. “This will feelsogood.”
Maryann just smiled and shut the bathroom door.
Alannah wallowed in the hot water and fresh-scented soap and shampoo. It was such a relief not to feelcold. She hadn’t realize how much it was eating into her psyche, until now when she was able to feel warm again.
She dressed and found her way back down to the kitchen area. Kit was there before her in jeans that didn’t look too oversized and a tartan wool shirt that he’d rolled up to his elbows. His feet were bare.
So were Alannah’s. She would have to beg for a pair of socks before they left. There was no way she was putting the dirty ones back on.
She sat at the table beside Kit. He had an old style landline phone in front of him, one of the ones with the push buttons on the front, and a receiver sitting over the base.
He was holding the receiver to his ear, nodding, and taking notes on a notepad withClay’s Canmore Autosand a phone number at the top. Above the pad were a bunch of pink, blue, yellow and green Post It notes with scribbled notes on them, stuck together in a haphazard fashion. They had to be Maryann’s messages.
Maryann was back at the stove, stirring the soup. Alannah got to her feet again and went over to her. “Can I help?”
Maryann smiled at her, her dark eyes twinkling. “What and mess up my system? I’m too used to doing this myself. You just sit and relax. If you did Orient Point Pass in three days from where Kit left his truck, then you need to do a bit more sitting for a while.”
Alannah didn’t argue the point. She went back to the chair. Kit smiled at her briefly when he hung up the phone, then reached for the next Post It, read it, and dialed again. “Let me catch up with everyone, first,” he told her. “Then I’ll know where we stand.”
Alannah nodded. She wanted that information herself.
Maryann brought over a bowl of steaming soup, which she put in front of Alannah, and held out a spoon. “Kit and Joe aren’t going to sit still for a formal meal tonight. They’ve got business to sort out. So we’ll just eat around them.” She brought a second bowl over to the table, sat opposite Alannah and began to eat.
That let Alannah eat without guilt, too. It was some kind of fish soup, hot and rich. Shrimp floated to the surface, and she gobbled them up. There was a spiciness that added a nice secondary flavor to the shrimp. Rice was at the bottom of the bowl and vegetables and bits of chopped up fish that might be salmon, in among them.
Kit got through two phone calls while she was eating the soup. He didn’t say much himself, beyond “Hi, it’s Kit. I got your message. What’s happened since?”
Joe came in from the back of the house, wearing socks only on his feet, and rubbing his hands. “Gonna be a cold one tonight,” he observed. “Truck’s tucked away. What’s happening with Kit?”
Maryann silently filled another soup bowl and put it at the head of the table.
“I don’t know yet,” Alannah told Joe, as she wasn’t sure who he had meant the question for, and Maryann wasn’t rushing to answer. “Kit is mostly listening so it’s hard to tell.”
Joe ate three quick spoonfuls of soup, hissing at the heat. “Listening’s good,” he said, and went back to eating.
Maryann came back to the table, carrying a loaded plate that she put in front of Alannah. Roast beef, gravy, roast potatoes, peas, and Yorkshire pudding. Alannah’s mouth watered.
Maryann placed a fork and steak knife on either side of the plate. “Go on, eat.”
Alannah didn’t need any more encouragement. She had almost finished the meal when Kit pushed the phone away from him and sat back with a sigh. “I can’t stand it. I gotta eat before I do another call. Don’t get up, Aunt Mary. I’ll see to myself.”
“I have to get Joe’s beef, anyway,” Maryann said, shooing him away. She served Kit a large bowl of the soup and put another roast dinner in front of Joe. She had a smaller plate of roast for herself, that she ate neatly and quickly. “Can you explain anything to us yet, Kit?”
Joe looked up, his attention caught, and studied Kit with an expectant expression.
Kit rubbed at his damp hair.
“Let’s start first with a sit rep,” Joe said. “That’s what you call it, right?”
“That’s what the Americans call it on television, Joe,” Maryann said chidingly.
“It’ll do for now,” Kit said easily. “There’s a guy, we’re calling him Iron Grey, who snatched Alannah right out of her house, three days ago. Her folk’s house, actually. She’s house sitting while they’re in Europe. We figure he learned she was there alone and thought she was easy pickings.”
“A trafficker, then?” Joe said. “Long way from an easy exit port.”
“He might have acted on impulse. Learned she was alone and taken the chance. A strong sedative would keep her contained until he got her to Vancouver and whatever ship they’re using.”
Maryann shuddered. “I had no idea it was something like this. Oh, dear…!”
