Chapter 16
Jamie awoke Saturday morning at the manor in the hills, without Etta, even though it was early enough for her to still be in bed.
Yet she had called Jamie late last night, apologizing that something had come up and she would spend the night at their penthouse.
Jamie offered to come meet her, but Etta told her to stay home, and that she would see her for their date the next day.
Since she trusted her too much for her own good, Jamie went along with it. What she never expected was waking up the next morning to Beatrice holding a silver serving tray with a cream-colored card on it.
“Good morning,” she nearly sang. Jamie was taken aback, her hair matted on top of her head and her armpits in her face and smelling like body odor death. I am a picture of femininity. That’s what she told herself when she took the card.
“What’s this?”
“Don’t know. Was told to deliver it to you at this time.”
Jamie sat up, pushing hair and sleep out of her eyes as she unfolded the card.
The words were written in Etta’s careful, cursive handwriting, although Jamie had no idea if they were her original words or something she copied from somewhere.
Knowing her, it was probably a translation of an Italian poem.
Sweet daffodils bloom in the garden.
Suppose you should go tend to them?
Your next clue awaits there.
All right, that was not a poem.
“What in the world?”
Beatrice shrugged, although her smile did not disappear. “Like I said…”
“Yeah… well, think I should have breakfast first before I go rooting in the garden?”
“I have it all ready.”
“Did Etta tell you to?”
“Indeed she did.”
What is going on? Jamie pushed back the covers and got up, walking past Beatrice and opening a bureau drawer.
She put on a simple green dress and a pair of flats suitable for going downstairs for her breakfast of waffles and berries and then headed out to the garden where the only batch of daffodils bloomed.
The sun rose violently in the east. Streams of sunlight blinded Jamie as she stepped out, yawning, avoiding the messy kitten that always caused problems in the kitchen – Beatrice was taking him out for a morning walk, his rhinestone-studded leash adorable.
Does she own that kitten now? She had offered it to Beatrice, to keep in her house out back, but she still dawdled on whether or not to become a cat mother.
More likely Harris can’t be bothered. Wherever he was.
Jamie bent down to find another cream-colored card in the bed of daffodils. She picked it up, fingers flipping it open and eyes searching Etta’s handwriting.
In the back of the car is your next clue.
Pack lightly, my flower.
Tonight we spend the night in the city.
The driver knows where to go.
Beatrice shrugged again when Jamie asked her what was going on. The kitten meowed in earnest as it found a bug to pounce on.
So Etta wants me to go downtown already… Jamie wasn’t going to go until that afternoon. Maybe do some light shopping before stopping by the penthouse and getting ready for their date. She was under the impression her girlfriend would pick her up there around dinnertime. So much for that?
“Do you think I should dress nice?” she asked Beatrice. “Or is this okay?” Jamie gestured to her jeans and sweater.
“I honestly don’t know. I’m living vicariously through you at this point.”
Jamie decided to take her chances with jeans and a sweater. Knowing Etta, she would drag her down there for no reason, and what would she be dressed up for? Besides, the dress she wanted to wear was already at the penthouse. As long as she got enough time to go…
She was ready in twenty minutes. After petting Barbarossa goodbye, Jamie grabbed a rain jacket “just in case” and headed out the door. She wasn’t surprised to find the Town Car and her driver already waiting for her.
Sit back and relax on your first ride today.The driver will take you to your reservation.You’ll be meeting an old friend, so keep your eyes peeled.
Sometimes it took almost an hour to get into the city.
Other times it only took half an hour. Today it was a healthy forty-five minutes, in part because it was late morning, but also because it was Saturday.
Jamie asked the driver multiple times where they were going, but he informed her that Etta made it very clear that it was to be a surprise.
Jamie slumped in her seat and sent Etta a text message. “What is going on? What are you up to?”
She never received a reply.
“Etta,” she growled, putting her phone away. “I swear…”
Without knowing what awaited her, Jamie shuffled back and forth in her seat, playing on her phone, trying to read a book like she usually did in the car, and begging the driver to tell her anything.
Finally, she called Natasha and asked if she knew what was afoot.
“Unfortunately, Amanda probably knows better than me,” she said.
“She’s the one who sets things up. Not me. ”
“I know, I know…” Jamie had Amanda’s number, as was customary, but she wasn’t about to call and ask for deets. They weren’t friends. Not by a long shot.
The car acted as if it were going to the penthouse. Yet it passed by the residential building, instead heading for the commercial district. The driver pulled up alongside a busy plaza and helped Jamie get out of the car. She clutched her purse to her side and looked around.
“What’s going on? Seriously, now.”
The driver gestured to someone sitting on a bench near the plaza fountain. “I’ll be nearby. Have a pleasant day.” He disappeared into the car. Jamie’s phone buzzed immediately.
“Are you coming over or not?”
She looked up. Monique sat on the bench, her stomach bigger than her handbag.
“Don’t you work on Saturdays?” Jamie asked the moment she approached close enough to be heard. “It’s your biggest day…”
These shrugs people kept giving her drove her up the wall.
Why won’t anyone speak to me directly? Did Etta put them up to this?
Probably. Her influence knew no bounds. At least she couldn’t pay Monique to keep quiet…
although Etta and Monique were incredibly close, so odds were good one would heed the other’s wishes, even if she thought they were stupid.
“I am heading back toward the Manoir after you and I are finished.”
“Finished?”
Monique stood, her center of gravity something to behold as she debunked everyone who ever told Jamie that first-time mothers didn’t usually show as much.
Monique was only in her second trimester and already looked like she was inflating a beach ball beneath her dress.
Sometimes, Jamie got brazen enough to ask to touch the pregnant woman’s stomach but knew better. Oh, did she know better by now.
“Etta has asked me to make sure you are ready for your date tonight. Actually, I volunteered. This is going to be fun.”
“Get ready?” Jamie paled. “Oh, no, she doesn’t want to do some crazy BDSM thing, does she? Because she did not go over that with me first!”
Monique muffled herself. Even so, Jamie could still hear the laughter bursting out from beneath. “Goodness, no. Perfectly vanilla, I assure you.”
“So you know what’s going on?”
Monique pulled another card from her bag. “I’m supposed to give you this.”
Jamie was quick to snatch it.
I’m leaving you in her hands.
Have fun but be at the penthouse by five.
You need to get ready.
I have big plans for you.
Enjoy your afternoon.
“I am starting to worry about what’s going on.”
“Don’t,” Monique reassured her. “You’re going to remember today forever.”
“Why’s that?”
“Ah, I said too much already.”
Monique hooked her arm around Jamie’s and led her across the plaza.
Since they were in the middle of the shopping district, it was a quick jaunt to everyone’s favorite boutique, The Ruby Peacock.
It had recently been remodeled, now sporting its namesake above the sign.
The inside was as usual, however, and Jamie was glad that the likes of Gladys the shopping assistant recognized her and knew her by name because Jamie was not dressed to shop at the most exclusive place in town.
This shop was not afraid to turn away customers, as their small sign by the front door said in five different languages.
The first time I came here, it was on Etta’s dime.
She had asked Jamie to pick out some new work outfits and a dress to wear for their first Valentine’s Day together.
She made me buy two because she tore apart the first one.
It was hot then, and it was hot to think about now.
I wonder if she’s going to tear me out of my clothes tonight…
Jamie realized she was spacing out in the middle of the city’s most expensive boutique and shook her head.
“…Ms. Coleman has authorized the use of her card today…” Gladys the assistant reassured Monique. “No spending limit.”
“Excellent. Then I’m sure you’re looking forward to the commission you’re about to get thanks to Ms. Coleman’s generosity.”
Gladys said nothing, but her smile was telling.
Jamie’s natural inclination was to purchase a dress. There was a multitude to pick out, each one silkier, more colorful, and classier than the last, but Monique waved her away from the displays and gestured to something Gladys held in her hands.
A card.
Another damned card.
Had Etta gone spreading them all over the city?
I don’t doubt that my flower is waiting to spend my money
But what if I told you that whatever you pick
You won’t be wearing tonight?
Nevertheless, enjoy yourself.
“Here.” Monique shoved a pair of blue pumps in Jamie’s hands. “Try these on.”