Page 46 of Betrayal In The Bay
“Yes.” My mom sounded suspicious.
“Well, do you know that she’s in jail?” I felt a little guilty for throwing Annisa under the bus, but I wasn’t ready to discuss Aiden in front of him with my mom or anyone else.
“WHAT?” It worked. My mom was completely thrown off by my question. By the time I finished relaying Annisa’s situation, my mom had forgotten about my dating life.
“We’re leaving early to go to Monterey and see Annisa, so we have to go. Talk to you soon!” I rushed out and ended the call while my mom was talking. I felt bad about hanging up on her, but I didn’t want to be grilled.
“I’m sorry about that!” I rolled my eyes and shrugged my shoulders.
“That’s okay. I know what it’s like.” Aiden patted my arm in sympathy.
“You do?” I asked, not sure if he did know.
“Sure, I’m a quarter Japanese through my mom’s side,” Aiden said.
Suddenly, it all made sense. “Okay, you do know what it’s like then.” I don’t know why, but knowing that Aiden was part Asian made me feel better about our relationship. I looked up at him and smiled.
He smiled back and leaned down to give me a light kiss on the lips. He moved so quickly that I didn’t know he was going to do that. When he stepped back, he said, “I should be going, but I’ll meet you and Julia at Sully’s dive shop.”
“That sounds good,” I said, and before I could say anything else, Aiden kissed me again. When he lifted his face a few inches from mine, he was grinning broadly.
I smiled back and watched him get in his car. As he drove off, I waved at him, wondering if we would work out in the long run.
“Let’s take one thing at a time,” I said to myself on the empty street.
Having finished his nocturnal jaunt, Grumpy was ready to settle in for the night. He tugged on the leash as we walked toward the door.
“Let’s go in,” I said to the dog, and he gave me a short bark back in agreement.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Although it was after nine o’clock in the morning, I still felt groggy. Even my morning two cups of coffee hadn’t brought me out of my sleepy stupor. I had a tough time going to bed after Aiden left last night because I kept thinking about his kiss and how we were going to work things out.
I finally fell asleep after midnight, exhausted from overthinking. I barely registered what was going on when the alarm woke me up at eight o’clock. I was still in my pajamas when Julia knocked on the door.
When I opened it, she drew back at my disheveled state. “What happened to you?” she asked in alarm.
“Long story. Let me get dressed.” I stepped back to let her in and walked to the bedroom to change clothes.
I could hear Julia talking to Grumpy while I searched for something to wear.
“Black leggings and another pair of black leggings,” I mused aloud, holding up my two choices. Not much of a choice. I need to update my wardrobe.
I put one pair of leggings back, and I opened the closet to select a sweater. Looking at the clothes on the hanger reminded me of the luxury clothes Annisa had hanging in her closet.
My hound’s tooth tunic wasn’t on par with the cashmere Chanel sweater I saw in Annisa’s closet. Wondering where she got her stuff, I reached for the fuzzy sweater.
“Are you almost done?” Julia called out.
“Almost,” I answered back. I scrambled to get changed, and I was slipping on a pair of foam sneakers when Julia burst into the room.
“What is it?” I was startled by the frantic way she had come in.
“I was thinking about how Annisa told Aiden that she was selling the fake clothes and accessories online to make extra money,” Julia said in a rush of excitement.
“And?” I rolled my hand for her to elaborate on her thought.
“I remembered about six months ago, she joked that she needed to make more to move into a house in Nob Hill.”