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Van did choke on his tea this time. His aunt circled the sofa at the speed of light and slapped him on the backuntilhemanagedtotellherinastrangledvoice he was quite all right now.
Well, Van was, but Pete Santini certainly wouldn’t be for long. He must be the only guy on the planet these days who didn’t understand how much trouble he could get into with a stupid, sexist crack like that.
“He was joking, surely,” Aunt Cynthia said.
“Absolutelynot.Hethrewmeoutonmyear—well, actually, if you must know, he sent me off with a pat on my ‘sweet little rear.’ ”
It was a little cake that Van choked on this time. He barely managed to get his napkin to his mouth fast enough to catch the eruption of crumbs. His aunt contented herself with a quick glance. Mary pretended not to notice anything.
“Ihopeyousuedhimforsexualharassmentsofast his little pea brain was spinning,” Aunt Cynthia said.
“Oh, no, not at all. I figured the best way to get my revenge was to make sure he had to hire me. I went out and got an invitation to your St. Patrick’s Day party.”
Aunt Cynthia clapped her hands in delight. “Wonderful! I know how difficult that must have been. I’ve had to make it the most exclusive party in town, the most sought-after. Otherwise, no one would pay the outrageous amount of money I demand for the Kiva micro-loan charity.”
“You succeeded. It was darn hard to con my way into getting that ticket.”
Aunt Cynthia grinned. “I wondered how you got your information. I saw the write-up in your column, of course. My word, did that cause a sensation. But I didn’tknowyouhadfirst-handinformation.Ithought you might have bribed or blackmailed someone.”
“Not my style.” Mary’s nose took loftily to the air.
“I thought it served Cousin Terry right that the whole city found out he passed out nose first in the avocado dip,” Aunt Cynthia said. “But I really thoughtnooneknewaboutthesenatorandthebelly dancer.”
“Ihavemyways.”Marysmiled.“IknewPetewould be pretty impressed if I managed to walk back into his office with a story about your party. It’s the biggest social event of the year, but he’d never been able to publish a single juicy detail about what went on, and now he could. It worked. Once he read my story, he couldn’t offer me a job fast enough.”
“I should say so,” Aunt Cynthia said.
“What have your spies told you about me?” Mary asked.
“Absolutely everyone wants to read your column. You’re unattached, except to the Saint Bernard everyone loves, you’ve flatly refused to sell your charming little house to apartment developers, you’re in your early twenties … ”
“Thirty, actually.”
Aunt Cynthia laughed. “You youngsters all look alike to some of my spies, give or take a decade.”
“I worked for quite a while, saving to get my MBA. I’m still paying off loans too. And now I have to find another job, or make one, freelancing.”
“You’re not doing your column for Toronado Life Online Magazineanymore? People will be so disappointed.”
“The column was the problem. I didn’t want to do that anymore, so he fired me.”
“Just like that?”
“Well, no, not just like that. He said if I got an interview with your nephew — ”
What? She was fired because of Van? He had to — No, he didn’t have to. He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t rescue yet another person who happened to be in his path, even though he was sorry if he’d really had anything to do with her losing her job.
Aunt Cynthia tapped her chin thoughtfully. Van watched her uneasily. She was thinking. That might be as dangerous as his ridiculous inclination to rescue this imp who wore black froth to walk her dog in the park.
“That’s why breeding Guinevere is so important to me,” the imp said. “Her pups should be worth quite a bit.”
“If you can bring yourself to sell them,” Aunt Cynthia said. “You’re known as the neighborhood soft-touch, you know.”
Mary flushed. Van wanted to nuzzle the warmth.
“I know the house my spies said you live in,” Aunt Cynthia said. “It’s that lovely little place with the gingerbread trim, between that office building they want to turn into a tower and the Toronado Arms apartments. The developers got away with boxing you in, but they didn’t manage to make you sell.”
“I grew up there. Mom wanted to move to the country when Gram died, but I stayed to look after the home she had loved so much. When the developers got pushy, I guess I got stubborn.”
