‘Of course she didn’t hear you.’ Everett glanced at his wife. ‘She’s far too busy for that. What’s the problem, honey, was three days at the spa not enough for you?’
Mia shot him a nasty smile. ‘It was a lovely break. Though it would have been nice if my husband had joined me like he’d promised to.’
‘Your husband was too busy making money to pay for your damned vacations,’ he growled.
Kitty glanced down at Jonas. ‘The parade really was lovely, wasn’t it?’ she said, desperate to change the conversation. ‘It made me feel really Christmassy. And the singing was good, too.’
Turning her back on her husband, Mia smiled at her son. ‘Oh yes, tell me all about it, darling.’
Jonas answered his mother as Kitty sat back, relieved at having averted another confrontation.
Jonas’s grandfather sat at the head of the table, pushing his stew around with a fork, gazing into the mid distance. He must have been missing his wife, still unable to make it down the stairs to join them for dinner. A couple of times Kitty attempted to engage him, asking questions about the house and its history. He looked grateful for the distraction.
Wisely, Annie had chosen to eat her own meal in the kitchen, mentioning that she needed to keep an eye on the oven and the food she was baking. Truffles and pies, plus the most delicious-smelling brioches had joined the piles of cookies she’d made earlier. Kitty couldn’t help but think what a shame it was that she and Jonas appeared to be the only people in the house enjoying Annie’s food.
The stew itself was delicious, the meat mouth-wateringly good. Kitty had practically cleared her plate before the others had barely eaten a mouthful. She’d noticed Mia try one tiny forkful of her lentil casserole then wrinkle her nose, pointedly putting her fork and knife down on her plate to indicate she was finished.
The doorbell chiming through the hallway brought a welcome distraction from the dinner party from hell, and Kitty checked her watch, realising it could finally be the delivery she was expecting. The vegan dog food she’d express-ordered from a pet boutique in Rodeo Drive.
‘I’m sorry, that’s probably for me.’ Kitty stood up, scraping the legs of the chair along the floor. Everett looked over, giving her no more than a flicker of a gaze, before gesturing for her to go with his hand, not bothering to stop his conversation with Drake.
‘Can I come?’ Jonas jumped up too, his chair wobbling on two legs where he’d tipped it backwards. ‘What can it be? More gifts?’
‘You haven’t finished your dinner,’ Kitty pointed out.
‘I can finish it later.’
‘No, sir.’ Kitty shook her head. ‘You stay here, I won’t be a moment.’ There was no way she wanted him to see the dog food delivery, not after all the trouble she’d gone to in order to hide the damn dog at the cabin. There was only a week until Christmas; she’d made it this far, she wasn’t planning to give the game away now.
‘Oh shoot.’ Jonas gave in, sitting back down with disgust written on his face. ‘You have all the fun.’
It came to something when receiving a delivery was more fun than spending time with his family. Kitty walked over to the hallway, ruminating about his lack of attention, and wondering how on earth she could make this a fun few days for him while his grandmother was laid up, and his parents were more interested in scoring points off each other than actually engaging with her son.
‘You need some help?’ Drake asked, looking as keen to escape the dinner as she was.
Kitty found herself taking pity on him, even if he still wasn’t her favourite person in the world. Like her, he was an outsider, surely they shouldn’t have to put themselves through this.
‘Yeah, that would be great. Follow me.’
‘No fair,’ Jonas said, but stayed seated anyway.
‘There you are.’ Annie turned to greet Kitty and Drake as they made it out to the hallway. ‘He’s just bringing the packages now.’
A tall man wearing a brown uniform was walking up the porch stairs, carrying three big brown sacks. He tipped them onto the floor, pulling a clipboard out and handing it to Kitty to sign. She scrawled her name across the line then handed it back, thanking him for making a late delivery.
‘No problem.’ The driver gave her an easy smile, which broadened as soon as she passed him five dollars. ‘Merry Christmas to you both.’
As soon as he was gone, Kitty walked over to the bags of food. They were as large as potato sacks, just as heavy too when she tried to lift one. Affixed to the outside was a photograph of the contents; an unappetising picture of dried grey pellets, which made Kitty’s stomach turn.
‘Poor puppy,’ she murmured. ‘He’s not going to be happy about that.’
Drake carried the dog-food sacks into the larder, huffing beneath the weight as he lifted them onto the bottom shelf. ‘There, that’s it.’ For a guy who professed to spend half his life in the gym, he was looking surprisingly red in the face. Kitty couldn’t help but think about Adam, and those hard, thick muscles that rippled beneath his thin T-shirt when he ran. He’d lifted an entire deer without batting an eyelid…
Best not to think about that.
‘Thanks for your help,’ she told Drake, as the two of them walked out into the kitchen. Dinner had finished in their absence – she’d spotted Everett disappear into the library, while his father and Jonas climbed up the stairs to join the older Mrs Klein in her sick room. Annie had finished cooking for the evening, and Kitty helped her tidy up the dishes from dinner. The housekeeper sat down in her easy chair in the corner, watching the small television mounted on the wall.
‘You must have been upset, having to change your holiday plans to come here,’ she said to Drake, pouring them both out a glass of red wine. Though strictly speaking Kitty’s duties weren’t over yet – not until Jonas was asleep in bed – she thought they could both do with a drink.