‘Thanks,’ said Effie drily. ‘I’ve been working on it my whole life.’
‘Is that Bonnie?’ Theo came out from the kitchen, a couple of small dishes in hand. ‘Wow, you really are nocturnal.’
‘Theo’s here?’ Bonnie couldn’t compute this. She’d been happily working alongside Clark, enjoying being proximate to a good-looking guy who had absolutely no intentions towards her. Meanwhile, Effie had been upping the ante by spending extracurricular time with Theo. In their home, no less!
It wasn’t that Bonnie had anything against Effie finally starting to date, or whatever this was. It just didn’t seem fair that she was doing it with the most eligible bachelor in town,all while Bonnie was spending inordinate hours slinging drinks and juggling complicated open tabs and being ignored by Bobby, of all people.
This whole thing was a mathematical impossibility. The universe was out of balance.
‘It’s not what it looks like,’ said Effie, finally, as though Bonnie was an overbearing parent, and not someone who’d been dubbed ‘Most Likely to Party All the Time’ in their high-school yearbook.
‘We thought there was a ghost at the library,’ explained Theo.
‘Only, the ghost turned out to be of the feline variety,’ said Effie. ‘And the new mom kind.’
The situation might be thoroughly strange, but Bonnie couldn’t resist anaww. The four tiny kittens were snuggled into their mom’s plump body, so close it would be hard to tell them apart, save from the fact that each was a different colour. The mom was a beautiful black cat with yellow eyes, and her babies were in turn white, grey, tabby and tuxedo, like a greyscale rainbow.
‘They’re tiny,’ observed Bonnie. ‘Do we need to call Dr Freng?’
‘He said to just make sure the mom is fed, and that they’re all warm and feeding.’
‘Ah,’ said Bonnie. ‘Hence why you have a fire going. And the heater as well. Have you stepped down as the Karen of the Electrical Bill?’
It was odd to be in the draughty old Queen Anne and not feel the chill of the New England air seeping into her bones. Despite her utter exhaustion, Bonnie felt almost cosy.
Effie pushed her glasses up her nose the way she did when she was spoiling for a fight. ‘Pardon me for sticking to a budget.’
‘At least our new energy panel helps with that,’ saidBonnie snippily. She regarded Theo curiously. ‘Very chivalrous of you to see my sister home. Are you planning on staying?’
Effie cocked her head, as though wondering about the answer to this question as well.
Theo raised an eyebrow. ‘How about I leave the two of you to it. I have meetings back in the city tomorrow, but I’ll pop by when I can. And definitely for our overdues ridealong.’
‘I’ll let you know if anything changes with them,’ Effie promised calmly, although Bonnie thought she heard a slight crack in her sister’s voice. She’d definitely frowned when Theo had mentioned the city.
‘Enjoy the rest of the dips,’ said Theo, gesturing towards the kitchen as he made for the front door. ‘All yours. Night, Bonnie. Night, Effie.’
The door creaked, then clicked.
‘Don’t be dim,’ hissed Bonnie. ‘Walk him out.’
Effie blinked behind her glasses. ‘Why? He’s a healthy adult. He can manage the stairs.’
Shaking her head, Bonnie grabbed Effie by her sparkly shoulders – she was actually wearing an outfit that Bonniemightbe caught dead in for once – then spun her around towards the door. All right, so she and Effie weren’t seeing eye to eye right now. If they ever had. But she couldn’t let Effie fumble what might turn out to be one of the most momentous moments of her life.
‘Night!’ called Effie, waving awkwardly at Theo as he made his way down the driveway. He turned and waved back, shooting a sunny smile at Effie, then jogged backwards down the driveway, almost tripping over a wayward garden hose.
‘Happy now?’ muttered Effie, closing the front door on Theo’s clumsiness.
‘Well, I tried,’ said Bonnie, pulling a slice of cold pizza (the best kind) from the fridge. Effie was a hopeless case. Absolutely hopeless.
As she sat down, she opened the copy of theYellowbrick Grove Gazettethat sat folded up on the table, flipping idly to page 23, where the horoscopes lived. But not tonight. The page usually dedicated to Madame Destinée’s spirited forecasts was blank.
Chapter 29
HOCUS, POCUS, LIBRARY FOCUS
Effie
