Page 57 of The Mouse and the Maestro

“I knew what you meant, and you’re good, no nose print.”

“Toiletries?” Jane said, and why it came out like a question she had no idea.

“Bathroom,” he replied, letting her go and sidestepping out of her way.

“I see you downloaded the most current version of the Jane nervously awkward translation app,” Emily commented.

“Virus free,” Blue replied, and Emily chuckled.

“How long am I packing her for?” she asked.

“Three days, maybe?” Blue guessed, leaning in the doorway to watch. “Can I help?”

“I’m good, thanks,” Emily said.

“I can’t think of one person I would trust to pack my clothes for me,” he remarked.

“Jane and I go back a long way,” Emily said. “She’s extra special to me.”

“I know the feeling,” he said, but he sounded a bit melancholy. Emily bit her tongue against the urge to interfere. Jane returned with her toiletries, double checked what Emily had packed, zipped the suitcase and pulled it off the bed.

“I love you,” Jane said. Unfortunately the motion of twisting her suitcase off the bed now meant she was facing Blue when she spoke. He stared at her, blinking without expression. “Emily,” she added, swiveling to face her friend. “Love you.”Kill me now,she mouthed.

Emily laughed, scurried over the bed, and drew Jane into a comforting hug. “Love you, too. Be back in two weeks or I’ll hunt you down like a dog in the street.”

“I positively would not miss what’s coming, no matter what,” Jane promised. She kissed Emily’s cheek, gave her one final squeeze, and let her go.

Blue picked up her suitcase and carried it to the living room where they were waylaid by Nick who scooped Jane into his embrace and kissed her full on the lips, something he hadn’t done since before the last time they broke up well over a year ago. She shoved away from him, shell shocked and dumfounded, but in notorious Nick fashion, he was grinning at her, well pleased with himself. “Goodbye, darling. I love you so. Do be careful.” To Blue he added. “Take good care of my girl.”

Jane came to and reached for her phone, but Nick preempted her, snatching it out of her fingers. “Let me get that for you.” He turned it off and handed it back to her before she could play what had become their theme song in life. With a little smack on her bottom, he shoved her toward the door. Blue preceded her out, suitcase in hand. Jane hung back, poking her head inside the door to speak to Nick.

“I’m going to kill you, slowly and painfully,” she promised.

“Something to look forward to then,” he said. He kissed his fingers and tossed her a wave. Aggravated beyond reason, she slammed the door and stalked away.

Chapter 25

The elevator ride was unbearable. Neither Jane nor Blue seemed to know what to say to each other, and so they stood side by side in heavy silence. The only saving grace was that Jane lived on the fourth floor, and the time was blessedly short. Once out of the elevator, it seemed easier to breathe, if not easier to talk.

Blue was driving his own car. He hauled Jane’s suitcase into the trunk, and then they started to drive. “How have you been?” he asked after he was safely on the road.

“Well,” Jane assured him, “Really well.” He did not need to know about the few weeks of misery she’d suffered after his departure. Eventually she was able to shove her sadness down into a pit, one so deep it rarely surfaced anymore. “And you?”

“Great,” he said, smiling.

Jane turned to stare out the window, trying not the let the word lance her heart. Of course he had been great. He had likely gotten over her so quickly and easily it was as if they never met, at least in his heart and mind. For Jane, who tended to love in an everlasting sort of way, it was likely she would never get over him completely. The only way she had been able to get overNick was because he repeatedly cheated on her and broke her heart, and even then she wasn’t able to let go of him completely, keeping him not only in her life but also in her apartment. After Emily moved out, it would be the two of them. They would likely be those old people who stayed single but never got back together, bickering roommates forever, like Mathew and Marilla Cuthbert. Maybe someday they would adopt a redheaded orphan and bicker over her upbringing, buy a farm on Prince Edward Island, make it official. The prospect made her stomach lurch. She wanted more than a love/hate relationship with her ex.

“I forgot how still you get,” Blue noted.

Jane turned to look at him and saw him regarding her with a look of warm affection. Her heart turned over. “I forgot…” she began but petered out before she could continue.I forgot how much being with you affects me, how deep my attraction to you goes, how much I like you, how right it feels when we’re together.“My lip balm,” she continued lamely. “I left it on my nightstand.”

“You can have some of mine,” he said, his gaze dropping to her lips before returning to the road.

Jane turned to stare out the window again, not sure what to do with that statement.

“I guess congratulations are in order,” he said a few minutes later.

She bestowed her attention on him again. “Hmm?”

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