Page 66 of Love Undecided
Chapter 29
Kat
By the time we leave the hospital, the day has begun. Bauer decides he wants to stop by Madison Taylor's house one more time before taking me home. He's convinced we missed something the first time around.
The house is still an active crime scene, and the family has now been moved to a hotel to stay for the next few days. Bauer flashes his badge at the guy guarding the perimeter and we drive up to the property.
In the daylight, I realize the Taylor's live a few houses from Mavis Strassburg, and I’d told Brad I would check in on her. I tell Bauer I'm going to visit with her while he goes in to check for whatever it is he thinks he missed. The sun coming out has warmed the day a bit, so I leave Brad’s jacket in the car. I'm hoping she has coffee already brewing.
Mavis and her late husband, Stone, mentored Lexie when she was in college and grad school. Then offered her a job after she graduated. When Stone retired, he sold the tasting room, the vineyards, land, and equipment to Lexie at an extremely reasonable price.
It's why she named the wineryLovestone,as a tribute to Stone and his generosity. Sadly, he passed a year after retiring. And Mavis has been alone ever since. So I’m sure she is probably eager for company.
I hear her dogs, Stella and Clyde, barking before I even make it to the front door to knock. I can hear Mavis saying something to them
She answers the door, her nose is almost as red as her glasses.
“Oh Katarina, my otherbubula,” she says. “How lovely of you to visit. Come in, come in.” She sounds congested.
“Oh no, Mavis, are you sick?” I ask.
“Oy vey. Yes, so sick. I feel death coming, Katarina. Knocking on my door. Waiting to take me to mygelibteh.” She coughs delicately. “Alev ha-sholem.”
“May he rest in peace,” I repeat.
“Now come,” she says gesturing to her kitchen. “You can get us some coffee andnoshand we will talk, yes?”
We sit down in her kitchen, which always feels so inviting to me with its light yellow walls, white cabinetry, and stainless steel appliances. I get us coffee and strudel while she makes herself comfortable in her built-in breakfast nook.
“Tell me, Katarina, how are mybubalas? You are all good, yes? Happy?”
She’s asking about Remi, Lexie, and me. Even though Lexie is technically the one that Stone and Mavis took under their wing, Remi and I definitely came along for the ride. We are all without family in one way or another.
For me, my dad wasn’t in the picture at all, so I never knew him or his parents. And, like me, my mom was also an only child raised by a single mom. Sadly her mother, my grandmother, passed when I was young. So I never really knew her. But my mom and I are still close.
Remi was an unexpected accident for her parents, born eighteen years after what they thought was their last child. They were planning on an early retirement when she came along and they did not appreciate the interruption of their plan.
So, Remi spent most of her childhood in boarding schools, never getting the opportunity to get to know her parents or her two older siblings. Her parents have been happily ensconced in a retirement community in Florida since she was fifteen. Needless to say, she does not see any of them often.
Lexie, however, had an idyllic childhood with two amazing parents who adored her, and a twin brother who was her best friend. They died on their way to visit her and celebrate her first harvest as Stone’s protégé. Lexie’s father, a commercial pilot, was flying the plane that crashed with the three of them on board. And just like that, Lexie’s entire life was gone.
Remi and I tried to help her the best we could, but I was away in law school, and Remi was away in grad school and we couldn’t get back to San Soloman enough to be there for her. So she leaned on her boyfriend at the time, and the Strassburgs. And, together, they helped to put her back together after she fell to pieces.
I know that even though Mavis doesn’t get to see Lexie often, they do speak on the phone almost daily, so there isn’t much to update her with. But I still update her on the basics with all of us.
“And your health, Katarina? Is good, no?”
“I still have no evidence of disease, so it is very good.”
“Mazel tov.” She takes small sips of her coffee and even smaller bites of her strudel. And I pretend not to notice that she slips more strudel to the dogs than she eats herself.
I lean over the table toward her. “Are you ready for a juicy story?”
Her blue eyes twinkle behind her big red glasses and I swear I can see her rubbing her hands together in glee, even though she isn’t actually moving. She loves a good gossip story.
“So, believe it or not, the detective I am working with right now, at the police department, used to date Remi in college. And, I think they still like each other.” I don’t tell her the real story of Remi and Bauer, instead I make it juicy and romantic. Embellishing for the sake of the story when needed. When I’m finished, Mavis has tears in her eyes.
“Oh, that makes my heart happy, Katarina. Everyone deserves a second chance at love. I do hope you are happy with thisboychik,” she says, blowing her nose loudly.
