Page 90 of The Missing Pages
“Aside from being told that I’ve been temporarily put on leave from working at Widener, not too bad.”
“What? How did that happen?” Theo looked flabbergasted.
“Don’t get me started. I don’t want to ruin our afternoon, but let’s just say it’s probably a combination of the stress from the book slasher having struck again and also that one of my roommates thinks I’m a loony toon who talks to ghosts in my room.”
“Gosh, that stinks. I’m sure it’s just temporary though, until they find the person responsible.”
“Let’s hope so,” she said. “I’m really upset, but I don’t want it to spoil our plans for today.”
“Well, please know I never said anything to anybody. I swear.”
“I know that,” she said.
“We have tons of leftovers if you’re hungry,” Theo said as he tried to change the subject.
“Great,” Violet said. “I’m famished.”
Theo glanced at the clock in the car. “Well, it’s about a twenty-minute ride to Lux’s place from here, and our appointment isn’t until two o’clock. That leaves us about an hour to spare. Do you want to head back to my house, get some lunch, and then go from there?”
“Sure,” she said. “That sounds nice. And we can’t forget the tobacco.”
Theo reached across her to the glove compartment and pulled it open. “I already put it in there so I wouldn’t forget,” he said with a grin.
Violet turned the dial on the radio and music filled the air. “I can’t keep wondering whether this meeting with Lux is going to be incredible or a real disappointment. I’m afraid to get my hopes up.”
“Well, it can’t hurt,” Theo answered. “The worst thing that can happen is that you have to hang out with me for the afternoon.”
Once they arrived at Theo’s house, the two of them made sandwiches from the leftovers and ate them outside, taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather. When she nestled into one of the same Adirondack chairs she had sat on when she’d visited there with Hugo, a bittersweet nostalgia came over her.
“It’s kind of strange to be here again,” she said as she breathed in the fresh air.
Theo took a bite of his sandwich and looked out at the bare trees. “That’s my fault. As we were driving, I realized maybe it wasn’t the best thing for you to come back here.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “You’ve been a really good friend to me, and I appreciate it.”
“I miss him too.”
“You don’t need to be a medium or anything to know that.”
“Speaking of which… we should probably head out.” He took her plate and they both headed toward the screen door near the kitchen. “We don’t want to keep Lux waiting.”
“No, we don’t.” She smiled. “She’d know we had no excuse.”
Theo knew the way to Lux’s, having driven his mother there a few times. When they pulled up to the home, Violet was surprised to find Theo parking in front of a split-level ranch house on a suburban street.
“Is this really the place?” she asked. “I was expecting a storefront or something.”
“Like with beads hanging from the threshold?” he said with a laugh.
“Yeah, kind of.”
“I was sort of surprised, too, the first time I took my mom here. But Lux just works out of her house.”
Violet shrugged. “Fine with me as long as she’s not a scam.”
Theo put the car key in his pocket and popped open the glove compartment. He handed her the bag of tobacco. “You should give it to her, since you’re the one connecting it to Harry.”
She took it from him and nodded. “Thanks,” she said. She never liked the smell of cigarettes or cigars. But pipe tobacco was different; it had a personal element to it, the way a perfume revealed something about the person who wore it. “I’m so curious what she’s going to say.”
