Page 38 of Dahlias, Sapphires, and Cool Autumn Dusk
Are they still talking baseball?Jeremy whipped out his key and the two of us followed him quickly into Dina’s apartment. A second later, Julian followed.
My heart was in my throat. I could hear it in my ears.Is this a panic attack? A heart attack?
I put my hands on my knees, breathing fast and hard, almost dropping the precious folder. That was when I noticed Daniel stood there in the living room.
“Did you get it?”
Daniel held out his hand expectantly when I looked up, so without thought, I handed it to him.
I forced myself to breathe, admitting, “I have no idea what’s in there.”
He tapped it against his hand. “It is going to find its way to Kit’s desk. We won’t tell him how it got there.”
Julian looked between us. “She went upstairs, and I couldn’t reach you. What the fuck did I miss?”
“Language.” Daniel squeezed Jeremy’s shoulder as he exited the apartment quickly.
Dina’s sigh drew my attention her way. “Kit is going to get himself disbarred. Telling teenagers to go steal paperwork..what was he thinking? He should have asked me to do it. I’m a dotty old woman, and I could claim I was senile.”
Everyone laughed, especially since Dina likely would be the least senile elder I could name.
Julian raised his voice to get their attention. “I’ll ask again. What happened?”
Relief at not getting caught finally hit me, taking the starch out of my legs, so I sank onto the floor. Jeremy sat next to me, tugging me onto his lap easily.
“The whole time, I kept thinking it was fine if she found me.” He cleared his throat, emotion clogging his voice. “But she couldn’t find you.”
“Same,” Phoenix agreed, and I noticed him stuff his shaking hands in his pockets. For Phoenix, it was a long stretch of not going down the k-hole, so I hoped he was okay.
It did beg a question, though. “What would you have said you were doing in her closet if you got caught? I mean…do you have a thing for expensive shoes?”
I meant to be funny, but they laughed like it was the best joke ever. Even Dina threw her head back, drawing a couple of startled snickers from me, too.
Then I breathed in deeply a couple of times before resting my head against my knee.The important part iswe didn’t get caught.“I would never tell on Kit. If they asked, I would say it was my idea. I wouldn’t narc him out.”
“I know, dear.” Dina put her hand on my head. “I know you wouldn’t, but don’t be so fast to take the blame, either. Save itfor things you’ve actually done. Then make sure you go through life doing enough interesting things that, when asked, you can proudly take the blame for them.”
Phoenix shook his head. “I would take the blame, so it doesn’t matter anyway. Everyone always thinks the worst of me, so it’s not like it would be a stretch.”
Julian sat down on the couch. “I kept the doorman busy…the whole time. She couldn’t talk to him because I kept him so busy, in fact.”
“Yeah, she noticed you.” Jeremy nodded then told everyone what she said to my aunt.
His twin grinned. “Brat? Been awhile since I heard that one. Okay. I’m a brat. But we have the folder, so Kit can get things done.”
I wished I’d had a chance to see more than my name on the outside of a folder, but that was on me.Why did I just hand it off?I closed my eyes.Panic. I acted out of panic.
“Will he tell me what was in there?” I asked, hating that my voice broke a little.
Dina touched my hair again, so I opened my eyes. “I’ll see to it that he does.”
An hour later, we were back in their apartment, so I sat down to work on my homework. Phoenix wandered into his room, and I worked hard to not wonder what he did in there.Hopefully not drugs.The twins pulled out their computers, also working on homework.
I glanced around, sighing at the normalcy of it all. As though we weren’t just playing at being thieves, breaking into a house and stealing documents.
We’re just doing our homework, no biggie.
Barrett got home about an hour later, just as I was closing my laptop. I retained nothing of my work, going through themotions but not concentrating. Hopefully it wouldn’t bite me in the ass at test time.
