Page 18 of Fish out of Water
“Well if you don’t mind…” She whipped a scrap of paper from her pocket and passed it my way. “It saves me from having to get out in this heat.”
I looked down at the list penned in flowing cursive on pink floral stationary.
Diet Coke
Half and Half
Condoms
The last one had my brain tripping over all sorts of things I would never be able to fully scrub away.
“You’re a sweet boy.” She patted my chest. “Bring them up when you get back.”
And just like that I was an old lady’s condom dealer.
I guess I should be happy for her. Maybe in a few years when the thought was more palatable.
But right now it was only making me second-guess sleeping in my uncle’s bed without washing the sheets.
Sharon started to walk away, pausing before turning back to face me. “Oh. I forgot to tell you.” She wagged one finger my way. “A man came to the door this morning asking if I knew where your uncle was.”
“He came to your door?” Mrs. Sherling lived on the second floor of a completely different building than Vito did. There were much easier doors to knock on than hers.
Unless someone followed her home.
Sharon lifted one hand to push at her brunette bob. “He was a nice-looking young man too.” Her coral-colored lips lifted in a little smile. “Not as handsome as you are, of course.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him what you told me.” She smiled. “That Vito went to visit his family but he’d be back soon.”
Great.
Either the men looking for my uncle were targeting the people living around him.
Or they were now on their way to find the rest of my family.
One of those wouldn’t work out well for them.
Chapter Five
Julia
I WATCHED GRANT’S car slowly circle the parking lot from my spot behind one of the giant hedges running up the side of my apartment building.
Was it considered stalking if the other person was also stalking?
No. They had to cancel each other out.
I shifted around the keys in my hand, resisting the urge to immediately run to Mr. Frazier’s apartment.
All my luck Grant would have forgotten something and end up coming right back.
Thank God Mrs. Sherling caught him as he was leaving and passed off one of her famous ‘while you’re out’ lists. The ones I ended up with were usually at least twenty items long.
That meant Grant would be gone for a while. Long enough for me to dig around a little.
Again, not stalking.
