Claire shook her head.
Not going there.
Just because he’d looked at her lips and had been acting different ever since he returned didn’t mean a damn thing.
They would talk about it and clear the air.
And everything would go back to normal.
Claire worked her way into the living room of the apartment. Jax was spreading her world out. Backpack sprawled on the floor, notebooks on the coffee table. “It’s like we’re back in Richter all over again, minus the pizza,” Claire said.
Jax started to laugh. “If the headmistress could see us now.”
“She’d be shitting her pants.”
The doorbell rang.
Claire stopped laughing, looked at Jax. “Showtime.”
Jax offered Claire a fist bump before opening the door.
“Oh, hi . . . is this a—” It was Elsie’s voice.
“Hey, Elsie.” Claire bounced off the couch and peeked her head around the corner through the front door. “You found the place.”
“Yeah.”
Jax stood back, let Elsie in.
“Elsie, this is Jax.”
Jax waved her hand, closed the door behind her. “Nice to meet you.”
“Thanks for having me over,” Elsie said.
Elsie’s backpack met the other two on the floor.
“It’s cool. I need to meet new people.” Jax pulled a pillow off the couch and set it on the floor before she sat on it.
“Claire said you go to Bremerton.”
Jax rolled her eyes. “My dad’s idea of parenting is sending me to the strictest school he could find so he could ignore my existence.”
Elsie sat next to Claire on the couch.
“At least he lets you have your friends over.”
Jax laughed. “As long as I clean it up after. He’s such a pig, I don’t think he’d know if I didn’t.”
Claire couldn’t help but notice how easily Jax slipped into an American accent. It was like she’d never been to Germany, let alone grown up there.
The doorbell rang again.
Claire leaned forward and grabbed a piece of pizza. “Dig in,” she whispered. “Jax’s dad gives her guilt money.”
“I sometimes wish my parents would get divorced so I can have some of that,” Elsie said, reaching for a slice.
Jax walked around the corner with a petite girl who was undoubtedly the youngest one in the room, yet wore the most makeup. By her side was a woman in her sixties.
“Hi, girls,” the older woman said. “I’m Ally’s grandmother.”
Claire waved with her pizza. “Hey.”
“I told you everything was cool.” Ally’s jaw was tight, her eyes said she wasn’t happy with Grandma walking her in.
The grandmother seemed to take in the whole room. “Do all of you go to Bremerton?”
“Just me,” Jax said.
“We go to Auburn High,” Elsie told her, waving a finger between her and Claire.
Grandma looked down in that disapproving way some adults could manage. “Are any boys coming over?”
Ally grunted. “Grandma!”
“Hey, I’m gonna ask.”
“You’re so embarrassing.” Ally marched into the room and placed her backpack to the side of the coffee table.
“My dad would kill me if we had boys over,” Jax assured her, polite smile firmly in place.
That made the older woman soften. “Is your dad here?”
Jax shook her head. “No, but if you want to talk to him, I can call him. He’s at work, but he picks up if it’s me.”
“Grandma!” Ally glared.
“No. That’s okay.” She turned to her granddaughter. “Call me when you’re ready to leave.”
“I told you someone could give me a ride home.”
That was news. “I can,” Claire volunteered.
“Not this time.” Grandma turned toward the door. “You girls have fun.”
Ally wanted nothing to do with it. “Goodbye!”
Claire waited until the door closed before she started to laugh. “She’s worse than my aunt.”
Ally dropped her head back on the chair. “So annoying. I can’t wait to get my driver’s license.”
“Jax said you’re a junior,” Claire said.
“I am, but my mom wouldn’t pay for the class, and my grandma said I needed to get Cs in all of my classes before she’ll do it.”
Claire took a bite of her pizza. “I get it.”
“I don’t. So stupid. She blows money on a stupid private school instead of a car.”
Jax and Claire exchanged glances. She seemed to remember Jax complaining of the same thing when they were at Richter.
“Do you live with your grandma?” Elsie asked.
“Sadly. My mom has a few problems. So I’m living with the old bat.”
Claire couldn’t help but think a “few problems” were more than Ally was suggesting.
“I’m Elsie, by the way.”
“Claire,” Claire said, with her mouth completely full of pizza.
Jax sat back on the pillow. “Sorry, guess I should have introduced you.”
“Whatever.” Ally grabbed a slice of pizza.
Jax bounced up almost as soon as her butt sat down. “Want something to drink? I think my dad went shopping.” She headed toward the kitchen.
“Do you have soda?” Ally’s voice grew louder.
“Think so.”
Ally leaned over and picked up her backpack.
“Found some,” Jax called from the kitchen.
Claire looked over her shoulder to see Jax waving a two-liter bottle of cola.
“Good, it will work with this.” Ally waved a plastic water bottle in the air.
“What’s that?” Elsie asked.
Ally’s lips pulled into a Cheshire-cat grin. “The old bat should really put a better lock on the liquor cabinet.” She handed the bottle to Claire, who took the lid off and sniffed.
“Whiskey.”
“Yep. And good stuff, too. Not that cheap Jack that my mom always drinks.”
Elsie started laughing. “Now that’s the way to study!”
Oh, God. Underage drinking. Where did that fall in the investigation?
“Ally, I thought you were failing algebra,” Jax said, looking at Claire.
Yeah, they were both thinking the same thing. And it sucked. In reality, Claire couldn’t care less about a little adolescent fun, had drunk several times before she turned twenty-one. Then again, she’d turned eighteen while in Germany, and it was legal there.
Elsie set her half-eaten pizza down and moved into the kitchen. “Where’s the glasses?”
Jax hesitated. “You get the ice.”
“I can help.” Ally jumped up and moved into the kitchen.
“Hey, Jax, we need music.”
Jax left the kitchen while the other two scurried around in the kitchen opening cupboards.
“Well?” Claire said under her breath.
“My dad uses some country station on the TV,” Jax said, a little loud. Her eyes opened wide with a what the hell do we do now expression.
“Veto on country.”
Claire noticed an Echo on a side table. She told it to turn on and play.