Dead Beat Dates & Deities - Goddess of Tornado Alley Series Book One

Chapter Thirteen

Nick was a no show at the office for the remainder of the week. Officially, he was at home with a bad case of strep throat, but Frank suspected something a lot more enjoyable was going on. When he called to let her know he would be out sick, his voice was much too clear and smooth to have been suffering from the bacterial infection he claimed had overtaken him, and the giggling in the background, Frank surmised, was not coming from any nurse.

Adam took Ella to Goodman's, a very expensive seafood restaurant on East 23rd Street on Wednesday evening where he wined and dined her until late into the night. When Frank called on Thursday during Ella's mid-morning break, Frank had done most of the talking while Ella fought off the effects of her lobster and white wine indulgences from the night before. Even though Ella was tired and a bit hungover, it was clear to Frank that she'd had a very good time with her new beau.

Out of the three couples she'd hooked up, it looked as though at least two of them were doing exceptionally well. She didn't know yet about her mom and Dr. Miller because her numerous phone calls and texts had gone unanswered. Frank was trying to be optimistic, thinking that her mother's lack of communication only meant she was enjoying some time with her newly acquired spouse. She decided to give Rosalie until Sunday morning. If she didn't receive some sort of communication by then, Frank was planning to go and beat down her mother's door and demand that Dr. Miller surrender Rosalie long enough to have a cup of coffee with her only child. Seriously, Frank reasoned. That wasn't too much to ask for since it was she who had gotten them together in the first place, was it?

She'd been thinking not only about Nick, Ella and Rosalie, but of that coffee when Mary poked her shiny white head into Frank's office at about four on Friday afternoon. The snow had returned after a few days of blue skies and warmer temps. The light coming through the open blinds was hazy, and the world beyond her third-floor office looked barren and cold. It wasn't quite February yet and Frank found herself already wishing for June.

"Frances?"

Frank spun her chair around and tried to look guilty for daydreaming. She found the ruse too difficult to manage and gave it up almost immediately.

"Hi, Mary," she said. "What's up?"

"You have a guest here to see you. May I send her in?"

"Of course," Frank answered, sure Ella had decided to swing by now that school had let out for the day. She was surprised when Rosalie walked in, her hair spikier than usual and decked out in a hunter green sweater dress that made the brown of her wide eyes look like warm chocolate.

"Hello, Frances," she offered pleasantly.

"You realize it's Friday?"

"Hmmm. Yes, I suppose it is."

"I haven't talked to you in almost a week. Your phone broken or something? You can't call your daughter to let her know you haven't been kidnapped or killed?"

Rosalie shooed the questions off with a brush of her hand and smiled at her disapproving child. "I'm a married woman now. I've been spending all of my time at Allen's house. I'm on my honeymoon. Who answers their phone while on their honeymoon?"

"Whoa. Let me see your ring."

Rosalie presented her hand and Frank whistled when she saw the size of the diamond she wore. "How big is that thing? Half a carat?"

"No, it's a carat at least. Maybe more."

"Good lord, Mom."

"What?" Rosalie asked. "I married a neurosurgeon. I didn't ask for a diamond this size, but I sure as hell didn't complain when he gave it to me." She pulled her hand away from Frank and leaned forward, her eyes squinting as she studied the stitches in her daughter's head. "Still a bit pink. Are you sure they aren't infected?"