Death of a Suitor #18

Chapter Two

Miles ended up going back home sometime around dawn. Myrtle dozed just a bit in her chair after he left, with Pasha curled up in her lap. Then she woke up, got ready for her day, and had a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, and fruit.

Elaine, her daughter-in-law, came by briefly before taking her son, Jack, to preschool.

"Good morning!" beamed Myrtle when she opened the door.

"Looks like you've been up for a while," said Elaine wryly. "As opposed to me."

Elaine was wearing a track suit that looked like it might have been slept in. She'd made an attempt to brush her bobbed hair, but looked like she'd missed a spot in the back, which was currently sticking straight up on the top of the back of her head.

"Just be thankful that you can sleep. You don't realize what a blessing that is. Come in and have some coffee, if you have time."

Elaine looked at her watch. "I can spare about fifteen minutes before I need to show up in the carpool line with Jack."

Elaine fixed her coffee while Myrtle visited with Jack. "Look at you!" she said to him. "You're such a big boy with your dinosaur backpack."

Jack gave her a toothy grin and then sat on her floor and carefully unpacked his backpack, showing her his show-and-tell toy, the "letter bag" full of things representing the letter s, and his dinosaur lunchbox.

He started playing with the box of toys that Myrtle had reserved for him as Elaine plopped down on the sofa with her coffee. "Maybe this will help me wake up a little," she mumbled. "How are things going over here?"

"Oh, they're all right, I suppose."

Elaine quirked an eyebrow. "Trouble with Miles's ladylove?"

Myrtle winced at the reference. "Eloise? Ugh, yes. Miles and I were having a completely lovely time doing puzzles last night when Eloise burst in, turned on the television, and then started loudly snoring."

Elaine hid a smile. "Really? That sounds very dramatic."

"Well, I suppose it happened in stages, but it certainly felt very sudden. Right now, I'd rather have Erma Sherman knocking on my door than Eloise."

"That really is bad." Elaine took another sip of coffee. "Is Miles really smitten with her, then? It seems like he's putting up with a lot."

Myrtle, who was smiling at Jack playing with toy trucks, said, "Heavens, no. No, he doesn't want to be seeing her at all. But you know how Miles doesn't like making waves. He's trying to find a way to cushion the blow when he breaks up with her. At the rate he's going, it might be next year."

Elaine leaned in as if she might somehow be overhead by someone other than a preschooler. "Okay. If that's the case, I need to share something I saw yesterday. I wasn't going to say anything if Miles was totally happy in the relationship. But I saw Eloise out yesterday with another man."

Myrtle frowned. "Out, like maybe she was stretching her legs and he was joining her? Out, like perhaps she was having a coffee and there wasn't another place to sit so this man shared her table?"

"No. Out, like they were definitely together."

"And you're sure it wasn't Miles?"

"Yes. Eloise reached out and put her hand on his and squeezed it. And then he gave her a kiss."

Myrtle said flatly, "Well, that definitely wasn't Miles. Miles doesn't believe in public displays of affection. Who was this man? Did you recognize him?"

Elaine nodded. "It was Jax Jackson."

Myrtle gave a low whistle. Jax was an attractive older man with a full beard and a rakish smile. He was tall and full of life.