Chapter Twenty-One
Pippa woke from the two hours of sleep she’d managed to get the night before. Yesterday had started as a disaster, gotten worse, and then that call from Chris Germaine. Her dream had been handed to her on a platter. If anything, she should have been up last night, her mind cycling with ideas for the new show.
She spent most of the night obsessing over Matt, which was so dumb it made her teeth ache. Not even after his betrayal had she spent this much time thinking about Ray. Matt had called it right; they were drifting into dangerous territory. Far better, and less messy, to make a clean break now while they both still could. Except, it didn’t feel clean to her. It hurt, dammit.
She was so pathetic it made her want to puke. Pippa stomped into the bathroom and snapped on the bath faucets.
The pipes clattered and groaned and . . . nothing.
“Really?” Pippa glared at the dry faucet. A small trickle of water tinkled out and stopped. Damn this ridiculous house. It was as temperamental as its owner.
Pippa tried again, just in case. The pipes groaned like a lactose intolerant after a cheese binge. Pippa stomped over to the bathroom door and yanked it open. “Phi!”
Phi was not the only one in this house with an impressive set of pipes on her.
“Mon ange.” Phi’s voice floated up the stairs from the kitchen. Sweet enough to bring Pippa’s hackles up. Phi was up to something.
“There’s no water.”
“Of course there is,” Phi said.
Pippa opened her mouth to yell her complaint down the stairs and snapped it shut again. Phi could hold a bellowed conversation all day if she had to. Pippa tramped down the stairs and shoved open the baize door.
“Angel.” Phi beamed at her. “You’re not dressed.”
Pippa glared at her grandmother. “Really? How am I supposed to get dressed if I can’t have a bath? And can we please put in a shower?”
“Showers are vulgar.” Phi pursed her lips and tapped her forefinger against her chin. “I see the problem. I know!” She snapped her bedazzled fingers. “Coffee. We will start with coffee and then apply our minds to the solution. See, we have a visitor.”
Pippa stared blearily at Jo, sitting at the kitchen table with a smirk on her face. “Hi. Nice pj’s,” she said.
“Thanks.” At least they matched and didn’t have anything embarrassing on them. Pippa threw herself into a chair at the kitchen table.
Phi put a mug in front of her. “There we are, darling. You’re always so much more charming when you have some caffeine.”
True that. Pippa took a careful sip of her coffee. Thank God, June must be here somewhere because the brew didn’t strip her throat on the way down. “The water isn’t working in my bathroom.”
“Really?” Phi did that chin tapping thing again.
Pippa smelled a Phi-shaped rat. She may be one of the greatest voices in the world, but Phi was a truly horrible actress.
“My water was fine,” Phi said. “Josephine, would you see if we have water here in the kitchen?”
Jo opened her mouth to protest her new name. Pippa shook her head at her. It wouldn’t do any good. Phi had decided Jo was a Josephine, and not even the arrival of a valid birth certificate would change that.
Jo stood up and turned the faucet on. Water gushed out. It reminded Pippa of the time when she doused Matt as he—
“I’ll use your bathroom,” she said to Phi. She was worse than pathetic. Next thing she’d start doodling his name all over her notebook and decorating it with hearts. What she needed was a list. A list of all the reasons why taking the Chris Germaine job was the best thing for her. For good measure, she’d follow that up with a list of all the reasons why her future was not in Ghost Falls. Then she could combine the two and prove to herself that Matt calling this thing quits was the best decision for both of them.
“June is cleaning in there.” Phi pulled a regretful face, so false it made Pippa want to laugh. The old bag was up to something.
“Then I’ll wait.”
“Or,” said Jo, coming in right on cue. “We could call Matt and ask him to get over here. Urgently.”
Pippa glared at her, then turned the glare on the real culprit, disemboweling fruit at the counter.
“What?” Phi opened her eyes wide.
“Is that why you’re here?” Pippa turned back to Jo. “Because Phi dragged you into one of her schemes?”
“What scheme?” Jo had good game face, but Pippa was an old hand at Phi and her antics. She kept her level stare going and Jo blushed and dropped her eyes. “Only partly.” Jo rallied but her blush stayed. “I wanted to tell you that I broke off my engagement this morning.”
“Really?” Pippa studied her face for signs of heartbreak.
Jo looked composed, relaxed even and missing that tiny storm cloud over her head.
“Are you okay?”
“Yup.” Jo smiled. A little wobbly around the edges but still there. “I think he was relieved, to be honest.”
“Stupid ass.” Phi hacked a strawberry in half, and threw the good bit into the trash. “He has no idea the treasure he has tossed away.”
Pippa got to her feet and took the knife away from Phi. She’d never get any fruit for breakfast at this rate.
“Men,” Phi declared as she took her seat at the head of the table, “often need to be reminded of what they really want.”
Ah, here it came. Pippa kept slicing the tops off the strawberries. Phi had a built-in radar for what she called “troubles of the heart.”
“Yes,” said Jo. “They’re very stubborn about what they think they want.”
Pippa dropped her strawberries into the colander and moved on to the pineapple. Jo had potential, she’d give her that. Delivery needed a bit of work, but she was quick to take her cue.
“You’re so right, Josephine.” Phi raised her voice until the horses must be able to hear her. “They tend to act impulsively, and often require a push in the right direction. Do you know any men such as this, Josephine?”
“Er, yes.” Jo jumped on her line with gusto. “In fact, I do. You know the other day I was saying to my brother, Eric, that our brother Matt—”
“Seriously?” Pippa turned to stare at them.
Big eyes from Phi, but Jo had the grace to drop her gaze to the table.
“I appreciate the effort.” Even though it felt like dragging fishing hooks under her nails. “But Matt and I are fine.” She turned back to her pineapple. Almost did a Phi on it, her hands were shaking so badly.
“What does fine mean?” Jo asked.
Good question, and Pippa shrugged. “We were a fling, a for-now thing. There’s no big relationship or anything. I’m leaving, he’s staying, end of story.”
“Then why is Matt in such a bad mood?”
He was? Pippa put the knife down before she took a finger off.
“Do you hear that, Agrippina?” Phi was not going to give this up without a fight. “Mathieu is aggrieved. Why do you think that is?”
“Probably has to do with his mother.” Damn! Stupid thing to say with Jo sitting at the table. Pippa spun around to apologize. “Jo, I’m sorry. I meant—”
“Oh, please.” Jo waved her off. “You don’t need to pretend with me. I’m an old hand at the Cressy guts-in-a-vice style of parenting. She’s launched a hunger strike over my broken engagement.”
Phi gave a sigh that shook the rafters. “That woman needs to find something else to fill her mind.”
“Couldn’t agree more.” Jo toasted Phi with her coffee mug. “Right now she is demanding Eric and Matt dance around her. I left before she could start on me.”
“Did she like your fiancé?” Pippa wasn’t sure why she asked, but she needed to know more.
Jo made a rude noise. “She can’t stand him. She wouldn’t even have him in the house.”
“Then why?” Pippa turned back to her fruit and washed it all under the working faucet. Cressy had always been difficult to figure out.
“Power,” said Phi. “Information is power and she loses it when she is not the first to know.”
“You could be right.” Jo got up and refreshed her mug. She brought the pot over to Pippa and topped her up as well. “The guys get the worst of it. Eric laughs her off, but Matt . . .” She ended on a shrug. “He’s so used to taking care of her, he’s buckling into his armor before he even thinks about it.”
“Very noble,” Phi murmured.
Jo snorted. “Actually, I think it’s a bit pathetic. Matt is nearly forty.”
Thirty-six was not nearly forty, but not the point.
“It’s time he broke the chokehold she’s got on him,” Pippa said. She didn’t want to leave here and think of Matt stuck in his mother’s boa constrictor grip.
Phi heaved another window-rattling sigh. “This, I cannot disagree with. It is the curse of the nice guy.” She perked up straight in her chair. “Did I ever tell you about that Italian lover I had?”
“Which one?” Pippa sipped her coffee and brought the fruit to the table.
“Massimo.” Phi stared off into the distance with a tiny smile. “Wonderful lover, so creative and caring, really inventive with his—”
“Anyway.” Pippa got in quick because Jo looked a little green.
“Yes, indeed.” Phi gave a bordello chuckle. “Anyway, he had a mother such as yours.” Phi tapped the table in front of Jo. “She did not want him consorting with a performer, such as me.”
“What happened?” Jo plucked a hunk of pineapple out of the bowl.
“He moved to Milan,” Phi said.
“Because of his mother?” Jo chewed the pineapple and snagged another piece.
“Oh, no.” Phi flapped her hands in the air. “He had a house there, and he was engaged to a young girl who lived two streets over from his house.”
Jo blinked at Phi and then Pippa.
“And your point is?” Laughter built inside Pippa. Jo had no idea of the mental gymnastics of Phi.
“That nice men are often taken advantage of by grasping women.” Phi finished with a hand flourish. She wrinkled her nose at the fruit. “Are we not having eggs?”
Pippa rose and grabbed a pan from the cupboard. The caffeine had soothed the rough edges off. “Are you staying for breakfast?”
“Of course she is,” Phi answered for Jo. She leaned in to the other woman and winked. “Pippa is a marvel with the egg.”
Pippa bit back her snort as she grabbed the eggs from the fridge, adding a few more for June, who was likely to appear at around the time they were ready.
“Call your brother about the pipes,” Phi said from behind her.
“Phi.” Pippa turned to glare at her grandmother. Her heart sank as she caught the fanatical gleam in Phi’s green eyes. Phi might break the entire house to get her own way. She sighed and went back to her eggs. “At least give me a chance to get dressed first.”
“Like I said, nice pj’s.” Jo laughed.
“Yes.” Phi hummed and tapped the table. “But a dash of makeup and a little spritz of perfume would not go awry. Men are visual creatures, not subtle.”
Pippa could feel their eyes on her back.
“You’re right,” Jo said. “I’ll call in a little bit.”
“But do not leave it too late,” Phi said. “Because the lovelies are due here this morning and a man cannot woo with children underfoot.”
“There will be no wooing here today.” Pippa really had to draw the line somewhere.
Jo smirked at her.
Phi pressed her hand to her bosom. “Of course there will, darling.”
Why did she bother? Pippa gave her eggs a vicious jab.
* * *
Matt sipped his coffee and wished he could mainline it.
“Sweet Jesus.” Eric dragged out a kitchen chair and straddled it. “She’s gotten worse.”
“Yup.”
Their mother was in full meltdown mode this morning. She’d barely given him a chance to get the coffee on before she started.
“How do you stand it?” Eric’s hands tightened around his mug.
Matt shrugged, because right now he wasn’t. The desire to yell at his mother rode him hard.
“Hey.” Nate appeared in the kitchen door. “What’s going on?”
“She called you, too?” Eric swung his gaze to their younger brother.
“Yup.” Nate looked from him to Matt and back again. He growled and moved to the cupboard and snatched out a mug. “I’m too fucking busy for this shit.”
Weren’t they all? Coffee burned Matt’s mouth as he took a huge slug.
“Wanna give me the Cliffs Notes?” Nate added cream to his coffee and three heaped spoons of sugar. Shit, his brother must work out like a demon to keep that sugar off. At least Matt hoped so, because otherwise he was going to get seriously pissed. More pissed. Four times he’d pulled out his phone to call Pippa. He ached to hear her voice, watch the way her sparkling green eyes took the situation in, assessed and cut straight to the heart of the matter. But he’d done the mature thing with Pippa, the right thing. The only thing he could do really. He didn’t want to hold her here. He knew too much about how that felt.
“Mom’s having a shit fit because Jo broke off her engagement,” Eric said.
Nate gaped at him. “What the fuck?”
“Exactly.” Eric shook his head.
“She hated the idea of Jo getting married.” Nate stared at Eric and then Matt. “Didn’t we have one of these about six months ago when Jo first told her she was getting married?”
“Yup.” For the first time probably since his dad had died, his mother’s issues were not the most pressing thing on his mind.
His phone rang. Jo. He almost didn’t hit accept, thinking for a minute their mother had decided to gather the clan. In the end habit kicked in and he answered the call.
He was heading for the door before Jo finished speaking.
“Where the hell are you going?” Nate called after him.
“Phi’s,” he yelled back. And Pippa. That got him moving faster.
A chair scraped behind him. “You’ll need my help,” said Eric.