Close to You

gestured for a Guinness from the bartender.
    “ Tell me about it. I’ve
been on this case where the husband wants proof that his wife is
fooling around with her Pilates trainer. I followed that woman all
over the city today.”
    “ Did you catch
her?”
    “ Not with the Pilates guy,
but I have great pics of her and her masseuse, who’s a hot
blonde.”
    Hot blonde made him think of Eve, and he wondered what she
was doing tonight. He shook his head. “A lot of guys would kill to
have your job.”
    “ It definitely has perks.”
Rick lifted his beer. “So what’s her name?”
    “ Excuse me?”
    “ The chick who has you so
distracted. I haven’t seen you this way since Denise Michaels
flashed you at freshman orientation. You weren’t even like this
with Phoebe.”
    Treat nodded his thanks to the
bartender as he accepted his pint. “How was I?”
    “ Indifferent. Both when you
married her and when she left.” Rick shrugged. “You didn’t love her
though. That was obvious from the beginning.”
    “ I didn’t, Freud?” he said
with a small smile.
    “ No, you felt responsible
for her.” Rick leaned his back against the wall and stared at him.
“So tell me about this new woman.”
    “ No wonder they pay you so
much for your services.”
    He shrugged modestly. “I’ve got a
sense.”
    “ Her name is Eve.
Evangeline,” he remembered her father calling her.
    “ And she’s beautiful,” Rick
added dispassionately.
    “ But that’s not what’s
striking about her. It’s the way she approaches life. She goes for
what she wants. She’s practical but whimsical at the same time.” He
thought of her shoes and smiled. “Passionate. Fun.
Grounded.”
    “ And vulnerable?” Rick
asked in an overly offhand tone.
    “ Yes, but not how you
think.”
    “ No?”
    “ No.”
    Rick arched his eyebrows in disbelief.
“You know you have a pattern, right? You like to rescue women,
which would be fine if it didn’t involve needy women.”
    “ Eve doesn’t need to be
rescued.” He frowned, thinking about the garden hose.
    “ Your expression says
otherwise.” Rick grabbed a handful of nuts from the bar. “What’s
her problem?”
    Treat thought about the garden hose
and frowned. “I think my mother’s sabotaging Eve’s coffee
shop.”
    His friend stopped watching TV and
faced him. “I think I heard you say you think Margaret’s sabotaging
your girlfriend.”
    Treat told Rick about the reviews, the
book party, the Health Department, and the garden hose incident. He
described his mom’s behavior, trying to be as objective as he could
be.
    Rick listened like the private
investigator that he was. Finally he said, “Can you prove any of
this?”
    “ I was going to ask you
that.” He took a long swig of his beer. “I feel guilty because I
think my mom is causing Eve these problems, but I don’t know how to
prove it one way or the other. Any ideas?”
    “ Are there surveillance
cameras in Eve’s shop?”
    “ Not that I know
of.”
    Rick shook his head. “You’re out of
luck, unless you have fingerprints, or if she
confesses.”
    Treat shook his head. That wasn’t
happening.
    “ But how would your mom
know that leaving the water running would cause so much damage?”
his friend asked.
    He winced. “I may have mentioned that
Eve’s place was in risk of flooding if there was excess water out
back.”
    “ Shit.” He shook his head
again.
    “ Yeah.” Treat lifted his
beer.
    “ I could follow Margaret,”
Rick offered, “but if I catch her making out with her masseuse, I
may have to poke my eyes out.”
     

Chapter Nineteen
     
    After another pint each, Treat said
goodbye to Rick and headed home. On the way to his truck, he gave
in to impulse and called Eve.
    “ Hey, this is a surprise.”
Her voice drooped, like she was exhausted. Classical music trilled
in the background, and he heard what sounded like the steamer on an
espresso machine.
    “ Are you still at work?” he
asked with a frown.
    “ Yes, but I’m almost done.”
She sighed. “I’m doing a singles’ night this week and I have a lot
to do to get ready for it.”
    He glanced at his watch as he climbed
into his truck. “It’s ten o’clock, Eve.”
    “ I know. Everything took
longer than I thought it would.”
    “ Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be
there in fifteen. Does that give you enough time to
finish?”
    “ Yes, but—”
    “ I’ll see you.” He hung up
before she could protest—and before he could come to