Strangely Normal by Tess Oliver

kind of far out there.” For a few seconds her mind seemed to be humming like the gears on the stationary bikes. “Let’s do it. There isn’t any fruit yet, but there will be next month and then maybe I can pick some again. They’re really good apricots and I can never get Jude or Cole out there to pick them.”
    “I suppose if there were steaks or hamburgers growing on the tree, you’d have better luck with that.”
    “So true. They’re like a couple of cavemen when it comes to food. Me want saber tooth flank steak, no green stuff.”
    The door to the gym opened and Cole walked in.
    “Hey,” Finley called to him, “it’s ladies’ day at the gym.”
    He walked over and hopped up on a treadmill but didn’t turn it on. “Great. I love ladies’ day.”
    Finley stopped her bike. “We’re done here, so you can have the place to yourself.”
    The door opened again and Jude walked in.
    Finley threw her towel over her shoulder. “It’s like you two have radar or something.” She looked over at me. “Trust me, they don’t usually follow me around like this. It all has to do with you.” She glanced toward Jude. “Thought you were painting.”
    “That model wasn’t right. I wasn’t inspired.” Jude walked over to the panel on the wall and music blared out of the speakers. Finley and I made a quick escape.
    By the time we’d showered and eaten, Finley had talked herself out of the apricot tree excursion, and I decided not to push the point. She seemed distracted and tense at the prospect of seeing Max, so it was probably a mistake to adventure out of her comfort zone.
    Tilly, the housekeeper, called to us on the intercom while we rinsed breakfast dishes. “Miss King, there’s a package for you.”
    Finley’s eyes rounded. “Your suit is here. Perfect. The morning fog has cleared, and we can get some color before tonight.”
    I stood looking in the mirror pulling at the meager amounts of pink fabric and when that didn’t work, I began pushing at my skin to see if I could tuck more of it underneath the skimpy suit. The brief meeting with the lawyer had had me so flustered, I hadn’t really taken a good, critical look at the suit. It was definitely the most revealing suit I’d ever worn or imagined wearing.
    Finley knocked and walked in. “I can’t wait to see it.” Her heavily glossed bottom lip dropped. “Uh oh, you’d better wrap up in a towel.”
    “Maybe I should put the old one back on. Does it look that bad?”
    “No, that’s the problem. We’ll have to take a stealthy path through the house to make sure we don’t run into a brother. They’re already fighting with their inner demons when it comes to you. And while I’m finding their turmoil completely amusing, I don’t want to be cruel. You look drop dead gorgeous in that suit.”
    “I’m feeling more naked than drop dead.” I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around like a toga.
    Finely tapped her various points of interest down the staircase, and we traversed the hallways unseen. Some Pig’s hooves clicked along behind us.
    “I think Cole’s still working out, and Jude probably went back out to the pool house.” She waved Some Pig to the rug in front of the television. “You stay here. I don’t want another disappearing incident like yesterday.” Finley picked up the remote and turned on the television. As she walked away, Some Pig snorted loudly. She stopped, swung around, and picked up the remote. “Sorry, I thought you liked Animal Planet.” More snorts of protest and Finley lifted her hand. “Yeah, yeah, snort to the hand. I know, I know, they’re a bunch of furry tools. You’ve said that before.” Finley pointed the remote at the screen. “Here’s the cooking channel instead. Just don’t complain to me if someone makes a pulled pork sandwich.” Some Pig dropped down to his stomach. “Let’s get out of here before he changes his mind about the channel.”
    I slid the glass door open and motioned her through.