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“For about a minute, yeah, and then it turns into disgusting gray-black sludge.” Grace did not give her a chance to comment further. She did not pay her assistant a small fortune to waste time talking about the weather, did she? “Thank you, Libby. I’ll be in touch.”

“Bye, Ms. Michaels.”

Grace hung up and glanced impatiently at her watch.For God’s sake!Just then, the front door opened, and a wet spaniel burst in. Olivia came in behind in a cloud of freezing air. The puppy was in her arms, tucked safely inside the front of her shirt.

“Phew!” She grinned, shaking snow out of her hair in a fair impression of her canine friends. “Proper storm out there now!”

Grace raised a wondering, unsympathetic eyebrow.

“You have a key to this place?”

“Uh… Yeah?”

“You’re not sure?”

???

Olivia blinked at the question and the unnecessary sharpness of her tone. She stared in genuine surprise, then chuckled.Wow!“Are you for real?”

She’d enjoyed her walk with the two dogs frolicking in the snow and watching Everett engage Jerry in some play. It was pretty cold out, though, so she eventually scooped him up, called out to Jerry, and headed back home in search of warmth. Now the two dogs were defrosting in front of the fire, Charlie must have gone to rest, and she was left to face Grace Michaels’ glacial stare. It occurred to Olivia that it was actually an interesting situation. Perhaps she could make it so a bit more by giving back as good as she received. Grace looked at her as if she were dim.

“I just wonder.” She shrugged, piercing blue eyes tracking her every movement like a hunter following her prey. “You have a key, and you seem at home here, yet Charlie never mentioned you to me.”

“Ah, now you’re hurting my feelings.”

“Looks like it doesn’t take much, in this case.”

Touche.Well, sort of. Olivia shed her coat in the kitchen, and she helped herself to a cookie. After all, she had helped to bake them.

“Would you like one?” She thrusted the plate toward Grace with a smile other women usually found charming.

“No. I want you to answer my question.” Grace Michaels was obviously not charmed in the least. “I’m sure you have my aunt’s best interests at heart, but then again, I don’t know. You are a lot younger.”

“What’s that got to do with it?”

“It seems like an odd friendship, that’s all.”

“Well, maybe to you.”

“Not maybe. So…”

Grace rolled her index finger in an impatient ‘Get on with it’ gesture. Beyond rude, really. However, she was protective of her aunt, which Olivia could understand and appreciate.

“I met Charlie at the vet a while back,” she answered. “We started talking in the waiting room, and she said she might need someone to take Jerry on his walks when the weather gets cold. So, I volunteered.”

“Why?”

“I love dogs and animals in general. I run a rescue project with Dana. She’s the local vet and a good friend.”

“I’ve heard of Dana.”

“Right. There, you see? I’m not such a stranger. Charlie gave me a spare key; I didn’t ask. And she has one to my house also. She waters the plants for me if I go away for work. We help each other out like that. The age difference is no factor in our friendship.”

“Okay. Fair enough, I guess.”

“I’m thirty-five, by the way.”

“You look younger.” This sounded like a private comment.