"Ahhh and the prodigal son returns." A female voice exclaimed as we exited the truck before moving toward the house. Tom just rolled his eyes as Mason smirked. Prodigal son? Either these people didn't read a tabloid or they thought the compliment would irk the guy. I was going for the irk initiative.
"Another couple of points on my IQ and you might discover you birthed Einstein, Mere. It doesn't take much to be a genius. The genius is in not knowing you are smart to begin with. That way you don't have anything to live up to." Tommy remarked as I covered up a laugh with my hand. Okay, I probably wasn't scoring points by chuckling at Tommy's reply, but he had a point. The lady stared over at me with interest before narrowing her eyes. Yep, here it came—the bug underneath the magnifying glass ordeal.
"And you are?" The pretty brunette, diminutive woman asked as I smiled sweetly before offering her my hand.
"Jude Harrison." I announced stoically as Mason moved up beside me. "And this is my friend, Mason Fox." I finished with a bright smile as the lady perused us critically. I hope she wasn't staring hard enough to notice the coffee stains on my t-shirt or the fact that Mason and I had been traveling long enough I probably needed to freshen up a bit or at least brush my teeth. Yeah, that's just what I needed.
"Don't I know yo…?" The woman began as Tommy cut in suddenly with brusque force as if he wasn't sure he liked where the conversation was going. I looked at him strangely—disconcerted by the interruption.
"She's the artist I was working with in Toronto, Mere. Jude, this is my mother, Catalina Romano." He intercepted as Catalina perused him curiously. I'm guessing that they were expecting something more than a musician.
"And here, little Maddie had us thinking you were an item or something." Catalina stated cheerfully as a little girl of about ten stuck her head out from behind her mother. She winked at me then. The mischievous little demon winked at me! I couldn't help but grin. Something told me she had her own hand in getting me here to Montana. A thought niggled at the edge of my brain and I almost laughed. I couldn't help but wonder if little Maddie was the Madalyn called 'little nymph' that visited my "My Space" Page. Something told me she was.
"We're not an item." Tommy said suddenly as I stared hard at the frozen ground. I could literally feel my heart fall through my chest right through my rib cage and into the cold dirt below as if it were nothing more than a fine piece of china. The man had a habit of doing that—making you feel good about something and then dashing your hopes. I felt Mason's hand creep sympathetically onto my back. Fine, if Tommy didn't want to be an item—I'd give him the antithesis of that! I smiled through gritted teeth.
"No, I'm the artist from hell. Nice to meet you." I remarked suddenly as Mason gasped before choking on a cough beside me. I saw Tommy wince and I grinned wider. Tom's mother just raised a brow before staring between the two of us with new interest.
"Well, I guess I can only hope the cold Montana weather will cool you off some then." His mother declared as I just shrugged.
"Yeah, I think everyone's hoping it will, I guess." I replied as I watched the rest of Tommy's family bite their lips to keep from smiling. Tommy might be interested in playing with the dog, but I was determined to give him the wolf and wolves bite. Hopefully my bite carried Rabies as well because I definitely felt like foaming at the mouth.
"Why don't we get you settled?" An older lady asked with a slight Italian accent as I just nodded before following the family inside—leaning over toward Tommy so that I could whisper near his ear.
"Hello master, meet the puppet. And, guess what? The puppet just learned how to cut her strings."