Cats jumped up to surround me on the sofa when I sat down and pulled my phone from my skirt pocket. I stroked Chablis, thinking about how much had changed in the last year, my relationship with Tom being one of those things. What does a forty-plus woman call the man she’s romantically involved with? Boyfriend didn’t sound right, and significant other was way too strong. We dated and shared lots of kisses and hugs. But I wasn’t ready for more than that, and Tom respected my “let’s take this slow” attitude.

My husband, John, who died of a heart attack two years ago, had been the love of my life, and I still missed him so much. But I cared about Tom and was beginning to feel comfortable with our daily talks on the phone and weekends spent at the movies or out to dinner.

This call, however, wasn’t just to chat. See, Tom’s mother, Karen, was a significant other to the very Ed Duffy I needed to talk to. I speed-dialed Tom’s cell phone.

“Hey, Jilly,” he said when he answered.

“Hi, there. I have a question.”

“You want to marry me? Wow. But a proposal over the phone? Not how I dreamed this would happen,” he said.

I laughed. “Me either. Actually, my question has to do with our friendly hoarder, Ed. Do you know anything about his relationship with a wealthy woman named Ritaestelle Longworth?”

He hesitated for a few seconds, then said, “That old lady from Woodcrest who lives in the big house? Ed knows her?”

“Guess that answers my question,” I said.

“You don’t expect to ask me about her and Ed and not tell me why. What’s going on?”

I explained about my assignment to find out if Isis should be returned home and how I’d screwed things up this morning.