Free Hero at Large by Janet Evanovich Page B

them, “but I’ve got to get to the rink.”
    â€œWill you be home for lunch?” Edna asked.
    Chris kissed the old woman good-bye and headed for the door. “No, I have to do some choreography today. I probably won’t be back until suppertime.”
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    Chris checked her watch as she walked up the steps to her town house. It was six-fifteen, and she felt as if she hadn’t slept in days. She opened the door and sniffed. A delicious aroma of herbs and spices wafted through the house. Aunt Edna’s world-famous oven-fried chicken, she decided. She flung her bag into a corner of the hall and shuffled toward the kitchen. It was after a terribly long day like this that she was especially thankful for Aunt Edna. If it weren’t for Edna, Chris knew she’d be staring into the freezer right now, wondering what the heck she could shove into the microwave. If it weren’t for Edna, the role of breadwinner and single mother would leave little time for Chris to read Dr. Seuss or listen attentively to Lucy’s exploits in school. Chris pushed through the kitchen doors. “Aunt Edna—”
    Ken turned from the stove and gave her a look like the cat who swallowed the canary. “Nope. Just me, slaving away over a hot stove.”
    â€œWhere’s Aunt Edna?”
    â€œKansas City.”
    â€œWhat do you mean, Kansas City?”
    â€œYour cousin Stephanie had the baby three weeks premature and Edna flew out to stay with the twins.”
    â€œHow could she do that?”
    â€œStephanie? I don’t think she had much choice. George said her water broke at three twenty-five and she went right into labor…”
    Chris blinked in dazed disbelief. Yesterday he’d been a stranger. Today he was ensconced in her kitchen, talking about her family as if it were his own. Babies and labor and broken water. “No,” she intoned mechanically, “not Stephanie…Aunt Edna. How could Aunt Edna do this to me? It will take me days to find someone reliable to watch Lucy.”
    â€œEdna took Lucy with her.”
    â€œShe can’t do that! What about school?”
    Ken took a bag of noodles from the counter and looked at it, mystified. He turned the bag over and read the instructions, his face brightening with the realization that he now knew how to cook noodles. “Edna said she’ll only be gone for a week, and that Lucy could use a vacation. I don’t think Edna is very impressed with first grade.”
    Cold panic squeezed at Chris’ heart. The two people she loved most in the world were gonewithout even so much as a hug good-bye. And she was left alone with Ken Callahan. It was the latter condition that set her stomach churning and adrenaline flowing.
    Ken reached out and gathered her to him. “You look like a lost little kitten,” he said. He stroked her hair. “Don’t worry. They’ll be fine. I took them to the airport myself. And Edna said they’d call as soon as they got to Kansas City.”
    â€œHow did you get them to the airport?”
    â€œTaxi.” He raised his foot to display a bright red woolen sock covering the broken toe. “A broken toe isn’t so bad.”
    She stepped away from him. “It was nice of you to help Edna and Lucy to the airport, but you’re going to have to leave, now.”
    â€œI live here, remember?”
    â€œI don’t want you to live here.”
    Ken filled a pot with water and put it on the stove to boil. “Of course you do. Who will make your supper when you come home late like this?”
    â€œYou?” she snorted.
    He pulled a package of frozen vegetables from the freezer and read the instructions. “I always wanted to learn how to cook.” He set the vegetables aside and dumped the entire bag of noodles into the boiling water.
    â€œHoly cow,” Chris muttered. “I hope you like noodles. That could feed a family of six for two