Page 56 of The Work Wife

They were in the middle of an argument over whether corner brownies were better than middle brownies when her phone made her jump.

“Hello, Daddy,” she greeted him after checking the display.

“I was just checking in to see how things are going. You okay? I’ve heard of these guys who kill their new wives for the insurance money.”

“Very nice.” She frowned, but heard her father’s chuckle on the other end of the line.

“Hello, Mr. Witmer!” Weston called from across the room.

“Your non-murdering son-in-law says hello.”

“Sure, tell him I said hello back.” She smiled at the awkwardness. “The real reason I called was I have a question, and I guess you’ll want to run it by him.”

“Go on.”

“Would it be okay if I came to Boston to visit for a few days next week?”

“Why?” The worry she’d pushed away regarding those pill bottles came back with a vengeance.

“Would you relax? I’m fine. I just want to come see where you live. Make sure it’s not a dump.” She froze like she had when she was a teenager and had gotten caught doing something she shouldn’t have.

“My dad would like to come visit next week. Do you have any plans?” she asked Weston, whose face went from confusion to panic.

“No. That would be fine.” He made it sound like a question.

“He almost sounds convincing. If his voice hadn’t shaken on the last word, he would have had me,” her father said.

“Let me know when you’ll need to be picked up at the airport.”

“Sounds good. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

She disconnected the call and looked up. “My father is coming to stay with us for a few days.”

“It will be okay. We don’t have to worry about anything. I mean, he’s not going to question us like INS or something. Neither of us will get kicked out of the country.”

“We don’t live together, Wes. My father will question that.” He was missing the giant problem with her father’s visit.

“You’ll stay with me. He can stay in my guest room. Bring some of your stuff to make it look good.”

“He’s a detective.”

“You got away with sneaking out of the house for years; surely we can pull off a few days. We’ve already had practice.”

“I obviously didn’t get away with sneaking out of the house. He just didn’t have the evidence he needed to convict.”

“Then stay with me this week. Bring your stuff. We’ll make it look authentic. You’ll know what cabinet we keep the cereal in.” His lips pulled up on the side.

“You’re serious?”

“Why not? We’re committed to seeing this through, right? We should have known this could happen.”

She should have put more thought into this plan. “Okay. I’ll pack and come over tonight. I could make lasagna.”

“You don’t need to do that.” He was looking at his laptop instead of her.

“You don’t like my lasagna.”