Page 44 of Home Again

“Girl!” This time, Jada’s voice was practically a growl. “You did the nasty?”

“And that was the best nasty ever.” She sighed. “But now he’s disappeared. There. Are you happy now?”

Gianna pushed back her computer from her lap and shoved the plate of food to the foot of the bed. She shot off the bed and headed to her closet.

“Hey, where are you going?” Jada shouted.

Gianna grabbed her smallest suitcase out of the closet and tossed it onto the duvet, then bent down so she could look at the computer screen.

“I’m out of here.”

“You’re leaving Louisiana? Are you going home?”

Gianna marched over to the bed and bent sideways to look into the computer screen. “Are you bananas? Of course I’m not leaving Louisiana.”

“Are you moving out of the Durand house?”

“No,” she said sarcastically. “I’m taking a little trip.”

“Why? I thought you said you were getting sketches done, and dealing with your suppliers.”

“I was. I mean, I am.” Gianna unzipped the suitcase then stormed over to her dresser and grabbed some underwear. “I was also waiting here like a dumbass thinking Sebastian was going to come over and we would work together like a team while I waited for you to get back from that conference you had to attend in Miami. I tried to run some searches on Rosie Ettabaum, but I didn’t get very far.”

Gianna went to the closet and grabbed two dresses and rolled them up.

“Calm down, girl. You did great. The legwork you did gave me a head start, for real.”

Gianna picked up her laptop so that she could stare directly into her friend’s face. “You are full of baby poop.”

“Shit, Gianna,” Jada growled. “I’m full of shit. So what if I am?” Jada twisted her neck back and forth, in a way that told Gianna she was getting angry. “Computer research is just not your thing.”

“Well, I’ll tell you what is—being sneaky. So I’m going to follow up on the name I got off Armand’s phone. I’m sick of staying here.”

“Hey, wait a good goddamn minute!” Jada screeched when Gianna put down the computer and went into the bathroom to gather up her cosmetics. She ignored all of Jada’s caterwauling as she put everything she would need into her make-up bag. When she came back out into the bedroom, Jada was still talking.

“Answer me!”

“I told you I had other leads,” Gianna said belligerently.

“Cut the shit, girlfriend. Just because you’re not getting laid by SEAL boy, doesn’t mean you need to get all snarky with me. Now sit your happy ass down and tell me what name you got off of Armand’s phone before I come down to Louisiana and whip your damn ass.”

Gianna sat down on the bed and started zipping up the suitcase. “I told you that when I gave him the sleeping pill I went back and checked his phone history. That call he’d been on was all sorts of weird.”

“So give me the name and I’ll trace it for you,” Jada coaxed.

Gianna smiled at her friend. “You just keep on that lead for Etta Rose or Rosie Ettabaum and I’ll check in with you tomorrow. Right now I’m going up to Baton Rouge.” She shut down Skype before Jada had anything more to say, then ignored her cell phone when Jada’s ringtone sounded.

Gianna waited for her laptop to power down while grabbing some junk food to take on the road, most especially the beignets. She’d already unhitched her tent trailer from her cute little mini SUV, so all she had to do was throw her suitcase and backpack into the backseat.

She ran up the back walk to the kitchen and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Ophelia called out.

Gianna let herself in and smiled at the older woman. Gianna had liked Ophelia from the first day she’d met her, but after realizing what a support she had been to Sebastian growing up, Gianna now loved her.

“Did I see you throwing a suitcase in your car?” Ophelia asked as she wiped her hands off on a dishtowel.

Gianna glanced around the kitchen, disappointed that Sebastian wasn’t there. Ophelia smirked when she saw Gianna looking. “Sebastian wasn’t here when I got here this morning.”