Present Day

This dinner party will be very different from the one we had a few weeks ago. I’m setting the table on the back patio rather than the one in the dining room since the weather is nice and the mosquitoes haven’t gotten bad yet. Ryan is icing down the beer and wine we bought earlier, placing it in the decorative galvanized tub with Sumner etched across the front. Sara gave him the tub on his last birthday; if there is one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that Southerners believe the best gift is a personalized gift.

James and that woman arrive just as Ryan is firing up the grill.

We both greet them as they make their way up the short set of stairs to the deck. Ryan takes one of the twelve-packs James is lugging while she hands me a foil-covered platter and says, “I know you said don’t bring anything, but James’s mom and I made way too many brownies this afternoon.”

I pull the edge of the foil back to peek. “Oh yum, these smell divine.” I’m already visualizing the Facebook post Mrs. Bernard has probably already uploaded.

“How’s your dad’s leg?” Ryan asks James as they shake hands.

“Getting better,” James answers. “Or at least getting better at not complaining about it.”

The woman lets out a laugh while nudging James with her elbow. “Stop. He’s a far better patient than his son would be.” She turns to me. “There’s a never-ending poker game now that he’s stuck at home. He’s running out of friends who are willing to lose money to him.” Her hand falls gently on Ryan’s arm. “I know he’d love for you to stop by for a visit. Maybe lose a hand or two to keep his spirits up?”

She’s got both men hanging on her every word within minutes of arriving.

“It’s not hard for Ryan to lose at cards!” James says.

I laugh just enough that it sounds genuine, then gesture for everyone to take a seat at the table while Ryan adds the beer James brought to the tub.

“I’ll just be a second,” I say, then step inside to grab the appetizers I made earlier. Once I sit back down, I take a deep breath and soak everything in. It’s a gorgeous night, with weather Louisiana is seldom

blessed with—warm and breezy with no humidity. It’s a shame to waste such a perfect evening on work.

The conversation is easy, with the guys doing most of the talking. She seems to approach this sort of thing the same way I do: listen and learn.

“We’re hogging the conversation,” Ryan says with a laugh after a bit, then turns to the woman sitting next to James. “I’d love to learn more about the newest addition to Lake Forbing.”

“Yes, we didn’t get much of a chance to talk at the Derby Party . . . Lucca.” It’s hard to say her name out loud. My name. It felt as bitter on my tongue as I thought it would.

She shrugs and sends James a warm smile. “Not much to tell. James and I met a few months ago. We both were working in Baton Rouge. I’m an insurance adjuster and was there following up on a group of claims from the tornado that tore through last fall.”

“Yeah, that was a bad one,” Ryan says. “I have a couple of clients there.

Lots of homes were destroyed.”

“It was tragic.” She reaches over and slips her hand into James’s. “Makes you really appreciate everything you have.”

It takes everything in me to keep my sweet smile and engaged expression locked into place.

“So, you just move from disaster to disaster?” I ask.

She cringes. “Pretty much. It gets hard sometimes. But there are breaks in between, like right now. There’s nowhere I need to be so I can handle the paperwork from anywhere.” Another loving glance at James and another squeeze of his hand, but he’s too busy downing the rest of his beer with his free hand to notice.

She’s good. The backstory is solid. Delivery is flawless. Facial movements match her emotions. I’m impressed.

James, on the other hand, needs some coaching, although I’m pretty sure he’s just a pawn. She’s polished while he looks to be hanging on by a thread. I can’t imagine any circumstance where this is actually a genuine relationship.

I’ve been in her spot before. Forcing something just for the sake of a job. The fact that she keeps looking at him like he’s hung the moon makes me respect her more than I want to.

She turns toward me and says, “James said you haven’t lived here long, Evie. What brought you to Lake Forbing?”

“Oh, I’ve been bouncing around for a while. My parents died in a car wreck a few years ago and I needed a change of scenery.” I bite down on my bottom lip and cast a glance at Ryan—my vulnerability making a quick appearance before I shove it back down. He scoots closer to me, resting his hand on my thigh. “Ended up here and fell in love with this place. I’m a sucker for a cute small town,” I say with a nervous laugh. “And for a cute guy who’s handy with minor car repairs.”

Ryan chuckles beside me. “Anything more than a tire change and I’ll need to call in reinforcements.”

She leans forward, grin stretching across her face. “Speaking of cute small towns, who is your college friend from Eden, Evie? I’m sure I know her or her family. It would be hard not to in a town that size.”

This bitch.

I match her smile. “Regina West. She’s got a younger sister, Matilda, and an older brother, Nathan, you may have known. We stayed at her house while we visited but I couldn’t tell you the street or neighborhood.”

Let’s see how good she is and just how thorough the packet she was given on me was. Regina West was a girl I went to school with, but her family moved away in seventh grade. We were best friends growing up, and I would love to find out how much of my past Mr. Smith knows. Nathan moved back to Eden about five years ago after he finished med school and opened a walk-in clinic there. There aren’t many family doctors in that area, so he is very well known and respected in the community.

Her brow creases as if she’s struggling with how to answer me. “That name does sound familiar . . .” She trails off, leaving the rest of her sentence unfinished.

Nope. I’m docking points. She obviously didn’t do any of her own research and relied only on what Mr. Smith gave her. And she would have been briefed on Nathan if my early friendship with Regina had been discovered, because we were inseparable before she moved. I’m guessing Mr. Smith didn’t uncover anything on me earlier than high school.

“Is Eden still where you call home?” Ryan asks. “I would think your company wouldn’t send you so far away for work.”

“I live in Raleigh now. Eden is a great place but it’s just really small, you know?” She shrugs then looks at me as if I’ll agree with her. “My company is short-staffed, so we’re all stretched a little thin. I’m sent where I’m needed.”

“Both of you girls have moved around a lot,” James says with a loud laugh. “Evie, I’m guessing if you moved in with Ryan, you plan to stay awhile. No more bouncing around? Or is this just a temporary stop?”

“James, you’re putting her on the spot.” Ryan’s voice has a hint of the bite I heard a few days ago in his office in Glenview.

She squeezes his hand hard enough that James squeaks out an “Ow!” And then under his voice he says to her quietly, “Thought you wanted to know if she’s staying.”

Yeah, there’s no way he works for Mr. Smith too. He’s not even remotely good at this, and she needs to do a better job of keeping her pawn in line.

“It’s a fair question,” I say, ignoring his last comment. “I wouldn’t have accepted Ryan’s invitation to move in if I had plans to move on.” Ryan’s thumb brushes softly across my leg, so I know he’s pleased with my answer. “Once she sees the plans I’m working on for the vegetable garden and greenhouse, she won’t be going anywhere. It will be a two-person

operation, so she can’t abandon me.”

My attention snaps to him. “You’re putting in a garden?”

He shakes his head slowly and his smile widens. “No.” A short pause and then he says, “We’re putting in a garden. You said you always wanted one.”

The blush that blooms across my face is genuine, and I wish I didn’t have to share this moment with the two other people at the table.

She leans forward, breaking the spell between Ryan and me, and asks, “Can you point me to the closest powder room, Evie?”

But Ryan is already standing up. “I’ll show you. I’m heading in to grab the steaks. Need to get them on the grill now or we’ll be having them for breakfast.”

She follows him inside, and I know she’ll take this moment to snoop through our stuff. It’s exactly what I would do, but more importantly, it’s what I want her to do. I’ve left a little something for her to find that I know she’ll report back to Mr. Smith. It’s a dangerous play, but I need him to put all his cards on the table. I’m sick of surprises.

The interesting thing about this situation is that I really can’t tell if she knows I’m here on a job, just like her. Or is she working me like she would any unsuspecting mark? Did her set of instructions tell her the mention of Eden, North Carolina, would set me on edge?

“James, how do you like yours cooked?” Ryan calls out as he steps back onto the deck holding a platter of marinated steaks and wearing an apron that says You don’t have to kiss me but you could get me a beer.

“Medium rare,” he answers, then moves to the grill.

I sip on my wine while I give that woman a few more minutes to rummage around in my things, then I get up from the table. “Looks like you forgot the veggies. I’ll go grab them.”

Ryan gives me a nod, then turns back to James.

I enter the kitchen, expecting to see her, but the room is empty. I glance at my watch. She’s taking too long.

Quietly, I move toward the stairs. As soon as I make it to the top, she’s exiting the upstairs hall bathroom.

“I was afraid you got lost,” I say.

She lets out a shriek and jumps slightly back, her hand grabbing at her chest. “Oh, I didn’t see you there!” Then her expression shifts into this endearing little grin. “I got caught up admiring those cute family pictures on the stairwell wall on my way up! Ryan was an adorable little boy!”

I look back at the images in question and have to agree. He was a cutie.

And bonus points to her for the save. It’s a good excuse.

She moves toward the stairs and waits, as if she will follow me, but I step to the side. “I’ll meet you down there. Just need to grab something from my room.”

She hesitates just a second then smiles as she passes me. Once she’s out of sight, I go to our room at the end of the hall. There’s only one thing here she could find and I hope she did.

I move to the dressing table and open the drawer. Two pens and a pencil were arranged in a very specific way on top of a stack of papers and she would have needed to brush them to the side in order to read what was written there, and it’s obvious she did exactly that. I shut the drawer and go downstairs.

I head back outside with the vegetables, handing the tray to Ryan, then I light the candles I’ve scattered around the area now that the sun has fully set.

“Everything should be ready soon,” Ryan says.

Nodding, I say, “Perfect. I’ll get the rest from the kitchen.”

It’s not long before Ryan places a steak on each plate along with a helping of grilled veggies while I put garlic bread and a big salad in the

center of the table.

“Everything looks delicious,” she says. “Y’all have outdone yourself.”

I cut a small piece of steak and bring it to my mouth, chewing it slowly. “We love to entertain,” I say, glancing at Ryan. He gives me that smirk, since we’re both thinking of the two weeks it took him to convince me to host our last dinner party.

“How much longer are y’all in town?” Ryan asks.

She looks at James as if she doesn’t know the answer.

“Maybe another couple of weeks,” he says. “As soon as Dad can get around a little better on his own, I’ll feel better about leaving.”

“It’s good you could take off this much time from work,” Ryan says, then takes a swig of beer. This is something he mentioned earlier this afternoon: his worry about why James was really back in town. If James had gotten his life together and was holding down a job like he said, it begged the question: how had he managed to get this much time off?

“The beauty of working from a laptop,” he says with a laugh. “Can work anywhere.”

“What is it that you do, James?” I ask.

He looks at the woman as if she’s the only one who knows the answer. She looks back at him with an expression that can only be described as hopeful that he doesn’t completely screw up this answer.

Finally, he turns back to us. “Lucca actually got me a job at her company. I’m working for her.”

He could have sold it better if he didn’t sound so glum. Instead of us thinking they are equals at work, he sounds like a charity case.

Ryan was not thrilled I had invited them to dinner. He banged around in the garage for a good hour then spent the rest of the afternoon hiding some of the obvious—and easily movable—valuables in the house, including my jewelry and any prescription meds he had in the medicine cabinet. The girls had mentioned James stole from Ryan the last time he was in town, but Ryan never admitted that to me. And you can’t tell if there’s beef between them by the way they are acting around each other now.

Preparing for this evening was the most strained things have been between us.

Regardless of what Ryan’s fears and James’s motives are, I’m only concerned with her.

The rest of the dinner is consumed by small talk. Ryan matches James beer for beer until they’re both pretty tipsy. She and I clear the plates while James and Ryan throw an old football around in the mostly dark backyard, both of them missing more than they are catching.

She follows me inside and we work through the dirty dishes and put away the leftovers. Mr. Smith told me why she’s here, but she’s too good an asset to waste as a reminder. And now that she riffled through my stuff, I know she’s got an active role; she’s not just one who observes. I decide to go on the offensive.

“Have you gotten your next set of instructions or are you still checking your mailbox every day?” My tone is conversational, and from the way the plate slips through her fingers into the sink, I know I’ve caught her off guard.

But she recovers quickly. Confusion plays across her face when she says, “Instructions?”

“I don’t expect you to answer. But I do expect you to pass along that I’m here to do my job and I don’t appreciate any interference.” Her body language tells me she’s genuinely surprised by my words, so I’m guessing she didn’t know we share a boss. I lean a little closer. “We have more in common than you know.”

The disbelief on her face is still there, but it’s more controlled now. “I’m sorry, I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The Sheetz on North Van Buren in Eden—what’s the name of the side street?”

Her mouth opens slightly but no words come out.

“It’s East Stadium Drive. Same road that takes you to the high school. A road anyone in Eden would know without thinking about it,” I say. “Did you already send him a picture of what you found upstairs or will you do it when you get back to the Bernards’?”

She flinches at the tone in my voice. “I don’t know—”

I lean in closer. “Can we get to the part where you just answer my question?”

It’s a tense minute and then she says, “I already sent him a picture of it.” There would be no way for her to know that what she found was useless, only that it didn’t belong in my dresser drawer and looked

suspicious. That’s all it would take for her to pass it back to Mr. Smith.

And I couldn’t resist the opportunity to let him know how I feel about her presence here. He knows I would never keep anything sensitive in this house. So I created a spreadsheet entitled Opera Guild Association Fundraiser with a list of fake names and credit card numbers to symbolize the one I would have gotten from that auction at the country club if I hadn’t gotten busted that night. It was enough to catch her attention, and Mr. Smith will know I set her up to find it. I don’t appreciate him sending someone into my space.

She starts to move away then hesitates a second. “How did you know?” “I was expecting you to search through my things and I left it for you to

find. But if I wasn’t expecting it, I wouldn’t have known.” I’m not sure why I felt compelled to give her that little bit of praise, since we’re not on the same side.

“I better check on James,” she says.

Just as we’re almost to the door to the deck, I say, “One last warning. It’s not a big step from being on the job to becoming the job.” There’s more I want to say, but I’ve already said too much, and Mr. Smith won’t like that I’ve spoken to her so candidly.

She pushes the door open and says in that sugary sweet voice, “James, honey, are you ready?”

“Yeah, babe. Ready when you are,” he calls back.

Ryan and I walk them out, and I notice that things are not only strained between the two of us but also between Ryan and James.

The good-byes are terse compared to the pleasantness we’d shared during dinner. She gets behind the wheel, since James could barely make it to the car on his own two feet, and we make eye contact as she starts the car.

Ryan and I watch as they back out of the driveway. “Something happen with James?” I ask.

Ryan tenses next to me. “Same ol’ shit.”

As soon as their headlights disappear around the corner, we walk hand in hand into the house