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As soon as Everly closed the door, Lilly’s narrowed eyes bored into me. I didn’t like the look she was giving me as we ended the meeting.
Once it was just me and her, with Jared packing up the tech and not paying attention to us, she spoke.
“You had sex.” There was no hesitation as she made the statement.
“What?”
“I was wondering why you were trying toactprofessional when you’ve actuallybeenprofessional up to now. I can only imagine the circumstances that brought it on.”
“We are not talking about my sex life.”
She giggled and said something about urban legends as we walked out the door.
Jared and I both made it to the lobby at the same time. What we saw made us stop in our tracks. But for different reasons.
“… and what is happening below the line has nothing to do with the top when you’re dividing or multiplying fractions.” The scrawny kid was huddled with my daughter at the small coffee table in the lobby, notebook and math textbook sprawled in front of them.”
“Seriously.” Jared raised his brow at his brother. “Three days and you’ve barely said two words to me. A pretty girl walks in, and suddenly you’re chatty Annie.”
“Actually.” Aidan mirrored his brother’s brow. “The phrase is Chatty Cathy. It was coined in 1959 by a toy company that had a doll by that name.”
I inhaled deeply, reminding myself that the little know-it-all had been through a lot in a short space of time. I would not lethim irritate me. Nor the look of complete awe my daughter was giving him.
Instead, I walked over to my daughter. “We need to go. Your mom said you still need to finish your math homework.”
Skylar shook her head. “I’m nearly done. Aidan helped me. I wanted to know why he was staying with his brother, and he kept changing the subject back to Math.”
I shook off my irritation. If Skylar was going to get the kid to open up, then so be it. But I also needed to curb her before she pushed him over the edge. “Thanks Aidan. I’ve got it from here. Why don’t you go with Jared and meet your nephew.”
“Oh, Cooper is super cute.” As always, Skylar’s enthusiasm was infectious.
The boy stood and followed Jared out of the building. The older man turned and mouthed his thanks. I nodded and looked down Sky. “Since you’re nearly done with your homework, want to go get ice cream?”
20
EVERLY
Since Bex and I were the only two single women in our circle, we tended to gravitate toward one another. While I didn’t have very many friends, that number had increased substantially over the last few years.
Instead of staying in her office, Bex suggested we find a spot on the large Salinger grounds and enjoy our pastries and lattes. She eyed me up and down, taking in my leggings, denim jacket and ballet flats and nodded.
“We’ll take a golf cart.”
Of course, her ankle length flowy skirt with sneakers were more suited for walking, but I was grateful for her consideration.
We were in the parking lot, getting into the golf cart when Sue pulled up. As she got out of the car, I saw that she held the signature mint green box from our favorite bakery. Her knitted sweater and jeans looked a lot more stylish than it should’ve.
She stopped at the cart. “Everly, are you okay?”
I had only recently started to get to know Sue Vallab. She’d been working for Salinger Security for only a few months and the women had included her in our girls’ nights. Still, I was surprised to see her. “Sue, what are you doing here?”
“Oh, Nick and Noah had emailed me investigation reports to type up and I saw what happened to you last night. I am so sorry.” She used her free hand to give me a half hug.
Bex held up her hand. “She hasn’t seen her bedroom.”
“Oh.” She unsuccessfully tried to hide her wince. Whatever had been done there must’ve been bad since everyone seemed relieved that I didn’t see it.
I got into the golf cart. “Are you coming with us, or are you going to work?”
