Essie rolled down her window. “Are you looking for me?”
“I am. Let me back out and you can park, then I’ll pull in behind you.”
“All right.” Essie put the car in reverse to give Maude some room, then they traded places. Essie opened the tailgate, got out, and retrieved her groceries and dry cleaning.
Maude quickly stepped in to help, taking some of the bags and freeing Essie’s one hand, even though she had a computer bag over one shoulder. “Sorry for dropping by unannounced. I should have texted, but I guess I got too excited.”
Essie unlocked the door. “Excited about what?”
Maude looked around. “I’ll tell you inside.”
Curious, Essie just smiled and pushed the door open. She couldn’t imagine what was going on but she liked Maude. She wished she had half of her energy. “Come on in.”
Maude followed her into the kitchen, and they dropped the bags on the counter. “Is there anything else in the car that needs to be brought in?”
“No, that’s it. Let me just hang up this dry cleaning and I’ll be right back.” When Essie returned from the bedroom, Maude was sitting at the kitchen counter. Essie got the groceries put away. “Would you like something to drink? Something to eat?” It would be lunch in a bit.
“No, I’m good.”
“I have lemonade. The real stuff. Homemade.”
“Yeah? Okay, thanks.”
Essie poured them each a glass. “So…everything all right?”
“Oh, yeah, totally. I mean…” Maude took a sip. “Wow, that is good lemonade.”
“Thanks. You want to sit on the porch?”
“Living room might be better. This isn’t the kind of conversation that should be overheard.”
Essie’s brows lifted.
“Nothing bad.” Maude made a face. “Well, maybe a little bad.” She shook her head. “I did this to help, I swear.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Essie said. “Let’s sit and you can tell me everything.”
They both went to the couch, positioning themselves so they faced each other.
“Okay,” Maude said. “So yesterday at the pool, I was trying to think of a way to say thanks for inviting me and then you were talking about Sophie, and I kind of put two and two together.”
Essie nodded. “All right. What does that mean?”
“That means, I did some digging into your stepdaughter.” Suddenly, she glanced over her shoulder. “Is Frank here?”
“No, he’s out golfing. Do you want to wait until he comes home?”
“Not really. I’d rather tell you and see what you think.”
“That’s fine. I assume you found something then?” Essie was almost afraid to know what else Sophie might be up to online.
“I did. And I might be wrong, but I think it’s the reason—or at least one of the reasons— that Sophie is doing what she’s doing.”
Essie sat back. “What is it?”
“Do you know a guy named Ryan Van Fossen?”
Essie shook her head. “No. Wait. I think her new boyfriend is named Ryan. Is that right? We don’t know anything about him, really.”
