Page 17 of The Alibi Club

“Because they fear death.”

“Is this lipstick my color?”

“No, you’d do better with a warm sienna tone.” Fair.

“What do you want most in the world?”

“A chance to be seen and loved for who I really am.”

She said it before she could stop herself, and Lorna could tell she wished she’d kept it back. But somehow, she couldn’t. Lorna smiled, beginning to understand Holly Kim.

“You’re quite something, Holly Kim. You cannot tell a lie, even if it benefits you.”

Holly sighed and finally said, “It was nice to meet you, Lorna.” She gave her a tight-lipped smiled and walked away into the crowd.

Lorna took the last sip of her champagne and then twirled the glass between her fingers. She watched as the man who had berated the waiter pleaded with his Egyptian beauty to come with him, but she refused. Lorna discreetly lifted her phone, zoomed in with her camera and snapped a pic of the woman as she walked her way. She was certain she would be single again very soon.

As the scarab-bracelet-wearing woman neared Lorna near the front doors of the museum, she made eye contact, winked at Lorna conspiratorially, and muttered, “Why are men so difficult?”

Lorna gave her a small salute in understanding.

Moments later, the man came running after her—the modern-day Egyptian goddess, that is—like a wounded dog giving chase.

Lorna turned her back toward him as he passed.

CHAPTER TEN

Animal Attraction

JAMIE

If hunting for a date had felt fun, festive, and rife with possibilities, Jamie had resolved that getting ready for a date with a stranger had her riddled with self-hatred and bad wardrobe choices.

Dressed in a black linen romper that was a little too tight, Jamie decided to put her unruly nest of blond hair in another messy bun, just like it had been that morning when she’d taken Dash for a walk and ran into the cute guy at the Petal Café. When she went back in, however, he was gone. She never got a name. Still, she kept thinking about him. Smoldering dark eyes framed by thick dark eyebrows, salt-and-pepper hair, rakish smile. It was only a few moments, but she picked up ambitious, warm, dog lover … but that was it. He seemed familiar in some way, but she couldn’t land on where she might have seen him before.

She decided to focus on her short-term goals. There was the odd chance that tonight’s date might turn out to be him. A handsome stranger at a coffee shop named Theo. It was possible. She’d never managed to get a really good look at Theo. All his profile pictures were far away, and he’d been clad in sunglasses in all of them. Maybe the scales of love would tip in her favor. Or maybe he was an ogre? Time would tell.

She had applied some makeup and glanced at herself in the mirror, vaguely unhappy with what she saw. She didn’t have time to shave her legs because a call with a chief marketing officer accused of belittling an intern had run long.

Jamie kept her toxic self-criticisms at bay and reminded herself of the goal at hand: This was not love, this was a stop-gap measure to preserve her inheritance. She needed a suitable candidate, someone her mother would believe she might marry. Someone she could get along with for a week in Hawaii. It was not a tall order. She slipped into her wedge flip-flops and walked the short distance down to The Strand to Pier Avenue.

The sun cast its late golden light all over the little beach town, gilding the patio railings and casting all the people milling around in a warm glow. The locals were out in force enjoying the cooler air, which had a hint of salt on it. A squad of pelicans flew by on their way to hunt for dinner. She heard the sounds of cutlery and clinking glasses, the scratch of skateboards on pavement, the lilt of an acoustic guitar from a pub across the plaza. The soundtrack of Hermosa Beach. It was calm and the sunset should be spectacular, a perfect night for a date.

She arrived at their appointed location on Tenth Street, looked out onto the ocean and saw two men on the sand, about fifty yards apart. One was wearing a corduroy shirt, hands in pockets, watching the water. The other guy was dressed in a tie-dyed T-shirt and was doing Tai Chi all by himself.

“Please don’t let it be the Tai Chi guy,” Jamie mumbled to herself just as the Tai Chi guy turned around and waved at her. She froze.

Jamie desperately turned around to pray he wasn’t waving at her, and much to her delight, she saw a very tanned, skinny white girl with neon pink hair in dreads and wearing a macramé halter top lazily waving back. Tai Chi Guy and Macramé Girl met at The Strand wall and shared an open-mouthed cringe-worthy kiss just as Corduroy Shirt Guy walked up.

He was tall, with curly brown hair and intense brown eyes. He had bit of an overbite that made him seem disarming, edging on goofy. He smiled and she felt at ease.

“It’s their first date too,” the guy said as he discreetly pointed a thumb toward the couple who had progressed into groping each other. “Hi, I’m Theo.”

Jamie laughed. “Hi, Theo.” She shook his hand and then pointed to the couple, who were vigorously making out. “Let me start by managing expectations.”

“You’re not up for a public mauling?”

Cheeky. “Depends on how good your Tai Chi moves are.”