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“Looks like he finally made good on his promise.”
“He always does.”
“When did it happen?” David closes his eyes. “When did he hurt you?” Ali’s soothed by the concern in his voice. She plans to milk it for all it’s worth. Even if what she’s offering David are partial truths, she appreciates how invested he is in hearing them.
“When I was a teenager. But that’s all in the past. I don’t like to go there.”
“Before the interview with Sarah Shepard,” he says, looking directly at her. “Why didn’t you just go to the cops?”
Ali laughs. She doesn’t mean to, but she does. “You don’t know my father.”
Chapter Thirty
Ali
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
Ali fastens her seatbelt as the flight attendant belts out the usual spiel. She wasn’t expecting to have to hightail it from Seattle to Boston. Not on such short notice. Not with so much on her plate. She has clients scheduled back in Austin and a seminar in San Francisco. Unfortunately, none of that matters because Edward is sick. He has a urinary tract infection, his third one in a very short stint, and he’s landed himself in the hospital, leaving her no choice but to fly home to be at his side. After the accident, Edward gave her power of attorney, which means if something occurs that looks serious, she needs to be there. And when someone’s a paraplegic, it always seems serious.
As the plane taxis to the runway, Ali thinks back to the first time she and Edward met. It was at a party she almost skipped. It’s funny to think now. They almost didn’t meet.
That’s why thinking about the chance encounter brings her so much joy. She remembers it like it was yesterday. Everyone had been wandering about, tipping back drinks, laughing and chatting amongst themselves. Edward was there with Catherine. Ali was with someone she hadn’t been dating long. She couldn’t even remember his name.
Later Edward told Ali the story of the first time he laid eyes on her at that party. He loved telling that story. Especially when they were with friends. He’d tell everyone how Deborah had leaned in with a hushed voice and said to him, “Ali is her stage name, although chances are she’ll have given you another. Have you met?”
He didn’t think so.
“Trust me, you’d remember if you had.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so.”
“Oh, then, you must.”
“Who is she?” Edward asked. He had recounted the conversation to Ali later, much later. Ali had smiled and brushed it off, even though she knew everything Deborah had said was true.
“Ali,” the woman confessed. “She’s the person you want in a room with you when you want to find out if someone is full of shit. You want to know if the person you’re dating is wasting your time? Give her ten minutes with them and she’ll find out what they really think about their mother, what they were like growing up, if he or she prefers chocolate to vanilla.”
“Really.” He was intrigued. Not only was Ali strikingly beautiful, she sounded smart and cunning too. Exactly his type.
“You want to know if they’re hiding something,” Deborah continued.
“If who is hiding something?”
“Catherine. Your date.Anyone.”She spoke fast, like she had a lot to say and wanted to make sure she got it all out. “I mean, of course they are. Who isn’t?”
Edward shrugged. But he didn’t respond.
Deborah narrowed her eyes. “Everyone has secrets.”
“Do they?”
She placed her hand on his forearm and gave it a squeeze. “Don’t be so coy.”
“Am I?”
“Private lives are fine, unless someone is being deceptive in a way that will hurt the people she cares about.That’sAli. She’s very protective. Believe me, you want her in your corner.”
“She sounds incredible.”
