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Rayna dressed with care two days later for her first official meeting with Adam Shipley and Connor Sennett.
She was well aware of how she’d appeared to the two men on previous occasions, but she was now ready to show them the new and improved Rayna.
She chose a jean capri pant that hugged her slim body and a beautiful teal top that highlighted her coloring. That done, she added leopard print flats, a necklace, and earrings, and carefully made up her face to disguise the shadows still beneath her eyes.
She wasn’t thirty anymore. Or forty. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t look nice. And after everything Richard had put her through, looking nice boosted her self-esteem and bolstered her confidence even more.
Rayna squirted a hint of perfume and gathered her purse to leave the bedroom. She walked by the double doors to Richard’s room without a glance and kept going until she found her girls in the kitchen.
Dara worked on her laptop, no doubt remotely catching up on the work she missed in her office, while Devon waited on toast to pop. “Good morning, girls.”
Devon and Dara both turned in her direction, their reactions priceless.
“Wow.”
“Mama, you look beautiful.”
“Thank you. Every day I feel a little better.”
“Scrambled eggs and toast?” Devon asked.
Rayna settled herself at the counter beside Dara and shook her head at the complicated screen in front of her. There were multiple charts, graphs, and a slew of things Rayna couldn’t begin to understand. “Big case?”
“Mmm. Yes.”
“But you can’t talk about it?”
Dara shook her head and closed the laptop. “Nope. Oh, gimme,” Dara said, holding out both hands toward Devon, who now held two coffee cups.
Devon passed them off and retreated to get one for herself.
“So, Mama, are you ready for this meeting?” Devon asked.
“As ready as anyone could be. And, girls, I know you’re determined to come with me, but if you have other things to do—”
“We don’t,” they said in unison.
Devon served breakfast next, and then the three of them had a quiet meal, discussing the upcoming weekend activities on the island.
“Let’s do the movie by the lake,” Dara said. “I loved going to those as a kid.”
“I wouldn’t mind some time on the beach,” Devon added. “We could go to the south end. Maybe it would be a little less crowded.”
“I can’t wait to do both of those things with you,” Rayna said. “But first, Adam and Connor.”
“Sounds like a plan. Let’s eat up and get over there so we can get started on some fun,” Devon said.
Thirty minutes later, the trio walked into Adam and Mary Elizabeth’s home. Mary Elizabeth hugged Rayna tightly before releasing her for Adam to give her a side hug.
“We’re so glad you’re home safe,” the kind man said to her.
She smiled and nodded. “Thank you. All of you. I’ve become very aware of how blessed I am to have you in my life.”
“Even me?” Connor asked, smiling.
Rayna chuckled and felt herself flush a bit, taking a step toward the man to give him a hug as well. “Even you.”
If she wasn’t mistaken, Connor’s gaze lingered a moment longer than it probably should have, and she cleared her throat and stepped back, hoping no one else noticed the heat she felt flooding her face.
“Shall we get started?” Adam asked, stretching out his arm to indicate the living room. “My office would be a little crowded with all of us in it, so I thought we’d meet in here.”
Rayna Jo walked into the room beside Dara and noticed Mary Elizabeth’s coffee table was covered with papers and files and a laptop. “You’ve been busy.”
“We both have been,” Adam said. “Connor has been doing quite a bit of research himself.”
She took a seat on the long, tufted couch, her gaze shifting to Connor once again. “I can’t thank you enough.”
“My pleasure,” Connor said. “I’m not fond of cases that punish a family for an individual’s actions.”
“So,” Adam said, drawing their attention once everyone had seated themselves. “Where would you like to start?”
