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He stopped by the buffet and grabbed some pasta, a roll, and a cup of punch before heading back to the table.
“I imagine you come to a lot of these,” Adam said between bites.
“Oh, yes. More than I care to think about. Dad’s been mayor for twenty years, so every four years, there’s a campaign to deal with. One of these days, he’ll get tired of it, I suppose.”
“You and your sisters seem right at home.”
“We know a lot of these people and have for years.”
He nodded.
“You staying in New Bern tonight?” Kate asked. “I hope you didn’t drive up here just for the fundraiser.”
“I’m gonna stay with Spencer tonight. That way, I can be nice and on time for our meeting tomorrow.”
“Awesome,” she said. “What do you do with Duke when you’re gone all day?”
“Duke’s chilling with my next-door neighbor’s kid. He loves Duke, and his parents won’t let him have a dog of his own, so he’s always game to dog sit.”
“Uh, Kate. You should come out to the parking lot. Now.” Emma had said her goodbyes and left but returned almost immediately.
“What’s up?” Kate asked.
“Just come on,” Emma said, dragging her by the arm. Adam followed them out to the parking lot, and when he saw Kate’s car, his face got hot.
“That bitch,” he muttered.
Kate’s BMW had been keyed from headlights to bumper, and the word “slut” written on the front and back windows. Kate sucked in a breath and put a hand over her heart. “What the hell?”
“Stella,” Adam said.
“What? Why? You think she followed you from Jacksonville or something?”
“Can you think of anyone else who would do this?” he asked, fuming. His hands balled up into fists.
“Who’s Stella?” he heard Emma whisper to Kate.
“Adam’s crazy ex,” Kate said. “We think she was the one who slashed my tire yesterday in Jacksonville.”
By then, a small crowd had gathered around Kate’s car.
“What’s this all about?” Edward asked, coming up behind them. Sophie was behind him and gasped when she saw the damage.
“This is my fault, sir,” Adam said. “I’ll have it taken care of immediately.” He pulled out his phone to call Spencer while Kate explained what had probably happened.
“Dude, I need the name and address of a good auto shop. Who do you use?” He walked away from the crowd to make arrangements for a tow truck and an appointment to have the car cleaned and repaired. When he returned, he told Kate a tow truck was on the way and offered to drive her home.
“Is a tow truck necessary? If we can get the windows cleaned, I can still drive it.”
“It would be a messy job to clean it up here with no supplies and everyone all dressed up. Plus, it’s got to go to the body shop, anyway. Might as well let them take care of it.”
As if to prove his point, someone was trying to wipe the words off the windows with paper towels but was succeeding only in smearing red all over. At least “slut” was no longer decipherable.
“Fine,” she said.
“It’s just lipstick,” Lizzie said. “That will clean up. The scratches, not so much.”
“I’m paying for the damage, and I’m calling the police to make sure this gets reported. We’ll need something to be able to get a restraining order.”
