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Lexi waved her hand in the general direction of the fireplace, but Kelli couldn’t find her other children in the sea of Martha’s Vineyard faces.
“Will you be able to sit with us during the reception?” Lexi asked.
“I don’t know,” Kelli admitted at the same time Xander said, “Absolutely! We wouldn’t miss it.”
“Uh oh,” Lexi said. “I don’t know who to believe.”
“Believe me,” Xander said. “I’ve spent the better part of the past ten minutes convincing your mom to calm down a little bit and enjoy the fruits of her labor.” Xander then waved at a passing waiter to order another negroni and Aperol Spritz. The waiter hopped to it, returning to Kelli and Xander with their drinks in fewer than five minutes. Kelli closed her eyes as she sipped her drink, swimming in sparkling water, bright orange Aperol, and champagne.
“I’ve never had that before,” Isabella said.
“You must! It’s Italian, just like you,” Kelli said, remembering that Laura, Isabella’s mother, had been part-Italian and had made the most delectable pasta recipes. In her own way, Kelli had mourned Laura since last September, sensing an enormous hole within the Montgomery family, one they would never fill.
Just as Kelli began to relax into the afternoon, however, she heard a sharp and alienating voice. It penetrated the crowd and quieted several members of her family, all of whom craned to hear.
“I don’t believe you understand what I’m telling you! They’re gone. Do you speak English?” It was, yet again, Miss Jennings’ voice, and it made Kelli’s brain feel like it was on fire.
“I better go handle this,” Kelli said, passing her drink off to Isabella. Before Xander could take her arm and remind her that she’d hired other members of staff for a reason, she burst through the crowd and wove her way back to the front desk, where Miss Jennings glowered at Henry, the poor guy handling the front desk. Henry looked at Miss Jennings as though she’d just threatened to eat him alive.
“Miss Jennings! Hello!” Kelli’s voice was brighter than usual, perhaps due to the Aperol Spritz.
Miss Jennings glared at Kelli. “There you are. I’ve been looking for you all over the place. Were you… enjoying yourself?”
“What seems to be the problem, Miss Jennings?” There was always a problem with Miss Jennings. That was just her way.
Miss Jennings sniffed. “It’s the strangest thing. You adjusted the safe. I watched you do it. And still, when I opened it not five minutes ago, I found that my bracelet and my necklace were both missing. Both, as I’m sure you can imagine, are worth much more than—”
“Than I make in a year,” Kelli finished, wanting to mock her.
Miss Jennings flinched. “I need you to figure out where they went. It is preposterous that I entered this hotel last week and plan to leave tomorrow without any of my jewelry.”
“I understand that,” Kelli said. “Why don’t we go up to your room together?”
The large clock in the foyer of the hotel said it was only forty minutes till the wedding. Kelli’s heart threatened to burst with each beat. If she hurried with Miss Jennings, and perhaps if she left her with Officer Bobby again, she wouldn’t have to miss the festivities. Not too much of them, anyway.
Miss Jennings and Kelli got into the elevator, which was immediately filled with the stench of Miss Jennings’ very expensive perfume. Kelli’s stomach tightened and stirred threateningly. Kelli imagined the Google review Miss Jennings would leave if Kelli got sick in the elevator. It wouldn’t be pretty— but it did make her chuckle slightly.
“I don’t believe you’re laughing at my plight,” Miss Jennings said.
“Absolutely not. I have something in my throat,” Kelli explained.
When they reached Miss Jennings’ room, Miss Jennings used her key card to open the door and guide Kelli through the first part of the suite. On the other side of the room, in the closet, the safe could be seen safely closed. As Miss Jennings glided toward it like a heavenly creature, Kelli paused near the vintage handmade desk, which she’d had Andy refurbish for this very suite.
What she saw on the desk gave her pause.
There, one directly next to the other, glinting in the light, were a bracelet and a necklace. Both were lined with diamonds and clearly very expensive— the sort of thing people in Kelli’s world didn’t travel with.
“As you can see,” Miss Jennings was saying as she opened the safe, “they’re gone.”
“Aren’t these what you’re looking for?” Kelli pointed at the necklace and bracelet, too scared to touch them.
Miss Jennings peered across the room, her frown lines deep. “What? That can’t be.”
Kelli sighed and palmed her neck. Clearly, Miss Jennings was on a quest to make Kelli’s life a living hell. Miss Jennings breezed through the suite and inspected the necklace and bracelet, then nodded. “How extraordinary,” she said, as though they’d appeared from thin air.
Kelli wanted to remind Miss Jennings to look for her things before making accusations. She wanted to explain that she’d expected much more of her children when she’d been raising them. But instead, she smiled, feeling her brain nearly split in two from stress, and said, “Anything else, Miss Jennings?”
After Miss Jennings released her, Kelli stepped into the hall, closed the door, and placed her hands over her face. The world around her seemed to spin out of control, and her legs wavered beneath her.
