He handed her a pad of paper. She quickly wrote on it and passed it back.
“My camera,” she said.
He gave it to her.
“How long are you in town for?” he asked.
“A few weeks. My younger sister, Vivian, is getting married. I’m here to help out with all the details and to make the wedding cake. I rented a house at the edge of town. I need a kitchen to complete my other orders.”
“I’ll be in touch.”
She nodded, then turned the camera over in her hands as if she wanted to say something else. He waited, but she only shrugged, then walked toward the hallway.
He followed her to the front door. She stepped out into the night, then glanced back at him.
“I wasn’t wrong about Pam,” she said.
“I should have listened.”
Her lips curved up in a smile. “Really?”
“Sure. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn sometimes, Gracie. Good night.”
He closed the door, but didn’t step away. Sure enough he heard a thud, as if she’d just kicked the door.
“That was a low blow, Riley,” she yelled. “A real low blow.”
Despite everything that had happened and everything he had yet to do, he found himself grinning as he returned to the library.
GRACIE FUMED as she stalked away from Riley’s house. “A blind squirrel,” she muttered. “My opinion on Pam wasn’t based on dumb luck. Talk about ungrateful. If he’d listened to me, he wouldn’t have married her in the first place. But no.”
She stomped her foot once for good measure, then stopped on the sidewalk. No sign of Alexis
She turned left and started walking. The night was pleasantly cool with a hint of brine in the air. Even though she’d been gone forever, the town felt familiar. She liked the closeness of the ocean and the quiet residential streets. She might live in a suburb back in Los Angeles, but it was a whole lot louder than this.
At the corner, she glanced back at Riley’s house. He might have grown up poor, but he fit in there now. As she walked across the street, she smiled. Man oh man, had he looked good. She supposed she could take comfort in the fact that even at thirteen she’d had fabulous taste in men. Riley had only gotten better with age. He had the brooding, dark, good looks of a fallen angel. An angel with a diamond stud earring.
Despite her shock and embarrassment at seeing him again, she’d felt something. Sparks. Attraction. No doubt as completely one-sided as it had ever been, which meant she had to make sure she didn’t even pretend to act on it. No way was she willing to be stalker girl again.
A car pulled up beside her. Gracie glanced over and saw Alexis’s Camry. Her sister rolled down the window.
“You got away,” she said quietly. “I’m glad. Get in.”
“What do you mean I got away?” Gracie asked as she opened the door and slid onto the passenger seat. “Were you seriously concerned Riley would take me prisoner and torture me for information?”
“I didn’t know what would happen. I can’t believe your flash is that bright and loud.”
Gracie glanced at her aging camera. “Me, either. Guess it’s really not what I should use for my undercover work.” She returned her attention to her sister. “You
Alexis hunched over the steering wheel. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t risk being caught.”
“Oh, and I could? Do you have any idea what Riley thought when he found me lurking outside his windows?”
“Nothing he hasn’t thought a million times before.”
That hurt, Gracie thought. “I would like everyone to remember I’ve grown up since then.” She sighed. “It doesn’t matter. I have the information you wanted.”
Her sister looked at her. “What do you mean?”
“I asked Riley about Zeke.”
“What? No!”
Alexis slammed on the brakes, making Gracie grateful she’d fastened her seat belt securely.
Gracie braced her hands against the dashboard. “I talked to him about the problem. He has answers. Why is this a big deal?”
“Because it’s private,” Alexis shrieked. “I didn’t want anyone to know. It’s family stuff and supposed to be a secret. Not that I would expect you to understand that.”
Gracie flinched. She didn’t know if her sister meant the family part or the secret part, and she wasn’t sure it mattered.
“You dragged me into this,” she reminded her sister. “I went along to help you.”
“I know. I’m sorry. It’s just…” Alexis sighed. “What did he say?”
“That to the best of his knowledge, Zeke loves and adores you. But he wasn’t working on the campaign tonight.” She thought about mentioning that Riley was going to talk to Zeke about his extracurricular activities but wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the screeching again.
“Anything else?”
Gracie hesitated.
Alexis pulled up in front of the Landon family home and turned off the engine. “What?” she demanded.
“Riley is going to talk to Zeke about where he goes.”
Alexis dropped her head to the steering wheel and moaned. “Tell me you’re kidding.”
“I’m not, but it’s not such a bad idea. You’re not willing to talk to your husband about it and someone has to get the truth. Once you know he’s not running around, you’ll feel better.” Gracie touched her sister’s arm. “If you’d just talk to him yourself,” she began.
Alexis opened the driver’s door. “You don’t understand. It’s not that simple. I’m not sure I want to know what he’s doing. If he
Gracie didn’t want to be having this conversation or any other, at the moment. She had only been home a couple of days and already a week of root canals seemed so much more pleasant.
“Why don’t you wait and find out the truth?” she asked softly.
“Good point. I will. Are you coming in?” Alexis jerked her head toward the house.
At this point Gracie was more than ready to escape to her rental, but she nodded and stepped out of the car. She would duck inside, yell out a greeting and leave. She could rationalize the decision by saying she had to unpack, but the truth was she wanted to be gone because she needed some distance. Too much family stuff too quickly, she thought.
They walked toward the house. As Alexis pulled open the front door, Gracie realized she could hear shouting inside.
“That can’t be good,” she said.
“Sounds like Vivian.” Alexis shook her head. “I hope the wedding isn’t off again.”
“What? Off?” But before Gracie could press for details, her sister had stepped into the house. Gracie trailed after her.
Vivian stood in the center of the room, her face streaked with tears and bleeding mascara, her hands on her hips, her mouth petulant. Their mother sat on the sofa, several brides magazines open on the coffee table.
When she saw Gracie and Alexis, their baby sister sniffed. “I hate Tom,” she said defiantly. “He’s selfish and mean and I’m not going to marry him.”
“Of course you are,” Alexis said soothingly. “You just had a fight. Now tell me what you were arguing about.”
“The bachelor p-party,” Vivian said over a sob. “He said I couldn’t come. But if I’m not there, how will I know what he’s doing? I don’t care about movies and drinking and stuff, but I don’t want him to have s-strip-pers.”
“Does he want to?” Alexis asked.
Vivian hiccupped. “He s-said it wasn’t up to me. He s-said until we were married, he didn’t have to do what I
