“I’m afraid not.”
“Not even during college?”
Her parents had paid for college. Because of them, she’d been able to focus exclusively on her studies, hadn’t had to work, which was why she could hardly begrudge the money she sent to her mother now. “No.”
“Well, it’s easy enough—which is why it doesn’t pay a whole lot.”
“I understand.”
“I’ll go a dollar per hour over minimum wage, since you’re being so flexible with me. Is that acceptable?”
Emery felt a wave of gratitude. Maybe she wouldn’t make a great deal of money, but any amount would help mitigate the drain on her savings. “It will. Thank you. I appreciate it. When would you like me to come in for training?”
A group of people walked into the store, so Emery stepped off to one side, praying no one would recognize her while she waited for Susan to serve them. Fortunately, they were intent on the menu, which took up the whole of one wall, didn’t even glance over at her as they chose various cookies, ice cream sandwiches and a whipped mocha drink.
Once Susan had rung them up and they’d sauntered out, Emery breathed easier.
“Can you be here when I open on Saturday?” Susan asked. “At ten?”
“I can,” Emery told her.
“Great. I’ll see you day after tomorrow, then.”
As she left, Emery felt a little guilty that Susan didn’t know she was hiring a woman with such a damaged reputation. But she was so eager to leave the recent debacle behind her she wasn’t about to spread the word herself.
“What’d she say?” Dallas asked as soon as she climbed back into his van.
“I got the job,” she announced. “Saturday will be my first day.”
“Congratulations.” He started the engine and put the transmission in Reverse. “What should we do to celebrate?” he asked as he twisted around to look behind them.
“How about dinner later—on me?”
He quit looking for a break in traffic. “Are you sure you want to spend the money?”
“I’m a working girl again. I can afford it,” she joked.
“I have an idea,” he said.
“What is it?”
“Have you heard from Tommy or his boyfriend?”
She opened Facebook on her phone to check. “No. Still nothing.”
“Then let’s go to LA.”
“Where I’m bound to run into people who’ll recognize me?” she said, horrified. “No thanks. That’s why I’m here—to avoid anyone who might’ve seen that video.”
“But I’ve been thinking. Ethan claims he kicked Tommy out and removed all of Tommy’s contact information from his phone, right?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe that?”
“Not necessarily.”
“How long has it been since you two broke up?”
“It was the week before Thanksgiving.” She’d begun to grow disenchanted with Ethan a couple of months before that, but it wasn’t until then that she made it official.
“So not that long ago.”
“Not really. What is that? Three weeks?” Providing the timeline reminded her of how quickly her world had been laid to waste.
“And how long after you broke up was it when he loaded that video onto the internet?”
She grimaced at the memory. “It was the last day of November. I remember because that was the day I had the pedicure appointment.”
“It’s only the tenth of December now,” he pointed out.
She studied him in confusion. “I don’t get what you’re saying.”
“What are the chances Tommy was able to find another place to live in one week? Ethan blamed him for posting that video, so it stands to reason he wouldn’t have thrown him out until after it went up. If it went up on the thirtieth—that isn’t very long ago.”
“I still don’t get what you’re saying.”
“I’m saying Tommy might still be living with Ethan. He might be trying to move, but there’s a good chance he hasn’t been able to find another place and pack and remove all of his belongings, not in that short time.”
She seemed skeptical. “Unless he just moved in with Thiago.”
“If he and Thiago wanted to move in together, why did Ethan have to kick him out?”
“Ethan could be lying about that. We know he’s lying about plenty of other stuff.”
“It’s possible. But practically speaking, that’s a quick move. Why don’t we drive to LA and stake out Ethan’s house, see if we can’t catch Tommy? Even if he’s moved, he might not have gotten all of his stuff, so we might be able to catch him.”
Emery pictured Tommy returning for a final load. It would be so great to get his side of the story, and the longer she waited, the less chance she’d have of Tommy being anywhere near Ethan’s house. “It’s worth a shot,” she agreed. “But you’ve already done so much for me...”
“My mother doesn’t need me at the school today. I have the time. And I think Ethan should be held accountable. If we can find Tommy and you can get a leg up on this thing, I stand to gain some personal satisfaction.”
If she hadn’t already put on her seat belt, she would’ve hugged him. Her life had steadily improved since he came into it. “You’ve been really good to me. Thank you—for not judging me and for...for believing me and supporting me.”
“Oh, I’m still judging you,” he said with a completely straight face, and they both started laughing as he pulled out and turned toward LA.
10
“That’s it right there?” As they rolled slowly down a densely populated street filled with small, single-story houses, Dallas pointed through the windshield at the address Emery had given him. White stucco and with a red tile roof, it reminded him of a Mexican villa, especially because it had palm trees lining one side of the property. There was also a large sycamore tree turning most of the front lawn to dirt and exposed roots, and a plethora of cars parked up and down the street.
Emery slid down in her seat as they passed by. “That’s it.”
Ethan went to such great pains to take care of his physical appearance that Dallas had expected him to live
