“I have pictures. Well, my parents do. Someday I’ll get brave enough to actually try it on. Hopefully, my Cheetos habit hasn’t made wearing it out of my reach.”
“You’re perfect as you are.” He pressed a light kiss to my forehead. “Every inch and ounce.”
“You’re good for my ego.” I stroked my fingers through the ends of his hair. “She thought I stayed home every night junior year.”
“Did you?”
“No. I liked dating. It was fun. And back then, nothing was too serious, so we just partied and had a good time. Partying for me, mind you, was one drink. I didn’t get drunk until I was like twenty. Too much of a goody two-shoes. Pretty sure that’s how Ricki saw me.”
“Being mindful doesn’t make you a goody two-shoes.”
“Good, because I didn’t deny that I was. I never wanted to go too far. Not with substances or sex or anything else.” I frowned. “Do you think I’m making too much of this? That maybe she’s exactly who she says she is, and her memory’s just spotty? And maybe she wasn’t the one to roofie the drink, or whatever the hell was done to it?”
“She forgot a lot. You gave her ample chances. Better question, why did she say not to bring me if she’s so innocent?”
“Because men are mouthy?” I laughed for his sake when he poked my side. “Yeah, all right. All my instincts are saying she’s off, so I need to face it. Even if I don’t understand why I’m a target.”
“Newest member of the band, maybe. Could think you’d be an easy one to get to.”
“You poison anyone’s drink, you can get to them pretty well.”
Again, I thought of Pat. Could he be this diabolical? What would be the point? Just to get revenge?
Then again, we didn’t know the point to any of this. I wanted so badly to make it logical, and the missing pieces were making me crazy.
“There’s another thing we haven’t considered enough.”
“Don’t we already have plenty?”
He kept speaking as if I hadn’t said anything. “If she’s not Priscilla then the real one is out there.” His brows drew together. “Assuming she’s still alive.”
Sixteen
I reeled back to stare at him. “You’re saying she could be dead? That this chick what, stole her identity?”
He shrugged. “It’s a theory. One we should pursue.”
“How? Set Lila and Donovan’s dogs on her to try to find her?”
“If it comes to that. We can do a preliminary search on our own. I’ll go get my laptop.” He grabbed his still half-full wine glass and pushed it into my hands. “You like it more than I do.”
“This is your version of a wine sippy cup,” I grumbled as I clambered off him and returned to my chair.
“I’ll bring the bottle.” He flashed me a quick smile before he disappeared inside.
I finished off his glass and grabbed my phone off the table. It was past ten, which for us rocker types was like five pm for those with normal jobs.
I pressed the speed dial for Ricki.
She picked up on the second ring. “I was going to call you tonight. How are you? How’s your place? Ugh, I wanted to see you last night, but everything went nuts.”
I smiled. She was my oldest friend, and just hearing her voice settled the jumble of emotions inside me. “I hear that. I’m okay. Water main break, was it? How random.”
“Yeah, especially since our apartment was the only one that got the notice. We hunkered down for like no purpose last night. We found out this morning that the building doesn’t even own that number that texted us, so it must have been freaking spam. I mean, can you imagine?”
With the recent insanity in my own life, I could believe just about anything. But I filed that away under stuff to discuss later with Cooper. Things were flying so fast and furious that I’d need a notepad soon.
“Did you make good use of your time at home?” I asked, trying to keep my tone light.
Ricki snorted. “Girl, we always make good use of our time everywhere. As far as marriage slowing us down, not so much.”
“Good for when that baby practice kicks in.”
“Yeah. Soon. I just went on prenatal vitamins, actually.”
“Pre before the natal?”
“It’s a good idea to make sure all your levels are where they should be. Anything to help it along. Since, you know, no guarantee of how long it could take.”
“Yeah.” I rested my cheek on the fist. “Lila’s still trying, right?”
I couldn’t imagine trying to have another baby with a stalker after me. But there had been so much drama surrounding Ripper Records for so long, Lila and Nick had to try to find some semblance of normal amidst chaos, I supposed.
“Yes. Which is another reason I’m wary. I don’t know if it’ll be quick or take a while, so I’m just trying to pace myself.”
“Or you could end up with twins right away.”
She laughed. “I could handle that, but I’m trying not to scare Mal off the process first thing. Though he mentioned getting something for the nursery at the farm yesterday.”
“Whoa, that’s huge for him.”
“It is. Taking it slow has been the way to go for him. I want him to enjoy being a dad, and I think he will once he gets over his fear of breaking the kid. He’s a great uncle.”
“So, you’re really going through with living on a farm outside the city?”
“Not yet. We’re doing some renovations. And we’ll probably never live here full time, but with it being so close to Happy Acres, we’ll have family nearby for the kids.” She sighed. “As you can tell, I’m doing really great at the not getting my hopes up and taking things slowly.”
It felt good to smile. “I was just telling Cooper how we thought we’d be single cat ladies.”
“Yeah. Neither of
