Offering a halfhearted smile to the driver as he deposited her at her apartment building, she thanked him as she swiped her credit card, giving him a hefty tip.
Climbing from the back seat, she made sure to have her purse, laptop bag, and overnight bag. Pulling out her keys, she began walking up to her apartment, not surprised to see Nancy sitting on the top step.
She smiled at her best friend but shook her head slightly. “You know I love you, but I’m really not in the mood to talk right now.”
Nancy said nothing but stood and wrapped her arms around Lynn, holding her close. Lynn remained quiet, afraid that if she spoke, she would begin crying again. After a moment, Nancy pulled back and said, “Come on, let’s go inside. We don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. But I can make a cup of tea or pour a glass of wine, whichever you think you need.”
She nodded, glad for the friendship. Once inside the apartment, she dropped her bags and walked to the bathroom while Nancy headed to the kitchen. As she washed her hands, she stared at her reflection. In most ways, she looked the same as she had several days earlier. The difference was in her eyes. Darker. Sadder. Wiser. Unrequited teenage love had been difficult. Now, twelve years later, unrequited adult love was even more so.
By the time she made it into the living room, Nancy had found the wine and poured two glasses. “I thought about tea but just felt like wine was what we needed.”
Before taking the wine glass, she pulled out her laptop, and with a few taps sent the financial statements and her initial report to Nancy’s email. “I want to go ahead and get this to you so that you can meet with Sally whenever it’s convenient for you. At least this part of the last several days was worth it.”
As they moved to the sofa and chair, they plopped down, and she gratefully accepted the glass of wine. “Just like I told you on our call earlier, while I can’t give her any specifics on exactly what Errol is doing with the money, he definitely handed over a large envelope of cash to have it applied to his casino card. Chances are, if he’s laundering it through the casino, someone on the inside is letting him play for a little while, probably with fixed-odd betting, and then he gets cashed out.” A heavy sigh left her lips, and she added, “To be perfectly honest, Nancy, I don’t even care what he’s doing with the money or how he’s doing it. Sally didn’t hire us to investigate that… she just wants to know if the business makes more than what he’s reporting on taxes. And the answer to that is yes.”
Nancy nodded, her smile tight. “Thank you, Lynn. I can’t believe how this case… well, I never expected…” She sighed heavily and shook her head. “I confess that I claimed best friend privilege and checked your phone while you were in the bathroom. I figured you’d placed it on silent.”
Lifting her brow, she remained quiet, knowing Nancy was going to tell her what was on her phone whether she wanted her to or not.
“You’ve missed dozens of messages and phone calls. A few from me, but most from Nolan. When he called me to tell me you were on your way by yourself, I didn’t bother calling you anymore, deciding to come here instead.”
She took another sip of wine, wincing at her tight muscles as she stretched her legs out toward the coffee table.
With perception born of many years of friendship, Nancy said, “You should take a hot bath tonight. Just soak and try to relax.”
Snorting, her gaze held Nancy’s and she smiled. “Best friend. Wine. Hot bath. Do you have all the answers?”
“Hell, Lynn. You’ve been friends with me long enough to know I hardly have any answers at all.” The two women smiled, both taking another large sip before Nancy sobered. “But we’ve also been friends long enough for you to know that we need to talk.”
Her shoulders lifted in a shrug, and she replied, “What’s there to talk about? We screwed up. Big time.”
“Screwed up?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I would call it. We had a plan, and even when we had to adapt, we both thought that with false information on the marriage license, it wouldn’t be valid. That was a huge mistake.”
“Maybe it was just different timing for something that’s not a mistake.”
Lynn’s wine glass halted on its way to her lips at Nancy’s words. Her brow scrunched as she waited to see what else her friend was going to say.
“Look, I get what you’re saying about the screwup. If this had been anybody else but Nolan, you’d be in a real pickle right now. And, of course, because you’re doing this for me, I already feel responsible for the situation. But it was Nolan and you. I don’t know what you’ve been doing for the past two days but if you and he slept together then—”
“I fell for him.”
At that proclamation, Nancy snapped her mouth shut, her eyes widening. After a moment, her lips began to curve, slowly at first until a wide smile lit her face.
Without giving Nancy a chance to speak, she threw her hand up and continued. “The past two days in a nutshell? We talked and laughed. We got to know each other and had a good time. Sometimes he would reach over and link fingers with me as we walked along and other times our arms would be around each other. He called me babe, and I discovered I liked it. And yes, we slept together. We agreed it was just for those couple of days, nothing more, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that I fell for him.”
“Lynn, honey, I don’t know what Nolan’s going to
