Livvy nodded. “Yes, he told me that I should let you make your own mistakes. That you needed a sister, not a mother hen.”
Judy grinned. “That Flynn Banks, he’s a smart man.”
Livvy bit her lip, holding back a fresh wave of tears. “He is. He really is. Even if he works hard to make the papers think otherwise.”
Judy grabbed Livvy’s upper leg and squeezed. “I knew it! You do still have feelings for him.”
“What? No, it’s just—”
“Olivia Jane Blount, don’t lie to me.” Judy put her hands on her hips and gave her a stern look, but she couldn’t hold it for long. Her frown melted into a beatific smile. “Livvy, just admit that you like him.”
Livvy closed her eyes and exhaled. “Fine.” She scrunched up her face, not wanting to admit the truth. What she’d never allowed herself to tell him—while he was awake, at least. “I more than like him, okay? I, Olivia Blount, am hopelessly, wretchedly in love with Flynn Banks.”
Judy kicked her feet and squealed in delight. “I knew it. I knew it. I knew it.”
“I don’t know what you’re so happy about,” Livvy grumbled. “He’s marrying Rhonda Powers. Tomorrow.”
“Oh, Livvy, you don’t think he actually wants to marry her, do you?”
Livvy thought back to the night at the symphony fundraiser. The way Flynn had looked at Rhonda like she was a hungry crocodile. He’d clung to Livvy as if she were a life raft. But that could have been an act, another part of following Harry’s orders. Because it was good for the picture and both their careers. “Flynn always insisted he wasn’t the marrying kind, but—”
Judy didn’t answer, just stood up and ran into the kitchen, returning with the movie magazine that was now permanently stained with tomato sauce. “Did you actually read the article?” She shoved it under Livvy’s nose, and Livvy snatched it away.
“No, the headline was enough.” She studied the text and gasped when she got to the relevant bit of information. “Uncle Stan… Why, he’s—”
Judy crossed her arms and nodded, entirely satisfied with herself. “Yes, he is. When I read that Rhonda’s Uncle Stan was a member of the PCA board, I immediately realized something fishy was happening. That’s why I kept leaving the article out for you. I hoped you would notice too.”
“I had decided to forget about Flynn Banks and anything that ever passed between us.”
Judy rolled her eyes. “Well, you refused to take the bait, so I called up Dash Howard.”
“You what?”
“Hush. I called up Dash Howard because I thought if anyone would know what was happening, he would. He confirmed my fears. Rhonda Powers’s Uncle Stan is none other than Stanley Devlin, the man who attacked me at the party.”
Livvy remembered then why the name Stanley Devlin had been so familiar. She had met him that night at the fundraiser. Rhonda had introduced him to her and Flynn.
“But if Stanley Devlin is her uncle, then that means…that means, what?”
“It means, dear sister, that Flynn Banks doesn’t want to marry Rhonda Powers any more than you’d like to marry Benito Mussolini. Dash told me as much. He was there when Flynn agreed to it. Turns out, Flynn is more like you than we thought.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s a self-sacrificing, well-intentioned idiot.”
“I am not a—”
Judy stuck her tongue out at her, and Livvy couldn’t help but laugh. “You are, but that’s not the point. The point is that Flynn agreed to marry Rhonda because it was the only way to stop Stanley Devlin from trying to ruin both of us in the papers.”
Livvy clutched the movie magazine to her chest. She didn’tknow what she’d expected Judy to say, but it wasn’t that. Flynn Banks, a man with so many notches in his bedpost he needed multiple beds for them all, was getting married—to protect her and Judy. It was insane. How could he do such a thing?
She had to stop him. Had to tell him that whatever happened, she and Judy could face it. That he didn’t need to marry Rhonda Powers if he didn’t want to.
But how could she? The wedding was tomorrow.
A knock at the door made Livvy jump. “Are you expecting visitors?”
Judy gave Livvy a sheepish look. “Don’t get mad, but I thought we might need reinforcements.”
