“Yoga instructor down at the gym.” I inspect the picture of her smiling face. “Wish I could say I recognized her from that night, but she doesn’t even look vaguely familiar. Did she say anything personal about him?”
“Nothing really. Maybe she dated him?”
“I don’t know. According to court docs made public, she’s recently divorced within the last month. I’d say probably not. How about her sister? What’s her name?”
“Bitter Bridezilla”—Serena stares at the ceiling a moment—“Hannah!” she shouts as if it were the winning answer, and it just might be. “She’s the one that the pity party was in honor of that night.”
“Hannah. Let’s for the fun of it sayJohnson…” I let the search engine do its thing, and my jaw unhinges at what I see. “Holy shit,” I whisper, taking it all in.
“What?” She spins the laptop her way and gasps. “That’s him! And that’sher! Barry and Hannah were a couple. Wow, she had poor taste in men. It’s not a wonder she was bitter—or more to the point, better off.”
“Hey, if she pulled the trigger, the same could be said about him and women.”
We graze through the engagement announcement together.
Serena sets her tray onto the coffee table and scoots in close. The scent of fresh strawberries clings to her hair, and I wonder how she does it, how she makes the magic happen as I take in one lungful after the next.
“Stop sniffing me. That’s just weird.” She plants her hip next to mine as we check out the article in depth. “So, Dirty Barry and Horrific Hannah were supposed to get hitched that day. One of them must have called off the wedding. I’m betting it was at least a week or so out because it gave Hannah’s friends all the time they needed to play dress up.”
I nod at the idea. “And that explains what Barry was doing at the bar. I bet he was trying to keep an eye on his brand-new ex. Who knows? Maybe he had a change of heart and wanted her back?”
Those large emerald doe eyes blink up at me in wonder. “Does that make Hannah our prime suspect?”
I blow out a hard breath. “I guess it puts her at the top of the list for sure, but we can’t rule Shelby out. She wasn’t exactly too broken up over her brother’s death.”
Serena nods, her eyes still pinned on mine, serious and sullen. “You know”—she closes the laptop and places it carefully onto the table—“I never did get to tell you how sorry I was about your sister’s passing.” Her lips burst with ruby color as she bites back her emotions. “I’m sorry, Shep. She was always so nice to me.” She shakes her head while wiping down the tears already flooding her eyes. “She once told me to ignore you, and that’s just what I’ve been trying to do all these years.”
I inch back, stunned at the bizarre revelation. “She did? Under what pretense?”
“Am I being cross-examined?”
“Consider it so.” I wrap an arm around her, but only because it’s comfortable and—maybe I want to comfort her. She is crying, and it’s because of my sister. If she didn’t jar me just now, I might have been tempted to join her. “Why did she tell you to ignore me?” I whisper it into her ear as if singing a lullaby. I know for a fact if you want to lure the truth from someone you need to go slow and easy, make them feel like you’re on their side. I may not be officially interrogating Serena, but it doesn’t mean I’m not utilizing my best tactics to get the answers I want.
Serena wraps her arms around me and looks up with those watery green eyes. “Because you did something horrible to me and she found me crying.”
“I did?” Floored once again. I’m starting to wonder if the liquor is still holding strong in her veins. “What did I do, Serena? I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you.” But knowing how well we treated one another way back when, maybe I did—in a playful, yet decidedly spiteful manner.
She gives a subtle nod. “It was my fourteenth birthday. Does that ring a bell?”
“Fourteenth birthday?” I think on it a moment. I know I’ve got about nine years on her, so that puts me as just finishing up with my undergraduate work. “I don’t remember. Sorry.”
She sniffles hard. “It was just before Axel and Lex had their big breakup. We were all together for dinner—my birthday dinner, and you and your sister happened to be there. I cornered you outside and asked for a kiss.”
“Oh—that.” I tip my head back a moment. “I do remember. I was on the way to my car, and we had just thrown barbs at one another all night. When you asked for a kiss, I was certain you were going to whack me, open palmed, as soon as I leaned in, so I—took off.” My gut feels as if a rotary blade just spun through it. Crap. I hurt her. Wait. I hurt Serena? I didn’t think she was capable of caring enough to get her feelings bent out of shape, at least not by me.
She nods once again. “You said, ‘good luck with that’ and took off. I watched the dust lift from your tires, and that’s when your sister found me.”
“Serena.” I tick my head to the side, not daring to take my eyes off hers. “Did you really want a kiss from me?”
“Yes. I was fourteen, for God’s sake. I would never have asked if I didn’t want one. That was a pretty gutsy move for a kid like me, you know. I didn’t exactly have the most stable home life.”
And now I feel like shit. “Yes, I do realize you didn’t have the most stable home life. I’m sorry about your mom taking off, and I’m very sorry about your father.” Serena lost her father at an early age, too.
She shrugs it off as if it didn’t matter, thick tears congealing in her eyes once again.
I don’t say a word. Instead, I inch my way forward, and she does the same. My gaze is trapped in those sea green eyes, and I could get lost doing just this all day. But I lean in once again and brush my lips over hers, a barely-there pass that says,I’m so very sorry, I never meant to hurt you,and I pull away and we share a warm smile.
Another hour swings by and Serena enjoys the rest of her breakfast. We talk about old times as if each memory were suddenly a good one. I drive her back to her dorm, and she doesn’t slam the car door on me in anger. Instead, she thanks me for breakfast and lets me know that I probably shouldn’t overcook the pancakes next time so that they’re not crunchy. I watch as she strides her way to her dormitory, confident, her fiery mane blowing in the afternoon breeze, and every last part of me feels as if it’s waking up from a very long slumber.
