“Where are you from?” Katy asked. An innocent enough question, but I didn’t want to answer because it could give so much away. If anyone in town pried too deeply, a lot of skeletons might fall out of my closet—some of them through quick Google searches.
“Well, I just returned from Guatemala. I’ve spent the last two years helping to secure clean water to the outlying villages in the southern regions of the country.”
Katy ground her teeth together, and it looked as if she was visibly trying not to roll her eyes. “Great,” she said around a hasty laugh. “So, you’re gorgeous and selfless.”
My face fell with her remark. She was the first person I’d met who didn’t shower praise on me for what we did in Guatemala. I’d moved there originally to get away from the states and the turmoil, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the people. I was doing something good with my life. It made parts of it seem worth it.
“Not exactly,” I replied. Maybe I was in Guatemala for the wrong reasons. Did I only do it for praise and attention? Pelican Bay had a way of making me question everything.
I’d certainly enjoyed being back in the states. Cold water, ice cubes, loud sound system and this morning I’d almost completely forgotten the families I left in Central America. Basically I sucked.
It wasn’t right for me to enjoy the creature comforts, which were now available, when I was only here for a short time based on a lie Pierce and I concocted. I’d only miss these things again when I had to leave them behind in half a year.
The conversation reached a low between the two of us and Katy fidgeted with her hair. “Well, I wanted to leave a check for Pierce with a note. He was super worried I’d be short this month because his bank account wouldn’t handle it if he didn’t get my six hundred dollars, but he’ll sleep well tonight knowing I paid in full.” Sarcasm dripped from her words as she pulled the folded-over check from her pocket.
Oh right. “You lost your job.” Pierce expressed worry about Katy’s employer shutting the doors on his medical practice when he retired.
That time Katy rolled her eyes dramatically. “This damn town. No worries for either of you. I picked up extra hours at the bakery and it will be fine.”
I smile. “That’s good.”
Before I fled San Francisco, I sold most of my wardrobe on eBay to pay my bills. On some level I understood what it was to be broke, yet on the other hand I was privileged in this world and had never experienced true hunger or going without for any extended period. Living in Guatemala taught me how lucky I’d had it in the past. How lucky so many of us currently have it.
Even within the village where we volunteered, our lives were easier than the families we helped. The last two years had shown me it could always be worse.
Katy’s eyes scanned the house. “Is Melissa here with you?”
My face fell. Another one of Pelican Bay residents without a job. “No, she was fired because Pierce found her going through his desk looking for his checkbook.”
Katy shook her head. “Melissa would never steal. Not when she needed this job so much. Her grandmother is roommates with my grandmother in the nursing home. They’ve been best friends for years. Pierce must have ulterior motives.”
“How do you know?” I wanted to help Melissa. If Katy knew how, I needed her to tell me.
“Because he always does,” she said with such sincerity in her voice I yearned to believe her, but I’d been there when it happened. I caught Melissa snooping. During our conversation it become apparent Katy wasn’t a threat, and I’d relaxed, but her stance grew hard and her eyes wrathful as we talked about Melissa.
“He can’t go around this town firing whoever he wants.”
“Well, kind of he can.” I mean we caught her trying to steal. She admitted it. Melissa was his employee and Pierce the boss. That’s how it worked.
Katy’s eyes narrowed on me as if she was trying to determine how high on her enemy list she’d write my name. “Right, because Pierce is the boss of everyone and everyone has to do what Pierce says.”
“Well, he is the boss.” In ways he was even bossing me around, but I let him. Two million was a big motivator in that decision.
“I’m telling you, it’s not what it looks like. Not when Pierce is involved.”
She had so much conviction in her words they left me wanting to believe each one of them. “If you’re so sure on his motives, I can help you dig deeper.”
Pierce and my extended family were friends for years, but I knew little about Pierce myself. We met one time when we were younger and then I hadn’t seen him again until the meeting in his office. Maybe there was a reason the entire town considered Pierce a villain. I wanted to call my Aunt Dorothy and get the scoop on him, but then I’d have to decide whether I told her the truth about the fake engagement or not. I couldn’t lie to Aunt Dorothy, so I’d been putting the phone call off for as long as possible. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that she hadn’t called me.
If I was going to fake-marry Lex Luther, I should be aware going into it.
Katy’s eyes sparkled. “Deal. I’ll be in contact.” She took two steps toward the back door and I followed.
“What? Can’t we search through his stuff now?” He’d left me unsupervised in his house all day so we’d have plenty of time.
“As soon as I have more to go on, we’ll make a plan of attack. I like you, Mari,” she said with a slight smile. “I didn’t think I would, but I do. Keep your eyes open around Pierce. There’s nothing he wants more than power and control.”
I nodded and watched her walk out the back door and skip off Pierce’s steps taking them two a time. Her words rang in my ears. Were there two Pierces? One he’d shown me and one everyone else in town knew? When we visited his businesses, everyone wore smiles, but could that have been an act like our fake engagement? Was Pierce playing me like we were playing the townspeople?
