Go to Circle Pond.
Tomorrow. She’d start tomorrow.
Eve settled into the pillows and closed her eyes.
As she drifted off to sleep, a face appeared in her mind. Not William’s. Not Mia’s or Lila’s.
Dark hair threaded with silver. Eyes that shifted between hazel and green depending on the light. Strong hands that had caught her before she could fall.
David Lawson.
Eve’s last conscious thought before sleep claimed her was that tomorrow she’d investigate Circle Pond.
And maybe, just maybe, she’d run into David again.
The thought made her smile as darkness pulled her under.
11
EVE
Eve stood in front of the bathroom mirror, wrapped in a towel, her hair dripping water onto her shoulders. The hot shower had felt amazing, washing away the tension from the night before and the restless sleep that had followed.
She opened the door and stepped into her bedroom, then froze.
Lila sat cross-legged on her bed, the notepad from the nightstand open in her lap, her eyes bright with excitement.
“Lila,” Eve said, her voice coming out more sharply than she’d intended.
Lila looked up, completely unrepentant. “Aunt Eve, you’re investigating! You’re trying to find out about Mom’s past.”
Eve sighed and tightened the towel around herself. There was no point in hiding it now. Lila was far too bright for a sixteen-year-old, and the evidence was literally in her hands.
“Yes,” Eve admitted. “But your mother has no idea what I’m up to, and we need to keep it that way.”
“I want to help,” Lila said immediately.
“Lila—”
“Please,” Lila interrupted. “I’m good at this kind of thing. You know I am. And Mom is so focused on learning photography that she left me a note beside my bed when she left at around five this morning. She and Nolan are going somewhere on the outskirts of town to do a nature shoot.”
Eve blinked. “Five in the morning?”
“Sunrise photography,” Lila explained. “The golden hour or something.”
Eve felt a flutter of concern. “Why didn’t she mention it to me?”
“Because she probably thought you’d try to stop her,” Lila said matter-of-factly. Then her expression softened. “But we have to trust Mom. She’s an adult with amazing intuition. And besides, I have her on the friends and family tracker app.”
“You what?”
Lila grinned. “Here, look.” She grabbed Eve’s phone from the nightstand, typed in the passcode without hesitation, and pulled up an app Eve had never seen before. “See? I put it on ages ago. Mom’s here.” She pointed to a dot on the map. “Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve. It’s about twenty minutes north of here. Nature preserve, hiking trails, tons of birds and wildlife. Perfect for nature photography.”
Eve stared at the screen, then at Lila. “How do you know my passcode?”
Lila shrugged. “You’re not exactly subtle when you type it in.”
Eve should have been annoyed. Should have lectured her about privacy and boundaries. But the relief of knowing exactly where Mia was outweighed everything else.
