He throws me a brilliant smile and says, “Call me Matt. Please, have a seat.”
Perching on the edge of the chair, I spy my laptop sitting on the corner of the desk.
He notices me eyeing it. “Go ahead. It’s yours just for showing.”
I pull it off the desk and rest it on my lap, fighting the urge to clutch it to my chest.
Matt flips a pen and catches it, over and over, while he studies me. “I have to say, we’ve been impressed at the places you’ve gotten in and out of.”
“Who’s we? How many creepy guys are in your little gang?” I ask.
He gives me a smirk as if he thinks I’m cute. His phone chimes and he slides it off his desk. Matt’s thumbs move across the screen at an amazing speed, his attention firmly on his phone.
“Is that Mr. Smith?”
He ignores me completely.
That’s fine. I can wait him out.
Matt finally looks up from his phone and says, “We have a job for you. A chance to make some decent money.”
“Doing what?” I ask.
Matt rests his elbows on the arm of his chair and kicks his feet up on his desk, the phone forgotten for a moment. “You’d be doing what you’re good at. We’ll drop you in a situation and you’ll get us what we need. Without anyone being the wiser. You won’t believe the difference it will make with us behind you. I’ll give you the details as soon as you tell me you’re in.”
My mind splits, showing two different paths; this is definitely a crossroads moment. Taking the job Matt offers moves me deeper into this world but comes with the support that would make the feel of those cuffs biting into my wrists a distant memory. The other path requires me to go straight. To get out before I’m in any real trouble. Because as Saturday night proved, it will only be a matter of time before something else goes wrong.
Mama always said to be successful in life you need to do three things: learn everything you can, try your hardest, and be the best at what you do.
Saturday night taught me I have a lot to learn.
Just thinking about Mama makes my chest hurt. But I shove it down. She’s gone and there’s nothing for me in that old life. One day I will go back to being Lucca Marino, small-town girl from Eden, North Carolina, who lives in that fantasy house with that fantasy garden, but today is not that day. Today, I learn how to make the money I need to make that dream a reality.
“Okay, I’m in. What’s the job?”
Chapter 10
Present Day
It’s been three days since the Derby party and the mailbox is still empty. I’m also no closer to finding out that woman’s real name or where she’s from. And until I know her real name, she is nothing more thanthat womanto me.
But just because I haven’t run across her in town doesn’t mean she’s been in hiding. Everywhere I turn, the name “Lucca Marino” falls from someone’s lips as they recount their interaction with her.
I got added to the group text after the Derby party so I could see in real time that Sara bumped into her at that same tearoom that was suggested for our first lunch, and Beth ran into her while getting her nails done. And despite how badly Allison spoke about James at the Derby party, she and Cole went out to dinner with them last night. She gave everyone a full recap this morning.
There was even a picture of James and her at the Derby party in the “People and Places” section of the tiny local newspaper; her hat was looking even more dainty and refined in print than it did in real life.
While I’ve taken my time insinuating myself into this community, she has come in like a hurricane.
The level of sheer audacity on her part wasn’t apparent until Istumbled over James’s mom’s Facebook post gushing over that woman and the homemade soup she made for James’s dad. There were 128 (and counting) comments about how lucky the Bernards were to have her. Since James’s mom tagged her in the post, it took only one click to be on her page.
Her account hasn’t been active long. The earliest activity was an uploaded profile pic with the caption:Ugh old account got hacked so let’s be friends here!about a week after I arrived in Lake Forbing.
It was the second post that confirmed it wasnota harmless coincidence that she showed up in this town, with my name and details matching my own history.
When I was in sixth grade, my class took a field trip to a local farm, where we spent the day playing farmer and doing chores like milking cows and feeding chickens. Somehow, that woman found the group picture we took at the end of the day and posted it as a Throwback Thursday with the caption:Look what I found while going through some old boxes! Such a fun day! Tag yourself if I missed you.
In the picture, I sat crossed-legged in the front row, second from the left, in my jeans and favorite red sweatshirt Mama had trimmed with navy gingham ribbon around the collar, cuffs, and bottom hem.
