“It’s for work. My boss is sending me to a conference, and she said I needed to get it together if I was going to be representing the company.”
Kyle let out a giggle. “What, she didn’t like your Crocs?”
“I know, right?”
“Maybe she doesn’t know about sport mode,” Kyle scoffed. Whenever Lucas ran, he put his Crocs in “sport mode,” which just meant putting the heel strap down so they didn’t fall off. Apparently, it was a thing on TikTok.
Gabby sat down next to her girl. “My boss definitely doesn’t know about sport mode. I’ve seen her run in four-inch heels.”
“Is she Barbie or something?”
Pretty much.
When Lucas wandered in, Gabby decided to break the news to them. Gabby steeled herself for complaints and announced, “I’m going to be gone for a whole week.” The way she said “week” made it sound like a year. “My boss says I have to go.” Neither kid said anything. In fact, they looked completely unfazed. Phil went on work trips all the time. They were used to the concept. She was the only one who was freaked out.
“Dad will be around. And Granny and Burt. And I’ll be a phone call away the whole time.”
“Where are you going?” Kyle asked, seeming very reasonable about the whole thing.
“Cleveland.” Cleveland was the fastest way to shut down any conversation.
“What’s that?” Lucas asked. “Is it a waterpark?”
0400 hours, pancakes in the kitchen, Greene house, Avocado Avenue
It was the morning of her departure. No one was worried, except Gabby. She woke up fifteen minutes before her alarm went off to a dark, silent house, her nerves jumping and her mind at least twenty-four hours ahead of her body. Bubbles groaned when she disturbed him on her way out of bed. By five o’clock, she was packed, showered, dressed, and flipping her second batch of pancakes.
Kyle wandered into the kitchen hours before any teen should make a voluntary appearance, looking sleepy and rumpled. Gabby barely moved a muscle. Her teenager had gotten up early to see her off.
Kyle was still blinking the sleep away when Gabby handed her a perfect stack of pancakes. The pancakes were stacked as high as her love for the kids. Butter + syrup = love. Fact.
Lucas was next. It wasn’t as big a surprise to see him up early. Gabby handed him a plate and said, “I’ll miss you.”
“Miss you too, Mom. How many days is a week? Is that a long time?” Lucas still didn’t have a great grasp of time.
“It’s seven sleeps.”
He proceeded to count to seven and nodded. Her heart squeezed hard. She’d never been away from the kids for a whole week, and not just in time, but in space. For one week, she was going to be a whole ocean away from her babies.
From the kitchen table, Kyle eyed her mom suspiciously. “What are you wearing?”
Gabby was dressed in her rich lady travel wear. Her loose cream-colored sweater draped expensively off one shoulder over some $500 leggings. In her hair, an Hermès scarf. Her travel bag, a Birkin. With the Gucci shades and expensive lipstick to finish the look, she was channeling Princess Grace.
“My boss told me I needed to dress up.”
Kyle squinted, clearly not buying it. “What are you supposed to be?”
Gabby had spent all night studying the answer to that question—Gia Glanville, thirty-five, executive assistant, engaged to rich inventor, yoga enthusiast. Before she thought of an answer other than her cover identity, the doorbell rang.
She smoothed her cream top and collected herself. She could handle this. One week on mission, and it was probably a blessing in disguise that the “conference” was all the way in the Azores. At least it was separate from her family. There was zero chance of them mixing up with the bad guys like her last mission. Just thinking of Smirnov breaking into her house in the middle of the night and stationing men with guns out front made her blood run cold.
And for a blessed week, she’d only have to wear one hat. It might be easier being a sexy undercover spy than a spy, a mom, a daughter, a granddaughter, an ex-wife, and a neighbor.
At the front door, her Crocs were sitting on top of her travelbag. She hadn’t put them there. Kyle? Gabby glanced up, and Kyle shrugged like it was no big deal, but it might be the sweetest thing that had ever happened to her.
“They’re not going to go with your outfit.”
Gabby picked them up and clutched them to her heart. “Thank you, sweetie.”
