“Oh, I’ve stacked the deck in my favor. She might be able to ignore me, but when her favorite niece asks her to come spend the night tonight—”
“That’s brilliantly diabolical.”
Marcus knocked on the door. “Ms. June, you almost ready?”
“Do you need me for anything else?”
Bronwyn noted that June’s question was directed at her but also at Mo. When Mo didn’t answer, she said, “No, thank you. I’ll touch base tomorrow.”
Before Marcus followed June, he looked from Bronwyn to Mo. “Don’t like this, ma’am. Don’t like it one bit.”
“I don’t either. I still can’t figure out what happened. It was so ... odd.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of it. You gather your things while I see Ms. June out. Then I’ll be back.”
“Marcus—”
“Bronwyn.” Marcus said her name in the same whiny tone she’d used. He almost never called her Bronwyn anymore. He must be really worried.
She gave up the argument before it even began. “Fine.”
“I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
When Marcus and June left, she stared at Mo for a long moment. Then she got up and went to her temporary office. She packed her laptop, a few files, and her planner. Her phone rang and she answered it while she worked. “Hey, Landry.”
“Hey, Eliza wants to ask you something.”
Before she could respond, Eliza’s little voice came through the phone. “Aunt Bronwyn, could you come do a firepit tonight? Please? Uncle Mo always has stuff for s’mores, and Aunt Meredith said she also had stuff for mountain pies. Please? Can you come?”
As if she could say no to that. “Of course, sweetie. It will probably be a little while before I can be there.”
“That’s okay. Mom says I can eat before you get here, but there will be plenty left over for you and Uncle Mo.”
“Okay. Will you let me talk to your mom again?”
“See you soon!” Eliza’s cheery voice disappeared, followed by Landry’s cool, “Hey.”
“What has the world come to when you use your child to do your dirty work?” Bronwyn asked.
“She wasn’t doingmydirty work.” Landry laughed as she protested, making Bronwyn think she wasn’t taking this nearly as seriously as she should have. “She’s doingMo’sdirty work.”
“You’re going to blame this on Mo?”
“Oh yeah,” Landry continued, “he cleared it with us first, of course, but then he talked to her and said something about howit’d be nice to have Aunt Bronwyn over for a firepit tonight. And then he said he might have a hard time convincing you, but that she would be able to do it for sure. And here we are.”
“I’m surrounded by conspirators.” Bronwyn shook her head.
“We love you. Go get relaxed and then come eat campfire food. You know you’ll feel better if you do.”
Twenty-Four
Eleven Years Earlier
“Hi, Mo.”
Lieutenant Montgomery Quinn closed his eyes and, for a sliver of time, accepted that the emotional breakdown he’d been putting off for six years had picked the worst possible time to manifest.
“Hey there, gorgeous.” The New Jersey accent and flirting tone made it clear that Lieutenant Carpenter had inserted himself into the situation and was talking to the woman who’d walked out of his nightmares and stopped him on a sidewalk.
