Of course this was why I was here.
Not to play house. Not to soften Dean’s image.
I was here forher.
To be seen. To be compared.
To be a message.
It wasn’t the first time I’d been paid to make someone jealous.
But this time… it felt different.
Because for one fragile, stupid second?—
This thing between Dean and me had started to feel real.
Fifteen
The doorto the bathroom slammed against the wall and I came to a screeching halt. I’d meant to find quiet—a space where I could think straight, but instead I found an old woman, seated at the edge of the lounge, visibly frazzled mid diaper change with a squirming infant.
"Oh, thank God," she said, from over one shoulder. "I forgot the wipes! Would you be a dear and go fetch them for me?”
I let out the breath I hadn’t realize I’d been holding and rushed toward the diaper bag by the sink.
“It’s been so long since I’ve done this,” she said. “I’d forgotten how wiggly these babies can be.”
Clothing, a can of puffed snacks, and a tiny sock came out of the first pocket.
“Lord only knows what would have happened if you hadn’t come in here. Can you imagine the mess?” She shook her head, then one hand into the sky as though she were talking to God. “No. Never mind. I don’t even want to think about it.”
I unzipped the next compartment, and sure enough, a slender flat container was tucked in along the edge. I grabbed it, ran back to the old woman and opened it. “Here,” I said, holding out the package as though I’d just become her personal assistant.
The baby looked at me with the biggest, widest blue eyes I’d ever seen in my life—and I realized then that she was just as nervous about what was about to happen as the old woman. The woman let out a sigh, then tugged on the first wipe, but the sticky stack wouldn’t separate. “Oh bother,” she whispered, pulling the wipes out of the container like an endless scarf in a magic show. One end hit the baby on her forehead, and she blinked, but then she opened her mouth, revealing two pearly teeth, and the most infectious grin I’d ever seen in my life.
The old woman paused, then laughed, then took the whole wad of wipes and tickled the baby’s belly with it. “Oh, you think that’s funny, do you? You almost gave your Gran a heart attack, yes you did.”
The baby kicked and squirmed, but somehow the woman finished the job, fastened the last of her buttons, then let her loose with a relieved breath.
“I’m Helen,” the woman said to me. “And this little hellion is my great-granddaughter, Chloe.”
I smiled, charmed by the little girl who was now sitting on the opposite side of the lounge, clapping.
“It’s nice to meet you both,” I said, then turned to the diaper bag again, where I returned the wipes into the pocket where I’d found them.
“And you are?” Helen asked me.
“Em—” I began, but then instantly stopped myself— “Vivienne,” I corrected.
She inhaled, seeming not to notice my stumble. “Vivienne Blackwood? Vivienne from Florence?” She spoke the name as though I were a celebrity….
That’s when I realized where I’d seen her before. She was the woman from the banquet where I’d first met Dean. Mr. McHenry’s wife.
Though she looked different now—dressed in a country-style denim instead of the floor-length gown I’d last seen her in. Her silver hair hanging down at her shoulders instead of pinned up in a perfect French twist. “We thought you weren’t coming,” she said.
My stomach dipped in panic. “There was a change of plans,” I said, trying my best to remain calm.
She nodded once, then began slipping socks back on the baby’s feet. “Well, I’m glad you’re here,” she said in a tone that reminded me of Mary Poppins. “Our Dean has been lonely for quite some time.”
