“Everything good?”Stella asked with a concerned smile.
They’d told Stella and Eric that “Emma’s” sister was in labor across the country and that they’d be getting occasional updates by text throughout the night.It was the only explanation they could come up with for why they’d be so rudely interested in their phones during dinner.
“All good,” Hadley said.“My brother-in-law just thinks he’s a comedian.”
“He’s not,” Cole grumbled.
They were about an hour into their little dinner-party-as-a-cover-for-breaking-and-entering-fact-finding mission, and the whole night had been one bad vibe after another.In fact, it was easier to talk about whatwasn’tgoing wrong versus what was.
First of all, the food was perfect.Everyone’s perfectly scraped plates could attest to that.
And while Tenley’s updates weren’t always (or ever) relevant to what they needed, Eric and Stella didn’t seem to think the frequent text messages were too weird, given their cover story.
Stella was also delightful.The way her eyes sparkled when she told a story was adorable, and her tinkling little laugh made Hadley a little self-conscious of her own guttural belly laughs, but she didn’t hold that against her.It wasn’tStella’sfault that Hadley laughed like a chain-smoking long-haul trucker.
But that’s where the good stuff ended.
Cole’s vocabulary had been reduced to that of a Neanderthal, and the glare he’d been leveling on Eric all night, plus the way he always placed himself between her and their neighbors like a human shield, was really starting to annoy Hadley.His level of alertness was hanging over the room like a giant black cloud that was going to rain down on their heads at any moment, and it was fraying her nerves.
And Eric?Just as bad.He was matching Cole glare for glare.But Hadley cut him some slack because Russian sleeper agent or not, Eric was a guest in her home.Well, notherhome.More like her government-issued safe house.Still, though, this was supposed to be a party, for fuck’s sake.Did spies never have to attend social gatherings as part of a mission?Based on these two stiffs, it certainly didn’t seem so.
By the time dinner and dessert were done and they were all settled in the living room with coffee in hand and a platter of cranberry shortbread cookies (homemade, thank you very much) on the table between them, Hadley decided she was sick of the mission.She’d asked every fact-finding question she’d discussed with Cole beforehand, hadn’t found anything particularly useful, and figured it was time to makenormalconversation.
TENLEY: These people don’t have a junk drawer.That’s un-American.Guantanamo?
REN: Tenley, I swear to God
TENLEY: *winky emoji*
Cole glanced down at his phone, then pinched the bridge of his nose, seeming to quietly gather his strength.
“So,” Hadley began, “tell me about how the two of you met.I wantallthe romantic details.”
Eric and Cole both sat up a little straighter.It wasn’t a question either of them had anticipated because the answer wasn’t likely to provide any good tactical data.Cole looked confused as to why she’d asked, and Eric looked like he was trying to figure out her angle.
Suck it, super spies!
Stellabeamedat her, obviously thrilled to discuss her own personal love story.She leaned forward, setting her coffee on the table.Hadley mimicked her posture, wanting the details every bit as much as Stella wanted to give them.
“Well, I moved to this neighborhood about eight years ago.I’d been through a nasty divorce that tookforever,so I was super excited to be in my own place.I immediately went to the home improvement store, then stopped by that little market in town—you know the one that bakes their own bread in house?— for some wine.”
Hadley did know that market because she’d bought all the supplies for this dinner there.The smell of fresh baked bread had literally drawn her in by the nose like a cartoon character.She nodded.“Ilovethat place.”
TENLEY: Whoa.Lube drawer.LOTS of lube.And something that I think is for butt stuff.I’m not sure.Won’t touch it just in case.
REN: Stop it!Just do your damn job!
Cole looked down at his phone again, choked a little on the sip of beer he’d just taken, and frowned mightily.Hadley had to bite down on her lower lip to stifle a laugh.
Stella, oblivious to the fact that a thief was going through her lube drawer, grinned.“I loved that market, too.Until one of the workers in the produce department followed me to my car, badgering me for a date.”
“Gross,” Hadley said, wrinkling her nose.
“I thought so.Until this big, strong looking,ridiculouslyhandsome man I’d never seen before popped up out of nowhere and told the guy to get away fromhis wife.”
Stella shifted her eyes purposefully over to Eric, whose cheeks reddened.“The guy wasn’t takingnofor an answer.Not from her, anyway,” he mumbled.
Hadley’s romance novel loving heart grew four sizes.“Aw, you pulled themy wifecard!How romantic!”
