Page 22 of The Getaway

Juliet snorted. “Well played.”

“Thanks. Now where were we?” Gemma asked.

Marley hugged herself. “Does anyone know if Hazel got a note?”

They all shook their heads.

“What did these notes say?” Gemma asked.

Marley swallowed hard. “Mine said that Lincoln convinced Marshall to give up on adopting.”

“What? Marley! You didn’t tell me that!” Suzy said. “You just said Marshall wanted to quit trying.”

“All you’ve ever wanted was to be a mom,” Juliet put in.

“That dumbass,” Suzy added. And now she did sit next to Marley and put her hand on her back.

“What did yours say?” Marley asked.

Suzy glanced up at Gemma, clearly weighing whether to say anything in front of her, but then she sighed. “It said Sean was going to lose his job thanks to Lincoln. And Sean’s pretty much said the same thing.”

Marley’s stomach swooped dangerously. She’d been so focused on Juliet, she’d ignored a crucial detail. “So wait, Sean got a note too?”

“Yeah, why? Didn’t Marshall?”

“I don’t know,” Marley said, dread seeping into her every pore. “I haven’t asked him.”

10

Suzy

Suzy was drunk. It hadn’t taken much—with two kids in the house, she never had more than a glass of wine at a time, just in case she had to run someone to the emergency room—but she was considering having another. This frothy martini concoction the bartenders had created for the event was delicious, and it went down like water. They were calling it Carnival Craze Punch, which was apt because not only did it match the theme, but it was making everyone act like messy, loud children.

Grant should take some back to those Shizzy’s people. They could really learn something from this stuff. Every time she’d seen him for the rest of the day, he’d been drinking from one of those atrocious bottles. She wondered if he had a high tolerance or if there was practically no alcohol in them.

Even this far gone, Suzy kept obsessively checking the radar. The hurricane really was bearing down on them, and the very fact that no one at this party seemed to give a crap was mind boggling. But at least it meant she could give up on trying to corner Lincoln. They’d probably all be stuck in the house tomorrow anyway. She could find a way to talk to him then.

“Where’s Josh!?” Suzy shouted to Juliet, grabbing her friend’s arm. Juliet, who had changed into a gold fringe-covered minidress, was currently flailing around to the music, and Suzy was pretty sure she’d obliviously injured more than one partygoer.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care!” Juliet shouted back. Then she finally stopped moving. “Why are you looking for him?”

“I want to see if I can get Coco’s autograph for Elton!” Suzy shouted back, nodding toward the stage, which had been erected under the small tent atop the tennis courts toward the back of the property. Coco P., the biggest rap star of the moment, was performing with her band and backup dancers, and it was Josh who had booked her for the party. His job as a music executive meant that every year Lincoln’s parties featured whichever musician was currently ruling the charts—for a pretty penny of course. But this was the first time they’d booked someone her kids were completely obsessed with.

“Oh, totally!” Juliet said, suddenly interested. She loved to spread the wealth when it came to Josh’s celebrity connections. “But I heard she’s leaving the second her set’s over, so you’ll have to catch her at the right time. She’s worried about the hurricane or whatever. Let’s go find him.”

Wow. At least someone at this party had their eye on the disaster about to befall them all. Who knew she’d have something in common with a twenty-two-year-old Grammy winner and budding actress? Rumor was Coco had landed a guest spot on the latest streaming hit that everyone was talking about.

“It’s okay. I’ll go,” Suzy said, understanding that it was more than probable Juliet didn’t want to talk to Josh right now. “You stay here and dance.”

“You sure?” Juliet asked.

“Yeah! I’ll be fine!”

Suzy kissed Juliet’s cheek, then turned and dove into the crowd, weaving her way through gyrating bodies, flinging elbows, and swinging hair. She scanned the faces for people she knew, and recognized a couple of famous ones, but didn’t see any of her friends. Trevor, who she would have thought would be working the party, was instead gyrating with some thin supermodel type near the outskirts with a vape pen in one hand and the other locked on the woman’s ass. Interesting, but not her problem. She was just about to give up and move on when a flash of blond hair caught her eye, long, straight, and sleek. Her breath caught. It looked just like Lily’s hair.

But no. That wasn’t possible. Lily would never crash a party, let alone her ex-husband’s party being thrown at her former house.

Would she?