David came out of his office on the bottom floor. “Did I hear something about dinner?” He sniffed the air. “Smells good.”
“Pizza and salad. Tomorrow night, you’re on for spaghetti.”
Trevor laughed, prompting David to point at him. “You’re helping me, buddy.”
They were all sitting at the table eating when Hailey finally joined them. She had taken a shower, and her hair was still wet. Since her daughter had been born, Nora had always thought she was beautiful. She had big, expressive brown eyes that came from David’s side of the family.
Nora considered asking Hailey what she’d been hiding when she rushed up the stairs but thought it best to talk to her later when they were alone. She didn’t want to ruin the mood. “How was cheer practice?” she asked instead.
“It was fine,” she answered without looking up from her phone.
“Who drove you home?”
“Sarah’s mom.”
“Could you please turn off your phone while we eat?”
Hailey huffed. “It’s pizza,” she said, as if that didn’t count as an official dinner.
Trevor laughed. “It’s the best dinner we’ve had in more than a week.”
Nora felt ridiculously proud.
“Tell us more about your trip,” David suggested.
“Besides the Louvre,” Nora said, “I was stuck inside the hotel most of the time. But there’s so much I do want to see when we go back someday.”
“I want to go to Ukraine,” Trevor said.
Hailey laughed. “Why?”
“That’s where the most advanced software development is.”
“You are such a dork,” she told her brother.
David and Nora shared a smile.
“How about you, Hailey?” Nora asked. “Where do you want to go?”
“I’d love to go to the Fab Forties across town and live with Jane for a week.”
Trevor wrinkled his nose. “Seriously? Out of all the places in the world, that’s where you would go? What would you do all day?”
“Shop and then go for a massage or a mani-pedi . . . duh.”
“Why don’t we go for a mani-pedi this weekend?” Nora offered.
Hailey shifted in her seat. “I’m going to Erin’s house on Saturday, and then we have practice on Sunday.”
“Okay,” Nora said. “Some other time, then.”
It was after 9:00 p.m. when Nora finally headed upstairs. She stopped outside Hailey’s bedroom door on her way to her room. Before entering, she heard Hailey say, “Thanks, Jane. You’re the best.” When she opened the door, she saw Hailey sitting cross-legged on her bed, her cell pressed to her ear. “I gotta go,” Hailey said before hanging up.
“Who was that?”
“Erin.”
Disappointment bubbled inside Nora.
“What?”
“It was Jane, wasn’t it?”
Hailey’s eyes narrowed. “What? You stand outside my room with your ear pressed against my door?”
Nora refused to argue with a fifteen-year-old. “It was Jane who dropped you off, wasn’t it?”
“You probably already made a few phone calls and know the answer, so why ask me?”
“Because I want to see if you’re going to keep lying to me.”
“Yes. Jane dropped me off.”
“What was wrapped in your sweatshirt when you got home?”
“Nothing.”
When Nora headed for her closet, Hailey jumped off the bed. “Mom! Stop! Your birthday is five days after mine, and we went shopping for your gift. Go ahead,” Hailey said. “Go to the closet and see for yourself and save me the time it will take to wrap it.”
Nora stopped just outside Hailey’s closet. Her shoulders sank. Not because she felt foolish but because she still didn’t believe her daughter, and that made her sad. She reached out and slid the mirrored closet door open.
“I can’t believe it. You don’t believe me.”
Nora ignored her. In the corner was the sweatshirt, still wrapped in a tight ball. She pulled it out and unraveled it. It was a Gucci purse she had admired and pointed out to Hailey when they were shopping in Hawaii. But it was way too expensive, and she never would have asked anyone to buy it for her.
“Feel better now?”
“No. Not really.” Nora wrapped the purse in the sweatshirt and put it back where she’d found it. When she looked back at Hailey, she thought about asking her to return the purse, but that would only make things worse, so she left her daughter’s room without another word.
Nora found Trevor at his desk in front of his new computer he’d built himself. “You did it!”
Trevor looked over his shoulder. “Cool, huh?”
“Amazing. Did Dad help you?”
“Are you kidding me? Dad would have no idea what to plug into the motherboard.”
Nora smiled. And then she got an idea. She looked over her shoulder, then lowered her voice. “I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Remember when you told me you were a pro at finding out anything you wanted to know about anyone on the planet?”
A devilish grin spread across his young face, reminding her so much of David.
“You talked about digging deeper and finding out more about Jane Bell. I’d like you to continue where you left off.”
Trevor’s eyes lit up. “She’s gotten to you, too, hasn’t she?”
“Maybe. Just a little. I’m not proud of it, but I’d feel better if I knew more about her past.”
“It will take some time, since her last name doesn’t show up prior to her starting her business, but I’ll try.”
“And let’s just keep this between the two of us, okay?”
“You got it,” Trevor said.
Nora gave him a hug. “Don’t stay up too late.”
“I won’t.”
Nora said good night and then closed his door and headed for her bedroom. It wasn’t until David joined her in the bathroom where she was slathering lotion on her face that she finally had a chance to tell him about the team meeting at work.
David brushed his teeth, rinsed, then wiped his mouth on a hand towel. “Let me get this straight. Jane presented you with a new job opportunity in the middle of a team meeting?”
“Yes.”
“She wants you to jet around the world and discuss the benefits of training employees before implementing IMPACT’s software?”
“Pretty much.”
David turned and leaned against the counter, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. “When we first met Jane, I remember you telling her that you weren’t interested in traveling.”
“Correct.” Nora studied the look in her husband’s eyes. Clearly, he was not happy with Jane’s request. And she was glad to know they were still on the same page.
“What are you going to tell her?”
“That I don’t ever want to leave my family again, and she’ll have to find someone else to fill the new position.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Nora awoke at the high-pitched ringing of her cell. Blindly reaching toward the bedside table, she knocked an empty glass to the carpeted floor before latching on to her phone and pressing it to her ear.