“Believe me, she isn’t lacking for anything. Maureen brings her something new almost every time she visits. Charlie isn’t much better.”
Neither spoke again for quite some time as they pored through the various books and old records stored inside the building.
Leaning back in her chair, Angie rubbed her eyes. She’d just finished scanning the last book in her pile, North Salem in the Nineteenth Century. No specific locations were listed, but the book mentioned three homes in the town were well known by the conductors helping slaves escape to Canada. “I think my eyes hurt more than my legs now.”
“Wimp,” Mia called from across the room. After not finding anything useful in the books, she’d gone back to the computer to search the various digital documents.
“Some of us don’t spend hours reading history textbooks.” After relocating back to Massachusetts, Mia had returned to Harvard to finish the history degree she’d started years earlier.
“Actually, I’m getting a little tired too. It’s way past the time for my afternoon coffee. And I’m hungry. Maybe we should take a break and grab some lunch. We can go through more of these records at my house after we eat, or I can do it when Natalie’s taking a nap.”
A caffeine pick-me-up and a hot lunch would hit the spot.
The historical society’s treasurer looked up from her work when Angie tapped on the office door. “We’re all set for today. Thank you for letting us in.”
June removed the reading glasses from her face and set them on the desk. “Anytime. Did you find anything useful?”
“Possibly. According to one book downstairs, three homes in town were known stops for those heading toward Canada. And the public records show that when Roger Franklin moved to Washington to serve in the Senate, he sold my home to his eldest son. It seems plausible that once Nathan owned the home, he had the hidden room in the attic constructed.”
“I agree. From the little I’ve read about Nathan Franklin, it sounds like something he would do. Feel free to say no, but could I come by sometime and see the room you found? I find the nineteenth century fascinating. When I taught history at the high school, it was my favorite time period.”
Back in California, if someone she barely knew asked to come and look around her house, she’d refuse in the blink of an eye. But this wasn’t Los Angeles. “Sure. How does this Wednesday or Thursday around one o’clock sound?”
“Wednesday at one sounds great. I’ll see you then.”
With the sun shining and not a cloud in sight, it was the perfect day for a convertible. Even though she didn’t expect them to be in the car long, Angie put the top down as soon as she got behind the wheel.
“Do you want to eat at my house or go out?”
As long as she didn’t have to do any reading, she didn’t care where they went for lunch. “Either is fine with me.”
“Let’s go—” Mia’s ringing cell phone cut off the rest of her sentence. Neither of their devices had made a sound all day. Their silence hadn’t stopped Mia from checking hers numerous times. “It’s Avery,” she said, checking the screen.
Angie waited and listened to Mia’s half of the conversation.
“Okay, Angie and I will be home in a few minutes.” Mia put the phone away and looked her way. “Did you know Avery was coming?”
“I haven’t talked to her in over a week.” Their last conversation had been the day she and Dakota went on the ghost tour. Although she’d made her feelings clear, Angie had expected Avery to call back by now to once again try to change her mind. If she was in North Salem, did it mean she’d decided to try persuading her in person?
“Well, she’s waiting for us at my house.”
“Is Mom with her?”
Mom wasn’t supposed to visit until October, and by then she’d be ready for a houseguest. Right now she wasn’t even close. The bathrooms hadn’t been remodeled, and she only had one bed in the house. If Mom had come with Avery, she’d insist on staying with Mia and Sean, and there wasn’t a thing she could do to change the situation except give up her own bedroom and sleep on the sofa.
“She didn’t mention her, but I hope not.”
For Sean’s sake, Angie did too.
Only Avery sat inside the black sports car when they pulled into Mia’s driveway. Simultaneously, they both sighed and glanced at each other. “She’s alone,” Angie whispered before she opened her door.
Maureen and Max greeted them when they walked in the house. After filling Mia in on when Natalie last ate and what time she went down for her nap, she gathered up her things. “Be sure to call me if you need anything.” Maureen gave Mia a motherly hug and a kiss on the cheek then headed out.
Mia locked the front door and turned to face Avery. “Angie and I are going to eat lunch. Are you hungry?”
“A little.” Never a big fan of dogs, Avery gave Max a wide berth and followed them toward the kitchen. “I haven’t had anything since my smoothie at the airport this morning.”
Before Avery started with her lecture about what a mistake she was making by moving, Angie better start a conversation about something else. “Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?”
“It was a last-minute decision. Since you two seem to love North Salem so much, I decided to spend some time here and see what’s so great about it.”
Angie didn’t care for the condescending tone Avery used when she mentioned North Salem, but it was better than the you’re-being-an-idiot tone she’d used during their last conversation.
“And I wanted to meet Natalie.” When Natalie was born, Avery had been in Rome with Angie. While technically her sister could’ve flown back to the United States—she worked for Angie, not the studio—she decided to stay in Italy until Angie left.
“It’s good to see you.” Mia gave Avery another hug before starting on lunch.
“While I waited for you, I talked to Gram. I’m going to visit her and Pop on Saturday. She’d love it if you’d both come. I called Nana too, but she’s visiting Sylvia in Texas.”
Many of their cousins remained in Woodlawn where both of Angie’s parents had grown up, though a few had left the area for different reasons. Their cousin Sylvia had attended college in Texas and after graduation decided to stay there.
“Sean and I have a wedding to go to this weekend.” A soft cry came from the baby video monitor on the counter. “Be right back.”
Angie was still learning her way around a kitchen, but she could finish the salad Mia had started. After drying the cucumbers her sister washed, she sliced them and added them to the bowl of fresh spinach.
“Do you have plans? Gram promised to bake peanut butter cookies.”
No one made peanut butter cookies like Gram. She could eat an entire batch by herself. “I’m going to the same wedding as Mia.” The cherry tomatoes went in next, followed by a generous helping of feta cheese.
“Who do you know in town well enough to go to their wedding?”
She’d spent far more time in North Salem than her sister since Mia moved there, but Avery was right. Other than their sister and their brother-in-law, she didn’t know anyone well enough to get invited to his or her wedding.
“Dakota asked me to go with him. You might’ve met him at Sean and Mia’s wedding.” Avery had spent most of the reception visiting with family members she hadn’t seen in a long time rather than socializing with any of Mia’s new friends.
Avery groaned. “Not you too.”
Salad forgotten, Angie faced her older sister and crossed her arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Mia gave up everything for a small-town guy. Don’t get me wrong, I like Sean, but she gave up her career to be with him. When you bought the house here, I really thought you’d get bored in a few months and come back to California. I didn’t think you’d get involved with someone while you were here.”
Angie quickly checked the baby monitor. She didn’t want Mia walking in on this particular conversation. At the moment, the monito
r showed Mia and Natalie were still in the nursery. “First of all, Mia didn’t give up anything. She’d been thinking about a change long before she met Sean—a man who treats her like a queen, by the way. And I told you back in the spring I wasn’t taking on any new projects for the indefinite future. You, Mom, and Skylar just chose not to listen as usual.”
“I never said Sean didn’t treat her well. But Mia could’ve married someone who understood how important her career was to her instead of asking her to live here with him.”
There was no point in trying to convince Avery she was wrong. In her mind, Sean was the reason Mia stopped acting, end of story.
“Yesterday, I ran into Anderson Brady. He’s willing to do the sequel but only if you are.”
Less than half an hour of conversation and already Avery was talking about the movie sequel again. Thankfully, Mia and Natalie’s arrival put a temporary halt to it.
Angie’s first instinct was to ask to hold Natalie. But this was Avery’s first time seeing their niece, so she held her tongue.
Avery touched Natalie’s hand. “I think she looks like you. Except for her eyes. Those look like Sean’s.”
“Do you want to hold her?”
Indecision crossed Avery’s face, and she pulled her hand away. “I don’t know. She’s so tiny. I don’t want to hurt her.”
“Trust me, you won’t break her.” Mia settled Natalie in Avery’s arm. “See, it’s easy.” She started a pot of coffee and then added grilled chicken to the ingredients on the counter so Angie could finish putting the salad together. “Did Angie tell you she’s seeing someone?”
They glanced at each other and then Avery nodded. “She didn’t get a chance to give me any juicy details.”
She’d give her older sister all the juicy details she wanted if it meant Avery didn’t bring up her career or the project with Anderson again.
“Honestly, she hasn’t given me many either.” Mia nudged her in the side before walking away with a stack of plates. “She can share them with both of us now.”
Chapter Twelve
Dakota pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes. Most days he loved his job, but there were a few that had him wishing he still worked in the private sector. Thankfully, those days were far and few between. Today had been one of them though.
Perhaps that wasn’t completely accurate. The first part of the day had been fine. He’d used the office gym for his morning workout and then met with his supervisor regarding one of his cases. Later he and Christine met a source they were working with for lunch. It was his meeting later in the afternoon that sent his day downhill. Something he’d expected, because so far all the meetings he’d had with this particular lawyer from the US attorney’s office in Boston had put him in a foul mood. Except for a handful of lawyers, most of the ones he’d met who worked for the Department of Justice rubbed him the wrong way.
Robert E. Hewson III took it to an entirely different level. The man embodied every stereotype that existed regarding lawyers. He was far more concerned about his career and achieving his end goal, the office of attorney general, than anything else.
Dakota had returned from his meeting with Hewson two hours ago and had been working on paperwork ever since. People outside the agency might not realize it, but the job entailed a lot of paperwork. Not long after he’d started with the Bureau, Mom had asked how he liked it. He’d jokingly told her they should rename the agency the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Paperwork.
Opening his eyes, he pulled out the bottle of ibuprofen he kept in his desk and swallowed two. Then he turned his full attention back to the document on the computer. Once he finished this up, he could call it a night and finally go home.
“When I went up to the gym and you weren’t here, I figured you’d left for the night,” Jared Saunders, another agent on the squad, greeted. He dropped his gym bag near his desk and pulled his chair over to Dakota’s side of the cubicle they shared.
Slightly older than him, Jared was one of the first friends he’d made in the Boston office when he transferred from Albany. “I had a meeting over at the US attorney’s office late this afternoon.”
“Judging by the sound of your voice, it was with Hewson.” No one in the office liked dealing with the man.
Dakota nodded. “What are you still doing here?” Jared had a wife and four children, so unless impossible he tried to leave the office no later than six each night.
“Marissa took Lila and JT to a parks and rec sponsored event at the elementary school. Isabella is away at Girl Scout camp for the week, and Rachel’s working. Since no one is home waiting for me, I decided to get in the workout I missed this morning.”
It wasn’t possible Rachel was old enough to work. Wasn’t she still in middle school? “Rachel’s working?”
“She turned sixteen back in March, and she’ll be getting her driver’s license in another few weeks.”
“Thanks for the warning.” He’d been in the Boston office for three years, but it still seemed impossible that Jared’s oldest was already in high school and driving. “I can’t believe she’s sixteen.”
“It goes by fast. Isabella is going into eighth grade, and JT is starting middle school. And this is Lila’s last year at the elementary school. Wait, you’ll see what I mean someday.”
The sound of a cowbell alerted Jared to a new text message, and he unclipped his cell phone from his belt. After checking it, he typed back a reply and then looked at Dakota. “Marissa just sent me a picture. She wants to know if this is you.”
Dakota accepted the device and glanced at the screen, expecting to see some silly cartoon character or maybe a funny GIF. Marissa was a jokester and enjoyed giving him a hard time whenever they all got together. Instead, it was a picture of him and Angie at the block party Saturday night. He hadn’t seen anyone with cameras there, but just about everyone owned a cell phone. Hell, even Mrs. Mitchell owned a cell phone. And regardless of the type, they all had cameras in them.
“Where did Marissa get this?” He examined the picture. The edge of the dunk tank was visible in the photo, giving him a general idea of where they’d been standing when it was taken.
“Rachel sent it to her. And Rachel got it from a friend she works with.” Taking the phone back, Jared glanced at the screen again. “Is that you and Angelina Troy?”
He didn’t have a presence on social media. He saw no need for one. When he had news he wanted to share with family and friends, he either called them or sent them a text message. Most people weren’t like him though. Especially teenagers. If a friend had sent this picture to Jared’s daughter, it was possible she or he had either posted it on a social media site or found it on one. Either way, if this picture existed, several others had probably seen it.
“Yeah, Angie moved to North Salem. Her sister Mia lives there.”
Recognition dawned on Jared’s face. “That’s right. I remember both you and Mack telling me Mia Troy is married to a friend of yours. Was this taken recently?”
“Over the weekend. We went to the town block party on Saturday night. Did Rachel tell Marissa if her friend took it or found it somewhere?”
“No, but I can ask.”
Dakota checked his email for any messages while Jared sent texts to both his wife and daughter. If Rachel’s friend found the picture on the internet, it was possible Angie had as well. They hadn’t talked about it, but she must have accounts with all the social media sites. Even if she hadn’t found it on one, the media might have and posted it on their own websites for the world to see.
The cowbell rang again, and Jared glanced at the device in his hand. “According to Rachel, her friend’s older sister took the picture at the block party.”
Well, that didn’t help much. People had come and gone from the party all night, and most of them he didn’t know. Not only that, it meant at least five people now had a copy of the picture. If it weren’t on the internet yet, it soon would be.
“Do you want me
to ask for the sister’s name?”
He’d like to know who took the picture, but even if he knew, there wasn’t anything he could do about it. “Nah, don’t worry about it.”
“If you change your mind, let me know. I’m heading out. See you tomorrow.” Jared moved his chair back to his desk. The cowbell chimed again before he left, and he paused long enough to send another message before walking away.
It took Dakota another fifteen minutes to finish what he was working on. Before leaving he sent off a text message of his own asking Angie to call him when she got a chance. He wanted to ask if she’d seen any photos, and he was also curious about what she’d learned at the historical society today. Instead of a phone call, he got a message back.
Still at Mia’s. Avery is here too. If I get home before ten, I’ll call you.
He wasn’t shocked she was still at her sister’s house. The fact that Avery was there as well surprised him. Angie had mentioned her mom was visiting soon and staying with her instead of with Mia and Sean, but she had said nothing about Avery visiting this week or any other time in the near future. He wondered if Avery had made a special trip because she’d been unsuccessful at changing Angie’s mind over the phone about the sequel to A Prince to Call Her Own. If she had flown across the country hoping a face-to-face would have better luck, he hoped she handled disappointment well. When they’d discussed it, Angie had been adamant that she had no interest in working on the sequel or any other project right now.
Sounds good. Are we still on for tomorrow?
He’d gotten two tickets from Jimmy for Tuesday’s game between Boston and Baltimore. Angie planned to meet him at the office so they could grab a quick dinner before going to Fenway.
Yep, looking forward to it.
Me too.
With nothing left to keep him at work, Dakota powered off his computer and headed out. Later than he often left the office, he didn’t hit any traffic on the way back to North Salem.
Most nights during the summer, he’d throw something on the grill when he got home. Unfortunately, he had nothing to grill in the house. For the most part, he went grocery shopping every two weeks and almost always on Sunday mornings. Yesterday he’d had much more enjoyable things to do than walking around the supermarket. With no leftovers in the refrigerator either, he had two options for dinner: either a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or one of the frozen meals he kept in the freezer for occasions like this.
When Love Strikes Page 13
