Someone rang the doorbell. Natalie frowned. She didn’t normally have visitors on Sundays.
It was probably some salesman. She curled up and ignored it.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong. Ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong.
She opened her eyes and glared at the door. What was wrong with people these days? She put Matto on the floor. He growled with annoyance and ran over to the door. If he peed on whoever was there, it would serve them right.
Ding-dong!
“Coming!” She yanked the door open and gaped. “Belle. What are you doing here?”
Belle pushed past her and marched inside. “Isn’t it obvious?”
Despite her heeled sandals, she was still shorter than Natalie. Like Louise, Belle had excellent taste in clothes and accessories and just the right sort of wholesome blonde looks to be the angelic daughter of a U.S. senator, a mask that vanished like a crab into a hole whenever she was alone with Natalie.
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Natalie shut the door and crossed her arms. “No. And I think it’s rude that you kept ringing my doorbell.”
“Oh please.” Belle spun around to face her. “I saw your car outside.”
“I could’ve been out with someone. Like Charlie,” Natalie said, feeling catty. It was no secret that Belle had a crush on him.
Belle glared at her. “You’re such a bitch. A mean bitch.”
“Original.”
Belle calling her names was nothing new. They’d never been very close, and once Charlie had made it clear that he was interested in Natalie, their relationship had deteriorated rapidly.
“Do you have to rub it in that you have everything?” Belle said, continuing to glare.
This was new. Belle had to be feeling more self-pity than usual if she thought Natalie had more than she did. Except maybe for Charlie’s affection, Natalie had always had less. The Halls had given her money, but they’d never acknowledged her. She’d made excuses for her family when they hadn’t come to her high school graduation. After all, it was Europe. But it had become painfully obvious how little she’d mattered to the Halls when nobody had shown up at her college graduation except Brian. The University of Virginia was only a two-and-a-half hour drive from the Hall residence.
Natalie kept her voice cool. “I don’t imagine you came all the way out here to call me a bitch or compare notes on what we have or don’t have. What do you want?”
“How could you?”
“Just what I wanted to ask you,” Natalie said. “How could you bring Marcus and his wife to me? That was cruel.”
Belle’s eyes widened. “I can’t believe you’re blaming me for that. They just happened to be there.”
“Naturally.”
“Don’t you try to turn this around. This isn’t about me. It’s about you.” Belle punctuated her last statement by pointing a manicured nail at Natalie’s chest.
“Belle. What you do want?”
“You hired a private investigator to find out about your past, didn’t you?” Belle said.
“What?”
Belle sneezed. “Do you still have that damn cat?”
“Yes. And you’re lucky he didn’t pee on your sandals. Now, what are you talking about? What PI?”
“Whatever you’re doing is going to hurt Dad.”
That made Natalie pause, but she quickly recovered. It was just like Belle to exaggerate and blame everything from crappy weather to world hunger on her. Natalie had no idea what this private investigation stuff was about, but obviously the only way to find out was going to be to play along. “And you know this…how?”