“You’ve just made my point. I didn’t think he was the kind of guy who’d cheat.”
“You’re misunderstanding me entirely. I’m saying there’s more to the story.”
“I don’t know how else it can be interpreted, Aunt D.”
“You need to talk to him, if for no other reason than to call him out. You’re not going to find out any other way.”
Cecily shook her head. “I don’t want to talk to him. Not yet, anyway.”
“Don’t you want to find out that you’re wrong?”
“I’d be ecstatic to find out I’m wrong. But I thought I was wrong about Jefferson, too, and we see how that turned out.”
“Jefferson was a complete ass, and you’re well rid of him.”
Cecily could hardly argue differently. “At this point, I just want to go to my interview in San Francisco at the end of the week with as clear a head as possible. I don’t want things with Reed cluttering up my mind.”
“And you really think not dealing with this is the way to a clear head?”
“It’s the only way, right now.”
Dinah narrowed her blue eyes and pursed her lips in disgust.
Cecily laid down her fork. “Okay, you know what? Fine. I’ll make you a deal. The author we set up the signing for canceled at the last minute—it’s too late to pull most of the publicity, but it’s not too late for me to change the who. I’ve got remote access to everything. You go to Wishful in Tony Becker’s place. You meet Reed and get your own feel for him. You’ve got good instincts, and I know you’ll pull no punches. If you still think he deserves a chance to explain, then I’ll talk to him after my interview.” Her notoriously reclusive aunt would never agree to that.
Now those narrowed eyes took on an intrigued gleam. “You want me to go do a last minute signing at your boyfriend’s bookstore?”
Cecily huffed. “He’s not—”
“Fine.” Dinah held up her hand like a traffic cop. “When is the signing scheduled?”
She gaped. Dinah was going to go? “Day after tomorrow. Seven P.M. at Inglenook.”
“Okay. Get me the address.”
As she picked up her fork again, Cecily reflected that absolutely nothing was going as she’d planned.
~*~
Christoff had taken pity on Reed.
“It’s a last ditch effort, but I’d say you’re desperate enough to try it.”
It was true, so Reed hadn’t argued the point. Instead, he’d taken the first flight he could find to get him to Greenwich.
Now he looked up at the house sitting at the address Christoff had given him. House was really a misnomer. Mansion was probably putting it mildly. He was looking at a full-on estate. And judging by the number of vehicles parked out front, he’d arrived in the middle of something.
His phone buzzed with an incoming text.
Selina: Make it yet?
Through the long hours of waiting in assorted airports, he’d texted her the whole story. She’d kept him focused instead of completely freaking out.
Reed: Yeah. This may have been a mistake.
Selina: You’ve come this far. The worst they can do is throw you out.
Reed: That isn’t a comfort.