3. Security Breach #2
Zoe says, “I think they should’ve named it Collateral Damage Daydreams.”
“Or Oops-All-Demo,” Livi says.
The hostess in me hates that the disaster surrounding us happened on the same day as this get-together, but I’m glad everyone is here, talking and laughing about it. I might be freaking out right now if they weren’t. Or, I might be freaking out more. I still am a bit.
Can Owen hear us talk? He might be able to, which would be more than I can handle. Although the double layer of the plastic is probably enough to muffle sounds. Plus, I can see shadows on Owen’s side enough to tell when he’s in the room, and he’s currently not.
Livi is Mackenzie’s best friend, and I’m Mackenzie’s best (and only) sister-in-law.
She asked both of us to be co-maids-of-honor, which is great because Livi is fun and doesn’t mind being in the spotlight.
Plus, the girl has an almost magical ability to never let a bad boyfriend experience dampen her enthusiasm for hunting down her Mr. Right.
And oh, boy, has she had some doozies when it comes to bizarre boyfriend experiences.
Eventually, the conversation turns to guys, and I peek over at the plastic wall.
I don’t see any Owen-shaped blobs, so I think we’re good.
Livi tells us about how she and a guy she’s been dating had plans to go walk around a park where a bunch of artists were painting.
Before they got there, though, he asked if they could go to the hardware store instead.
“And he pulled out his growly voice to ask, so of course, my resolve turned to jelly and we went to the hardware store. ”
“Ah, yes, the growly voice,” Reese says. “Gets me every time.”
Zoe shakes her head. “Not me. I’m immune.”
“I’ve met Ledger,” Livi says, “and he seems like the kind of guy who’d have a great growly voice, so I don’t buy that for one second.”
“What’s the growly voice?” I ask. Surely I can’t be the only one who doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
“It’s when they use that deep, kind of gravelly voice that’s also kind of sultry.” Livi clears her throat, then says, “Like this,” which is kind of deep and gravelly but not at all sultry, especially when you factor in the waggling of the eyebrows that she’s doing.
“No,” Reese says, and then changes her voice, “it’s more like this.”
We’re each trying to pull off the growly voice and all failing, but we’re all laughing so much that it makes me forget about how exposed I’m feeling when it comes to my neighbor.
“Does Jace ever use the growly voice?” Zoe asks Mackenzie.
I’m not at all sure I want to know this information about my brother.
Mackenzie gives a sly smile and says, “Why do you think I said yes to marrying him?”
Maybe it’s from doing the same task over and over as we make these, but we’ve all apparently reached the stage where everything is funny, and I find myself laughing just picturing it.
And, of course, talking about Jace and Mackenzie brings up the subject of the wedding that’s happening in just two weeks.
“Who are you taking to the wedding?” Zoe asks Reese.
“Miles and I are playing the best friend card and taking each other. I’m not dating anyone right now, and he doesn’t want to bring a woman he’s only going to take on one date to a big family event, so it works out perfectly for both of us.
“Oh, but it was so funny. We had gone out to lunch, and just as he was taking a drink of his soda, I asked, ‘Hey, do you want to be my date for the wedding,’ and he nearly choked on his soda! I was like ‘Relax, big guy. No one is trying to endanger your prized bachelor status.’ It was the greatest. I think I really had him going for a second.”
Then, of course, Mackenzie asks me, “Do you know who your plus-one is, yet?”
No. No, I do not. “I haven’t figured out if I want to bring someone. I’m not sure I even want to date at all right now.” I say it casually, like it’s not stressing me out in the least, even though it totally is. I’m thinking of just telling her to seat me at the single table.
“You should ask Owen!” Reese says.
I motion for her to keep her voice down while we’re without a wall .
“You should,” Mackenzie adds in a (thankfully) quieter voice. “I’ve seen that look on your face every time your eyes land on him.”
“And make all of this…” I motion at our lack of a wall, “even more awkward?” Being seen—either through a wall or because someone like Owen has X-ray eyes that feel like they can see into a soul—feels unsafe.
“‘Hey, Neighbor,’” I say in some voice that just comes out weird.
“‘Since we can see what’s going on in each other’s place, what do you say to dating, too? ’ Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
Reese shakes her head slowly. “I just don’t understand you.”
Without even taking her eyes off the ribbon she’s trying to tie, Zoe says, as if it’s nothing, “It’s because she was kidnapped as a preschooler. That kind of thing has long-term effects.” Then Zoe looks up, notices everyone’s reactions, and says, “Oh, do we not talk about that?”
“No, it’s okay,” I say. I wouldn’t have brought it up, but it’s not that big of a deal. “But that’s not what’s going on here—I mean, the kidnapping happened over two decades ago!”
Zoe raises an eyebrow and goes back to tying the bow.
“You were kidnapped?” both Reese and Livi say nearly in unison. Yeah, I guess I really don’t bring it up.
“Why?” Reese asks. “For money?”
I shake my head. “They wanted information from my dad.”
“Information?” Livi asks. “From someone with a business solutions company? What information did they need? Steps on creating a spreadsheet?”
I laugh just picturing things through Livi’s eyes.
Her best friend, Mackenzie, knows all about the Clandestine Services Agency and our cover as Lancaster Business Solutions because my brother told her.
I mean, I guess it’s important information to know before you marry a guy.
Mackenzie swore she’ll never tell the secret to another living person, and based on Livi’s reaction, it’s clear she’s kept her word.
Of course, being obsessed with spy movies has probably made it easier for Mackenzie to cover for any minor slip-ups.
Reese doesn’t know about the agency or that our “family business” and my job as an IT systems coordinator are covers, either.
Zoe does, of course, since she works for the CIA and has had a lot of mission crossovers with my brother, Ledger.
That was how they met. But she can keep a secret with the best of them.
I don’t talk about my kidnapping often. I have before, though, so I know the cover story to use well.
“No, not spreadsheets. Our company has secure servers that house sensitive data from our clients’ companies.
The kidnappers wanted him to turn over information belonging to our clients that they didn’t want shared.
” It’s not exactly the truth, but it’s close enough.
“Okay,” Reese says, looking like she’s still working through details, “I guess I kind of see how that relates to feeling exposed when you’re in the spotlight.”
I really don’t want to get into this in more detail with Reese right now, in front of everyone.
So, instead of letting her continue to think about it and come to conclusions that don’t have anything to do with anything, I redirect.
“I’m fine having eyes on me—it’s not that.
” Okay, it’s definitely part that. It just isn’t related to the kidnapping.
“And I have nothing against dating. I date for fun all the time. But I don’t feel like I’m old enough for a serious relationship. I’m only twenty-four.”
“Almost twenty-five,” Reese cuts in.
“Plus,” I say in a voice I’m sure is low enough that it won’t carry, “I’m the youngest of six, and Jace is my first brother to get married. So I’ve got four brothers older than me who aren’t getting married yet. It’s not my time.”
“Whoa, girl,” Livi says. “Who’s saying anything about getting married? We’re just talking about going out with the guy.”
“Oh, I know. It’s just that we’ve established that it’s not going to end in marriage, which means, eventually, there’ll be a breakup and much awkwardness. You know how things are with an ex! Now, imagine if he lived next door.” I can tell by everyone’s flinch that they get it.
“But for the record,” Mackenzie says, “I think you’re plenty old enough for a serious relationship.”
“Thanks. I think I don’t feel like I am because everybody else seems to have everything figured out, and I just…
don’t. I mean, you’ve seen my life.” I gesture at our kitchen.
“It’s kind of got the flooding theme going on.
I’m not good at any part of it, including relationships—they all kind of crash and burn.
” I pause. “Wait. That doesn’t really go with the flooding theme…
They all capsize . Like Ty! And I don’t want to date our neighbor, deep six our relationship, then have to see him daily. ”
Reese shakes her head. “Ty can’t be used as evidence because you didn’t deep-six your relationship with him. That relationship flopped like a dead fish all on its own. It was obvious from the start it was going to happen because he wasn’t a good fit.”
Livi tilts her head. “Is he the guy who thought your nickname for Charlotte should be Chuck instead of Charlie?”
“That’s the one.”
“Owen, though?” Reese says. “He seems like a good fit. Plus, he’s super cute.”
“He is. And maybe someday, when I get life things figured out more, he might be a good fit. He isn’t right now.”
Saturday morning, I stumble my way down the stairs from my room after staying up way too late laughing and chatting with the girls, and then convincing Reese to inspect our place with me.
We had workers at our home all day—two different sets of them.
One could’ve left the doors unlocked when leaving for lunch, and someone snuck in.
And yes, after Reese went to bed, I used my equipment to sweep the place for bugs because any of them could’ve planted one of those, too. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
The only reason I’m up already and wearing running shoes is that I’d already promised Reese I’d go jogging with her, and the girl has a magical ability to wake up at the same time, regardless of when she went to bed.
I’m most of the way down the stairs before I remember the state of my kitchen. And more importantly, my kitchen wall. At least our landlord left us water. The cabinet that holds the water glasses is on the floor by my table, so I crouch down to open it and grab a glass.
As I’m pouring water from the jug into my glass, I hear Reese coming down the stairs at the same time that my attention is pulled to the plastic sheeting.
I can see the blob that is Owen coming toward his kitchen, and I can hear something.
After a second or two, I realize he’s listening to a podcast on his phone.
Then he gets even closer to where his kitchen cabinets usually are, and I realize I can hear every word of his podcast. Every. Single. Word.
I turn with wide eyes to Reese just as she gets to the bottom of the stairs and point frantically toward our plastic sheeting wall. I mouth, I think he could hear everything we said last night!
Her eyes go wide, too. Probably thinking about how very much we talked about Owen.
She doesn’t say anything—she just follows my lead and gets a glass from the floor cabinet, pours herself some water, and drinks it, looking cute in her navy and honey yellow running outfit and her navy glasses with the little honeycombs on the sides.
Then she nods toward the front door. Yes.
Let’s wait until we’re out of this space where Owen can hear everything to talk about it.
Except he has managed to get outside even before us. He’s about ten steps ahead of us, heading toward his truck, when we step out onto our porch. He hears me pull our door shut and turns as we’re walking down our steps.
He gives us a nod and then says in a growly voice , “Good morning,” before he gets into his truck and pulls out of the driveway.
Reese nods as she watches him back up. Then she turns to me. “Yep. He definitely heard us.”
My face is flaming hot.
But I’ve got to admit, my friends were right—that growly voice is definitely irresistible.