Chapter 23 – Beau
BEAU
C hop. Chop. Slice. Chop. Chop. Slice.
My knife moves automatically over the salmon I’m prepping for tonight’s special at Terrace.
It’s the perfect task to take my mind off everything—repetitive enough to disappear into the movement, but requiring enough focus that my circling thoughts don’t have time to penetrate my brain.
Forget the fact that I’m paying Oliver to prep this salmon. I just need the distraction.
I can only do so much, though. At our last poker night, Luke floated the idea of writing in a juicy false tip to Peppermint to see if they’d bite.
“Too transparent,” I scoffed. “Peppermint will know it’s us. They must know we’re looking by now.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Luke insisted. “It costs us nothing, and Peppermint might just slip up.”
“It would tell them we’re getting desperate.”
“So?” Ryan said. “We have the power here. Peppermint already gave us all the ammunition we need to catch them.”
“So why are we looking for more, then?”
“Because more information is helpful! Why are you so against this?” Luke’s eyes were too perceptive—too suspicious. I forced myself to shrug nonchalantly.
“I’m overthinking it, I guess. Send the tip. Tell them Ryan’s pregnant.”
“It’s Pippa’s, obviously,” Ryan joked, rubbing his stomach and disarming everyone.
It was close, though. Too close.
Chop. Chop. Slice. Chop. Chop. Slice.
I’d like to think Brinley would be smart enough not to publish any false tip, especially now that she knows how close we are to catching her. But ever since our blowup at the hotel, she’s been weird. Distant. Not the Brinley I know.
I keep texting her, not with anything real—she’s already spooked enough that I brought up the diary situation. Just casual check-ins, giving her an opportunity to pretend that everything between us is normal.
Beau
How’d you sleep, beautiful?
Brinley
Great, how about you?
Beau
I slept okay. Had a weird dream where we went to a zoo and you were scared of the kangaroos.
Brinley
Ha!
She’s responding, but it’s not her. All her replies are clipped and surface level. She’s not even giving me sarcasm and prickly responses. It’s all just…flat. Brinley retreated behind her walls and left a polite stranger in her place. I know this version of her, and I’m terrified of it.
Chop. Chop. Slice. Ch–
I reach for the next piece of salmon, but it’s not there.
I’ve finished prepping all the salmon we had on deck for tonight, leaving me distraction-free.
Shit. I quickly wash my hands and put plastic wrap over the salmon trays, returning them to the fridge.
Then I check my phone, hoping for some kind of response from Brinley.
Instead, I have a missed call from James.
I frown. James isn’t the kind of guy to call you out of the blue.
He’s more the terse, one-word text kind of guy.
The one who replies to a heartfelt thank you for a gift with a thumbs up.
What kind of emergency would make him call me?
Shit. I press the call button immediately.
“Did something happen to Maura?” I ask as soon as he picks up. “Is she okay? Did something happen with the baby?”
“No.” James’s voice has a tint of amusement. “Nothing quite so dire. I was hoping we could meet.”
“Meet? Like, for coffee?”
“I was hoping you could come to my office at Sequel, so we won’t be disturbed by anyone.”
“Well, that doesn’t make this sound any less weird and shady.” I fiddle with the hem of my shirt. Something’s up with this whole conversation, and I don’t have a clue what it is.
“I’ll explain when you get here. Nobody is dying.”
“Can I come now?” Might as well get this over with. I’m only going to get more anxious the longer I have to wait.
“Sure. I can make space in my calendar.”
“Well, shit. If you’re moving around stuff on your precious calendar, this really must be big news. Wait, did Maura get double pregnant? I read an article once about this lady who didn’t know she had two uteruses?—”
“Enough,” James says coolly. It’s a veiled command to shut up and stop wasting his time, and weirdly, it’s comforting.
“Fine. I’ll be there soon.”
The Sequel offices are close enough that it’s easier to walk than drive around looking for parking.
I half-jog there, moving as fast as I can without turning into a sweaty mess.
I still feel like a slob, walking into Sequel’s shiny white and silver headquarters in my jeans and henley.
Everyone else is in suits or elegant business casual attire.
I swear, one woman in a sharp black skirt suit looks down at my scuffed boots and actually sneers .
At least the receptionist is friendly, greeting me by name and a “Mr. Keller is waiting for you.” She sends me upstairs to James’s office in a very shiny white and silver elevator.
When the doors open to sage green walls, my eyebrows shoot up. This can’t be right. The last time I went to James’s office, it was just as shiny white and silver as the rest of the building. Did I get off on the wrong floor?
“Mr. Bishop?” Another receptionist sits at a slightly smaller desk, looking at me with concern. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just green.”
“Ah,” she says, smiling. “Mrs. Keller chose the color. She said it would be calming.”
Of course. I should have known it was Maura’s influence. Now that I’m walking into the office, I spot a few of her paintings hanging in the reception area.
The receptionist sends me off to James’s office, which is just as green. It doesn’t do much to calm me down, not with James sitting at other side of his massive desk, looking at me like a principal trying to get a kid to confess to TP-ing his house.
“Good morning, Beau,” he says.
“Hey,” I reply weakly, sinking into the chair opposite him. He doesn’t make me wait.
“I was at the St. Regis last week,” he says.
“Maura and I were having dinner in the café downstairs. It’s the place where we first met, and we go back occasionally.
We saw Brinley crossing the lobby from the elevators looking really upset, Maura called out for her, but she didn’t hear us, and then a minutes later the elevator doors opened again and out walked you.
Looking around like you were meaning to catch up to someone. ”
He steeples his fingers and looks at me, letting the words hang in the air. I shift uncomfortably in my chair, because I don’t know what to say. Should I just confess everything right now? Or wait to see what James knows?
James nods, like I’ve given him an answer. “I texted you a little later, asking where you were. You told me you were visiting a supplier in Scarborough.”
I remember that lie. It was smooth and believable, the kind of excuse that would have worked on any other day. Maybe I should have anticipated why James was asking, but after fighting with Brinley, I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly.
James’s expression doesn’t change, but the weight of the lie hangs in the air between us.
“So,” he says finally. “What’s going on?”
I put on my most charming smile and chuckle. “Can’t a guy get a hotel room? Haven’t you ever just wanted to get away for a bit?”
“Beau.” James levels me with a look, reminding me that he’s not like the other guys. He can’t be redirected with charm and jokes. He already knows I lied, and I just don’t see a way to explain myself out of this, not with the evidence laid out so clearly.
My anxiety slowly morphs into something like acceptance. This day had to come eventually.
“Brinley and I have been dating for a while now,” I sigh. “We kept it secret for obvious reasons. Nobody knows.”
He nods, accepting it. Anyone else would probe. How long? How did it start? How serious is it? Not James.
No, James drops the one truth I’ve refused to face in all of this.
“You need to tell Luke. I can’t sit on this secret forever, Beau. Luke’s my friend, too, and I won’t lie to him. I get that you might need a little time to decide how to share the information. If you can’t find a way to come clean on your own, I’ll have to tell Luke myself after poker night.”
“I hear you,” I mutter. I’m not going to promise James anything right now, but I know he’s a man of his word. There’s no way to change his mind—he’ll make sure Luke knows, one way or another.
I push to my feet, because I know this conversation is over. What else is there to say, now that James has just blown up my life?
Then he lobs one final bomb.
“The guys are getting close to finding out who’s behind Toronto Tea,” he says, almost casually. “Brinley must be worried about that—it can’t be easy watching your brother’s friends go on a manhunt.”
The phrasing is deliberate. Pointed. James is trying to see if I’ll react, if there’s something more here than just a secret relationship.
Good thing that five years of lying to the people I love has given me an expert poker face. I keep my face completely neutral.
“The Peppermint thing has been stressful for everyone,” I say with a shrug. “Me included.”
James tilts his head slightly. “You know, Luke won’t just confront Peppermint when he finds out who they are. He’ll publish it. He’ll make sure the world knows.”
I swallow around the dryness in my throat. I hadn’t even thought to worry about Luke taking Peppermint public. Him knowing at all was bad enough.
“I’m sure he will,” I choke out. “So, uh, I’ll see you at poker night?”
James nods. “Yes. Good luck, Beau.”
I huff out a wry laugh, because my luck sure can’t get any worse.
When I emerge from the Sequel building, the sun shines brightly down on me. Kids wait in line at an ice cream truck, excitedly pointing at the pictures of popsicles on the side. A couple holds hands, giggling at some joke.
It feels like I’m the only person in the whole city whose life is falling apart.
The walk back to the House of Cards is slow and plodding as I sort through everything that’s happened.
James definitely suspects that Brinley is Peppermint, even if I didn’t confirm it for him.
I didn’t have to—Luke’s investigation is going to get there eventually, anyway.
Brinley’s barely speaking to me, while our relationship implodes under the twin fires of Peppermint and I love you.
I have no idea what happens next, and it terrifies me.
I’m not just scared for myself—I’m scared for Brinley, and what happens to her after Luke finds out she’s been trashing him for years.
What happens to her friendships when Pippa, Cat, and Maura learn about her betrayal.
Even what happens to the Copper Cup once Peppermint’s identity gets blasted to the whole world.
What happens to the girl who already had her diary read aloud to the world, and how she’ll survive being exposed all over again.
There’s only one thing I do know. I can’t just stand by and watch, like I did ten years ago, muttering “Don’t be a dick,” in a small voice that wouldn’t stop a breeze. I was eighteen and a coward, and it cost me a price I’ve been trying to repay ever since.
This time, I’m going to protect her.
I have no idea how, with Luke’s investigation and James’s deadline bearing down on her.
All I know is that when it all comes down, I won’t be the guy who just stands there.
Not this time. Whatever it costs me—Luke, the guys, the only family he’s ever had that stayed—I won’t watch Brinley burn again.
I have to find a way, before I run out of time.