Chapter 6
It was the morning of her departure. No one was worried, except Gabby.
She woke up fifteen minutes before her alarm went off to a dark, silent house, her nerves jumping and her mind at least twenty-four hours ahead of her body.
Bubbles groaned when she disturbed him on her way out of bed.
By five o’clock, she was packed, showered, dressed, and flipping her second batch of pancakes.
Kyle wandered into the kitchen hours before any teen should make a voluntary appearance, looking sleepy and rumpled. Gabby barely moved a muscle. Her teenager had gotten up early to see her off.
Kyle was still blinking the sleep away when Gabby handed her a perfect stack of pancakes. The pancakes were stacked as high as her love for the kids. Butter + syrup = love. Fact.
Lucas was next. It wasn’t as big a surprise to see him up early. Gabby handed him a plate and said, “I’ll miss you.”
“Miss you too, Mom. How many days is a week? Is that a long time?” Lucas still didn’t have a great grasp of time.
“It’s seven sleeps.”
He proceeded to count to seven and nodded. Her heart squeezed hard. She’d never been away from the kids for a whole week, and not just in time, but in space. For one week, she was going to be a whole ocean away from her babies.
From the kitchen table, Kyle eyed her mom suspiciously. “What are you wearing?”
Gabby was dressed in her rich lady travel wear. Her loose cream-colored sweater draped expensively off one shoulder over some $500 leggings. In her hair, an Hermès scarf. Her travel bag, a Birkin. With the Gucci shades and expensive lipstick to finish the look, she was channeling Princess Grace.
“My boss told me I needed to dress up.”
Kyle squinted, clearly not buying it. “What are you supposed to be?”
Gabby had spent all night studying the answer to that question—Gia Glanville, thirty-five, executive assistant, engaged to rich inventor, yoga enthusiast. Before she thought of an answer other than her cover identity, the doorbell rang.
She smoothed her cream top and collected herself.
She could handle this. One week on mission, and it was probably a blessing in disguise that the “conference” was all the way in the Azores.
At least it was separate from her family.
There was zero chance of them mixing up with the bad guys like her last mission.
Just thinking of Smirnov breaking into her house in the middle of the night and stationing men with guns out front made her blood run cold.
And for a blessed week, she’d only have to wear one hat. It might be easier being a sexy undercover spy than a spy, a mom, a daughter, a granddaughter, an ex-wife, and a neighbor.
At the front door, her Crocs were sitting on top of her travel bag. She hadn’t put them there. Kyle? Gabby glanced up, and Kyle shrugged like it was no big deal, but it might be the sweetest thing that had ever happened to her.
“They’re not going to go with your outfit.”
Gabby picked them up and clutched them to her heart. “Thank you, sweetie.”
Still clutching the Crocs, she opened the door to find Markus standing in the early morning light, looking like a Hollywood star going on vacation.
When Kyle caught sight of Markus, she narrowed her eyes, and all the walls went up. She looked between Gabby and Markus and then back again. Her voice accusatory, she said, “I thought you were going on a work trip?”
“I am. I work with Markus.”
Markus, not fully picking up on the dynamics, waved. “Morning, Kyle! You’re up and at ’em.”
While he grabbed Gabby’s bag and took it out to the car, Gabby tried to reason with Kyle. “It’s a work trip. Markus just happens to look like that.” She gestured to him like he was offending her. “He can’t help it.” That was true. The man couldn’t be casual.
Like she was the parent, Kyle said, “Mom, don’t even.
You’ve been working out.” She punctuated that with a glare.
“You got a makeover.” She said “makeover” like a dirty word.
“You packed a bikini.” She said bikini the way that Gabby felt about it.
“I’m not stupid, Mom.” All the softness Kyle showed a minute ago was gone.
“Kyle, I don’t like your tone of voice.”
“What are you going to do, send me to my room? You’re going to Cleveland.” With that, she walked off. “Or are you lying about that too?”
Gabby took a deep breath. She didn’t have time to chase Kyle down. “Kyle, I don’t like your attitude. I’m going to cut off your screen time if you keep talking to me like that.” It was the only power she had.
Lucas gave her a hug, and she felt him not-very-sneakily put a Post-it note on her back. Knowing Lucas, it probably said, “Kick me,” or simply “Butt.” It was just the touch her outfit had been missing.
While she instructed Granny on a few last-minute things, Markus collected more items to put in the car.
Burt held up his hand. “Hold on, sport.”
“Did I forget something?” Markus scanned the ground where the bags had been.
“Nope, I’m driving you two to the airport. That’s a grandpa’s job. And I’ll pick you up when you land. No need to pay for an Uber or parking.”
Markus smiled. “That’s a great offer, but the car’s already loaded, and I drove.”
“I can drive your car. Looks like the regular kind.”
Gabby shook her head vehemently over Burt’s shoulder. Please, God, no. It didn’t even make sense. Were they going to leave Markus’s car at her house all week? Could Burt get to the airport?
Burt was having none of it, though. In saggy boxers and a T-shirt that read, “Shady Acres Cheer Squad,” he settled himself into the front seat.
Granny saw the problem and shouted, “Burt, get out of the car. I need you.”
After grumbling for a second, Burt swung one pasty white leg out, and then the other, showcasing his compression sock–loafer combo. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, you’re forcing me to have an awkward conversation here in the driveway, then.”
“Burt, we gotta go,” Gabby said. “Whatever it is, we can talk about it later.”
Looking very serious, he shook his head and took a step closer to Markus. “I need to talk to this young man, Gabby.”
Gabby almost died. She loud-whispered, “Burt, this is a work trip. Markus is a co-worker. I don’t think you need to say anything.”
Burt held up his hand.
Markus gave her a look that said, “I can handle it.”
Gabby couldn’t.
“I just want to say that you need to take care of our Gabby. Watch out for her. Please help her with her bags because it looks like she overpacked.”
Gabby breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t being too weird.
“And remember to use protection. Vera and I can’t be watching any babies. Our knees aren’t good enough.”
Gabby started choking on nothing but air. Markus smiled and said, “Yessir. Thanks for all the advice.”
Burt gave him a salute and tapped the car on its ass.
A minute down the road, Gabby was still shell-shocked.
“Sorry about Burt,” she said. “I’m not actually related to him.
” Every time she started to give him a pass, he opened his big mouth and said something absolutely appalling.
“At least everyone is suffering through Burt together. Maybe it’ll be a bonding thing.
” She took another deep breath and focused on the hula girl dancing atop Markus’s dashboard.
“Let’s get you a Starbucks,” Markus said. “I could use a coffee too.”
Gabby started to chill. She might as well enjoy it.
And they were on a mission. This was a serious job with high stakes.
All she had to do was shove her feelings into a box.
They’d probably pop out, jack-in-the-box style, when she was watching a commercial for life insurance later, but for now, she needed them out of the way.
“Gia Glanville, born in 1990, birthday of June 5, sign is Gemini, and my favorite hobbies are yoga, meditation, and healing.” She shook her head. “What does that mean?”
“Just be vague and you’ll stay out of trouble.”
“Glanville…” Gabby said. “It sounds like a glandular problem. Or like a Midwestern casserole mom.”
“Speaking of that, are you going to take my name?” He side-eyed her with a smile. “We should probably figure that out before we get there.”
“I just went back to my maiden name,” Gabby said. She could take another man’s name, but maybe it was too soon. Even if she got married, she needed to be Gabby this time.
“What? Is Gia divorced?” Markus asked, sounding confused, which made Gabby realize they were no longer talking about the same scenario. He wasn’t asking if she wanted to stay Gabby Greene.
In a soft voice, she said, “Markus, you know what a mess my life is, right?”
“Gabby—” He took a steadying breath. “Sure, you have chaos, but I don’t see a mess. You’re always stretched a little thin, I get that, but I see a competent, caring, beautiful woman.”
Before she could haul her jaw off the floor, Markus pulled into the drive-thru. “What kind of coffee do you want?”
“The usual,” she choked out.
Markus shouted their orders to the speaker: “One tall pumpkin spice latte and one grande iced oatmilk latte.” He pulled forward toward the window.
“I see how you are showing up for everyone else all the time. I respect that. You show up for me. I think you would be better off if you gave someone the chance to show up for you.”
Gabby was legitimately tongue-tied. Sure, she liked a compliment, but once someone said something nice, could she respond like a normal person? No.
She’d promised to have his back and, minutes later, agreed to spy on him. Gabby was a dirty, dirty double agent.
“Let me get the coffee,” she said. It was the least she could do given her double-crossing.
“No, I got it,” he said.
“That’ll be fourteen dollars,” the woman at the window said.
While they were waiting for the coffees, Markus reached into his pocket and pulled out a small package. “I almost forgot the ring.”
Gabby’s brain screeched to a halt, and her soul was almost ejected from her body.
“You okay?”
She collected herself. “Just surprised.”