Page 61 of The Spy Who Ghosted Me

I took Cash’s hand, hoping to ease his discomfort. “We’re working on things.” It was all I could offer my grandparents. “Pops, do you still have those old maps you made of the caves?” Time was of the essence here and we needed to move along.

Pops scrubbed a hand over his white whiskers and stubble. “Hmm. I believe so. Looking for an adventure, are we?”

“Yep,” I said chipperly, lying through my teeth. My idea of adventuring was kissing a stranger on the streets of France, not hunting for blood diamonds or trying to outsmart a wife-murdering smuggler.

“Good for you. It’s about time,” Pops said.

“Amen,” Nana agreed.

I was beginning to think that people saw me as boring. Was I boring? I just didn’t like drama, that’s all—I thought that was a good thing. But man, oh man, my life was one big soap opera right now. “Well, okay.” I tried not to be offended. There was no time for it. I wished I could tell them I was in love with a spy and might just be saving my sister’s life. That was the epitome of non-boringness, thank you very much.

“Don’t be hurt,” Nana admonished. “We think the world of you; it’s just good to see you coming out of your comfort zone and taking some risks.” She pointed at Cash.

She had no idea the risk I was taking. And it was official: my family did think I was boring. No wonder everyone was so happy to see me all fired up about Cash—they all thought I was blah. How come Mia hadn’t ever said anything? Dang it, I’d moved away from home and started my own business. Wasn’t that an exciting feat? Okay, so I took over a business and my daddy loaned me the money to do it. So maybe that wasn’t as adventurous as it sounded. Ugh.

“I appreciate Sabrina’s steadiness,” Cash defended me.

There you go. I was steady. Which was probably another word for boring, but it sounded better.

“Good man.” Pops gave him props. “Now let’s go find those maps.” Pops waved us back to his den while Nana sat down in her recliner and went back to watching The Price Is Right.

On the way down the hall, the wood floors creaked beneath our feet. “Do you think I’m boring?” I whispered to Cash.

He chuckled and kissed my head. “Not at all.”

Pops showed us into his cluttered den where his old degrees hung on the wall, along with black-and-white photos of him and Nana and Mama and Aunt Vivian. It smelled of cigar smoke and aftershave.

Pops started looking under a pile of old newspapers in the corner.

“We can help,” I offered.

“That’s all right, darlin’. If you move anything, I won’t know where it is.”

I wasn’t sure how he knew where to find anything among the clutter.

Cash and I smiled at each other and watched Pops do his thing.

My phone buzzed, and I reached into my crossbody bag and pulled it out. It’s Lexi, I mouthed to Cash before stepping out into the hall to answer it.

Cash followed and waited by the door, keeping a watchful eye on me.

“Hello.” I tried to sound normal, even though I was worried about why Lexi was calling. I didn’t think I was missing any torturous bridesmaid events.

“I need you to come to the house.” There was no Hello or How are you? or Thank you so much for the gift and trying to save my life.

Despite her rudeness, my first thought was that something was terribly wrong. My heart stopped and my mouth went dry. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong. Everything is perfect,” she sang. “It’s just, Soren wants to do our first-look pictures this afternoon. Isn’t that so romantic?”

Uh. That’s not the word I would use for it; I would say more frightening than anything. I gave Cash a pained look, and he came to my side. What’s wrong? he mouthed.

I didn’t get a chance to answer because Lexi said, “The problem is, my hair stylist isn’t available, so I need you to help me. Oh, and we want our wedding party there with us for the pictures. I really think that Soren wants to get to know Cash better.”

Oh, I bet he did.

“So, will you help me?” Lexi asked.

“Yes,” I breathed out, knowing if I said no, it would only look suspicious to Soren. “Cash and I will be there soon.”

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