Page 47 of Lost in the Moonlight

The music stopped and then started again, and I finally realized it wasn’t Katerina’s tone, but Juliette’s. And because she rarely called, and especially not this early, I scrambled from bed to retrieve the phone.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hey, good morning. Did I wake you?” Her question was soft and hid a hint of worry.

I’d never tell her she had when she hardly ever reached out.

“No,” I lied, rubbing my jaw and feeling the hint of stubble I hadn’t shaved in a few days. So unlike the neat-and-tidy Lincoln the world was used to seeing. “What’s up?”

She hesitated, and that only increased my worry. “Nerdette, talk to me.”

We went weeks, even months, without using any of our nicknames, and now I’d used both my sisters’ in a matter of days.More things that screamed different since I’d moved. Since I’d let Cherry Bay and Willow slide under my defenses.

Juliette laughed, and it was as low and soft as her voice. She talked so quietly and moved with an almost uncanny stillness that had people missing her stubborn determination, especially when it was in contrast to Katerina’s in-your-face energy. “Mom made me call. She says you’ve been dodging her.”

I bit back my quick retort. “I haven’t been ignoring her, or anyone else, any more than normal.”

“How’s the new house? The gallery?”

I frowned, picking up my jeans and heading for the closet.

“Since when are you the one to give me the third degree? Tell me why you really called.”

“I do want to know how things are with you, but you’re also right. I’m worried about Katerina.”

I dropped the jeans in the hamper as the concern I’d felt the last couple of times I’d talked to our sister hit me again.

“She has been acting weird,” I said. “She insists she’s just working too hard on this new film.”

“I don’t like the guy she’s seeing.”

“What? She has a boyfriend?”

Juliette let out an exasperated half-laugh. “I don’t know that I’d call him a boyfriend. More like someone she’s bang—”

“Stop. Stop right now. I don’t want to know about either of your sex lives. I can’t handle it. My little sisters will never have sex in my mind. End of story.”

She laughed again, but then it died away. “He’s creepy.”

“Define creepy.”

“I don’t know how to explain it, Lincoln. That’s just what I feel when he looks at me.”

“When did you meet him?”

“When I flew out for the movie premiere in February.”

“Who is he?”

“Some executive producer. A guy with power who knows he has it and likes to wield it,” she said.

“That doesn’t sound like someone Katerina would ever be interested in,” I said honestly. Silence settled down between us. “Do you want me to have Hardy reach out to her detail? See what’s going on?”

“No. She’d be pissed if we went around her like that.”

She would. “Okay, then, we tag-team her. We schedule a time and call her together.”

A door slammed in the background, and I could hear a voice telling Juliette she was needed. “We just had a three-car pile-up come in. I’ve gotta go. I’ll text you later, and we can set up a time. Make sure you respond.”

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