Page 7 of Trouble Walked In

Now, the remnants of that life had landed right in the middle of her sanctuary. It was hard to get away from her past when it showed up and demanded attention.

Lizzie rolled out of bed and headed for the closet. “Della, wake up. Rise and shine.”

Della groaned and rolled away from her. “It’s too early.”

“We have to get to the inn. Cleanup starts at eight.”

“What time is it?” Della yawned.

“It’s time to get up. Breakfast is in thirty minutes.”

“I hate it when you do that.” Della peeked at the clock, groaned, and threw the blanket over her head. “It’s too freaking early, Lizzie. We only went to bed at what, two?”

“Work doesn’t stop just because we ignored bedtime.” Lizzie tugged fresh jeans and a flannel shirt out of the closet and grabbed fresh undies out of the dresser. “It’s Monday, and there’s a wedding next weekend. We have a lot of work to do. There are eleven guest rooms in the main house, and they allneed to be cleaned, not to mention the main floor, plus we have to get the tent set up and chairs ready and—”

Della’s voice emerged from under the covers, muffled and annoyed. “Don’t you have people for all that?”

Lizzie suppressed the surge of frustration that thought generated. If the pipes hadn’t exploded, she would have hired her usual crew for all the setup work. “Usually, but it’s the end of the busy season and the budget is…I’m saving the money for something else.”

“So I’ll pay for it. As long as I get to sleep,” Della said.

“Your money is no good here.” Lizzie tapped the bundle of bedding that hid her sister from view. “Come on, get up and get moving. Rise and shine, shine, shine.”

“You’rereallyannoying, you know that?” Della peeked out from under the covers. “Why can’t I hire a crew to clean for you?”

Lizzie gave her sister the are-you-serious look she’d perfected as a teenager. “First, because we aren’t in a city where there are armies of cleaning crews just dying to come do your chores for you. And second, I don’t want your money. We’re shorthanded right now and what I really want is your help.” She also had no intention of letting Della have the emotional power that would go along with using her fame and money to solve Lizzie’s problems.

Della rolled her eyes.

“Besides, you’ve been saying for two days that you don’t want to be you anymore. Well, here’s your chance to be someone completely different. You get to be the girl who cleans the rooms.”

Della flung herself back on the bed. “I can’t believe you’re serious about this.”

“Ticktock, little sis. If you don’t hurry up, you’ll missbreakfast. I’d hate to send you to work on an empty stomach.” Lizzie dangled a T-shirt over her sister’s head.

Della snatched the shirt out of her hands and glowered at her. “Fine. But I want pancakes.”

“Deal,” Lizzie said. “I’ll get Jordanna up. Pancakes in twenty.”

Lizzie grabbed her phone and hurried downstairs. They were already behind schedule, and she needed to check in with the rest of her family. Piper and Mattie might still be mad at Della, but there was love under the grudge, and they’d want to know the latest news.

She checked the time. It was eight thirty in New York, making it five thirty in Los Angeles. It was way too early to call Piper. She refused to answer the phone before ten, but Mattie was a morning bird, and she kept odd hours most of the time. She activated a video call with Mattie and waited.

Three rings later, Mattie’s face appeared on the screen. Her sister seemed to be mostly awake and lounging on the rooftop deck of her townhome in Los Angeles. It was still well before sunrise, and the glow of a nearby streetlamp made her look haunted. “Hey, Lizzie. What’s wrong?”

Lizzie blinked. “Why does something have to be wrong?”

Mattie gave her a patient look. “Because you hate seeing the sun rise. What happened?”

Lizzie shook her head. “You know me too well.”

“You’re my sister.” Mattie peered at her over the rim of the mug. “So what’s up?”

Lizzie took a closer look at the dark circles under Mattie’s eyes and the downward turn to her shoulders and hesitated. “Why aren’tyousleeping? I thought you were wrapping up that project with what’s-his-name.”

Mattie took a sip of whatever was in the mug. “Devon Morales. We wrapped last week, but he’s a bit clingy. Lastnight was a bit, um, rough. Anyway, doesn’t matter. Tell me what happened. It must be serious for you to avoid talking about it like this.”

“Don’t think you’re getting off that easy. We’re talking about this later.” Lizzie gave her patented you-can’t-avoid-me stare. “But actually, I don’t have long right now. I just wanted to fill you in on a new development. Della’s here. She skipped out on her tour.”

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