Page 48 of Control

It had been a week since the near disastrous impromptu meeting with Monica and Reed Sanders. I’d immediately reached out to both Bethany and Clover later that afternoon, and Clover was the only one even remotely interested and willing to meet with me. But she wanted to wait until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

I’d arrived at the café roughly ten minutes ago with Ty, and the two of us waited for Clover to join us. We’d been spending so much time with one another, but ever since that meeting, I’d found it difficult to focus on anything but the meeting at the Sanders’ estate.

For those few minutes this morning, I let go of all the work-related thoughts and gave myself a chance to appreciate the manwho was sitting beside me in the booth, something that had grown over the holiday break.

It was the first time in weeks that I’d gone without seeing Ty. He’d offered to be with me, to remain by my side in case I needed him, but I wanted him to be able to spend the time with his family. Plus, my own family would have asked too many questions if Ty showed up with me for Thanksgiving.

Being back in his presence now, I appreciated the physical closeness to him. Not only did I feel incredibly safe with Ty, but I’d grown accustomed to having the masculine scent of him around me. Plus, I enjoyed looking at him—he was entirely too handsome—and I adored the way he joined me on these outings and simply allowed me to do my job without interrupting. And after we’d interviewed anyone and were alone with one another again, he didn’t mind running through it with me, allowing me to share my thoughts while also giving me his impression.

Ty was so easy to be around; there was a part of me that wished I could have him as my personal bodyguard for the rest of my life.

Staring across the table in our booth, I smiled reassuringly at Clover. She was an outwardly friendly woman who I suspected would be far bubblier if she hadn’t just lost her best friend. “It’s okay. I can understand why something like this might be too soon for her. I won’t pretend to know what it’s like to be in either one of your shoes. I’m terribly sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you. Bethany tends to be a bit…” Clover’s voice trailed off as her eyes went over our heads. Ty and I turned at the same time to see a blonde woman walking in our direction, her eyes focused on Clover. When she came to a stop beside the booth, Clover scooted over and said, “You changed your mind.”

Apparently, this was Bethany. She didn’t respond to her friend, but she did sit down beside her.

“Bethany, this is Alana and Ty. Guys, this is Bethany.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you,” I said, Ty giving her a nod. “I’m so glad you decided to join us this morning.”

“Well, I wanted to make sure my friend was accurately portrayed,” she said, a bite of snark in her tone.

Recognizing I wouldn’t do myself any favors by attempting to defend myself, I returned, “Well, Monica Sanders had said the two of you would be the two best people to talk to, if I wanted to get a real impression of the more intimate side of Annie.”

“I’m not interested in revealing my best friend’s secrets,” Bethany declared.

“I don’t want you to share anything with me that betrays her confidence in either of you,” I assured her. “I’ve talked to a lot of different people recently about Annie’s philanthropic work. There’s so much there to celebrate and honor. If that’s all I have to work with, I’ll still be able to put together something beautiful. But my hope was that I’d be able to give this community, to give the people who’ve never had the opportunity to meet Annie, a better understanding of the woman behind the good deeds. I want people to feel like she’s relatable while honoring her legacy.”

Bethany opened her mouth to respond, but Clover placed her hand on her friend’s arm and said,” We’d be happy to help. This kind of thing is exactly what Annie would want. She’d want people to know her and to be inspired by her.”

“What exactly do you want to know?” Bethany asked.

Before I could respond, our server returned with drinks for Clover, Ty, and me. “Oh, I didn’t realize someone else had joined. Can I get you something to drink while you decide on what you’d like to eat?”

Bethany didn’t need to spend time looking at a menu. She quickly rattled off her order, and the four of us were alone again.

I immediately dove right back into the conversation and answered Bethany’s questions. “All I want to know is anythingyou’d like to share about your friend, anything you think she would want people to know about her. It can be very simple. Like, for example, how about you tell me how the three of you came to be such close friends.”

“Our families were always at the same functions when we were kids, so we didn’t really have any choice in the matter. It was either be friends with each other or go to school and have people hate us for being born into the families we were.”

I found this intriguing. “Are you telling me that the three of you were bullied?”

“No, not really,” Clover insisted. “There were some people who were bitter or jealous, I guess. But Bethany’s exaggerating a bit. Annie always had that kill-them-with-kindness attitude. I tried to learn from that and can say it worked. Bethany was not so forgiving.”

Bethany rolled her eyes and muttered, “I wasn’t going to allow people to talk about me behind my back one minute and be nice to my face the next.”

She seemed so much the opposite of Annie and Clover. It amazed me how they could be so different and still be such close friends.

Our server returned with Bethany’s coffee and informed us our food would be out soon before taking off again.

“Well, I think it’s great that the three of you remained friends all these years. What were things like for the three of you as adults? Did you see each other frequently, or did you only get together for special occasions? What was the dynamic there?”

Bethany and Clover looked at one another, sadness moving through their expressions. When they returned their attention to us, Clover’s hazel eyes were brimming with tears. “We came here once a week,” she rasped.

“Here? To this café?”

She pressed her lips together and nodded. “It was sort of a ritual for us. We’d get together for breakfast once a week, at a minimum, and we’d talk about whatever was on our minds.”

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