Page 90 of Four Steps to the Perfect Fake Date

If only he could let go of the last of his resentments and accept it.

It would feel good to forgive his mother. A weight would lift off his shoulders, that heavy burden he’d carried with him for close to thirty years. They’d never have a normal mother-son relationship, but maybe they could have something else. They could care for Ceecee and get to know each other. There could be mutual respect.

If he could just trust that Eileen was being honest. That she really had changed as much as he had.

Consumed by thoughts of the past, he’d missed what was going on with Daphne. And now she was across the room, and he was being held in place by a woman who had a bionic claw for a hand.

“You know, even though we didn’t speak much in high school, I always thought there was something special about you,” Jenna said.

Her perfume was cloying, and Calvin breathed through his mouth as he nodded. His gaze was still on Daphne, who was speaking to Harry.There was a wrinkle between Daphne’s brows, and she had that look on her face like she was overthinking. “Hmm?” Calvin said to Jenna, his entire attention focused on the other side of the room.

“I knew you’d do big things,” she crooned.

Daphne took a deep breath, deep enough that even from a distance, Calvin could see her chest rise and fall. Beside her, Harry straightened, thumping her cane on the ground once as she faced Daphne.

Calvin’s instincts screamed. It was like a million ants crawling over his skin. A claw raking down his spine.

Something was happening, and he didn’t know what it was.

Daphne had hidden something from him, just like his mother had hidden herself away in her room. There was a fracture between them he hadn’t noticed before. A thread of panic wound its way through his chest, circling his lungs in tighter and tighter bands.

“And I was just so sad to hear that you’d left the island,” Jenna continued, shuffling so close that her breast pressed against Calvin’s arm.

Frowning down at her, he tried to shake her off. “It was a long time ago,” he said.

“Still. I’m happy you’re back.” Her free hand came up to rest on his chest, and Calvin tried to move out of the way. His back hit the wall, and Jenna shifted in front of him. She smiled. “I know you’re here with Daphne, but maybe—”

A crash shattered through the air, and all heads turned toward the sound. Calvin’s head snapped up to where Daphne had stood a moment before, but both she and Harry had disappeared.

That’s when the screaming started.

Chapter 36

Daphne blinked at the shattered vase in the hallway, Harry sucking in a hard breath beside her to recover from her scream. The end of her cane crunched against a piece of aqua-streaked glass. The old woman let out another yell as bodies appeared in the kitchen door.

Two caterers jumped out to help, and Daphne hooked her arm around Harry’s shoulders. “She needs to sit,” she said.

“You!” Harry demanded, pointing her cane at the first wide-eyed caterer. “Clean this up before someone cuts themselves. And you, stop anyone else from coming down here. Someone could be seriously hurt.”

The command in Harry’s voice left no room for argument. The first woman jumped and rushed back into the kitchen to find a broom. Daphne followed close behind, towing Harry along. They entered the kitchen and waited for the broom-carrying caterer to shuffle past. As soon as the caterer had gone out to the hallway to clean up the mess, Harry got a wicked glint in her eyes.

Just like she’d done a moment ago, the old woman wound up with her cane and swung at the nearest glassware. Wineglasses went flying against the wall and exploded into a thousand shards, raining crystal over the kitchen floors.

“Oh!” Harry said. “Clumsy me.” She poked her head out the kitchen door to where the caterers had jumped. “Stay out there until we’ve cleaned this up. It’s not safe in here!”

“But the broom—”

Harry closed the door and leaned against it, her eyes bright. “Go on, girl. Get the pot and get it over the fence. We haven’t got much time.”

Daphne cast a quick glance at the shattered stemware. Distantly, she wondered how and when this would all blow up in her face.

But there were more important things to attend to. She darted to the corner cabinet where she’d spotted the Dutch oven the first time, hauling pots and pans out of the way to get to it. Cookware clattered and banged as Harry hissed at her to be quiet. Her hands closed around the rough, cool handles of the cast-iron pot.

Calvin had been right. This thing was horrendously heavy.

It let out a loud clatter as Daphne dropped it beside her feet, the lid banging against the pot and the pot banging against the floor. She was making too much noise. Way, way too much noise. And she was way, way too slow.

Someone pounded on the door.

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