Page 58 of Misfortune and Mr. Right

Lynette laughs softly. “I called them. They didn’t do it. And the landlord said it was my boyfriend. Dad is definitely not my boyfriend.”

“Ugh. Brain bleach, please. Sorry. I’m just fishing for who it could have been.”

“Trust me. That’s all I’ve been doing since I got the text. It came in during my meeting. I didn’t check my phone, of course. But I heard the notification. As soon as the meeting was over, I checked my phone and nearly fell over.”

Lynette pulls her phone out of her purse. “Look at the text my landlord sent me.”

She taps on the screen. I read the message.

Hi, Lynette. Thank you for your advance rent payment for the coming three months. Your boyfriend came in today to make the payment. It’s much appreciated. I’ve updated my records to reflect no balance due for the coming months. Let me know if there’s anything else you need! – Joe

“Wow.” I stare at her cell.

“I know. It’s crazy, right?”

“It’s crazy, all right. But also … awesome.”

“What’s awesome?” Cassidy asks, appearing out of nowhere and handing her mom a bag of the cookies we baked.

Lynette pulls one out and takes a bite.

“Mmm. These cookies are awesome. And you. You’re awesome.”

Cassidy does a twirl. “It’s my invisible wings. That’s what makes me awesome!”

Chapter Fifteen

Logan

In every man's heart there is a secret nerve

that answers to the vibrations of beauty.

~ Christopher Morley

“Thanks a lot, guys,”Charlie says, in what I’m learning is his typical dramatic fashion. “You both abandoned me yesterday after the Aspyn fiasco. I was left here to explain everything to Darwin and Rick.”

I shoot Charlie a warning glance. I don’t want Olivia to know what I was up to yesterday—at all. When she packed up to pick up her niece, I appeared engrossed in work. She didn’t know I had an appointment to leave here just after she did.

“What do you mean you were alone?” Olivia asks Charlie.

“Just that. You left. Then about ten minutes later, Logan got some sort of urgent phone call. He packed everything up and dashed out of here like his pants were on fire.”

Olivia looks at me as if I’m going to explain myself.

I regard her. My face is a practiced mask of indifference.

I’d love to tell her what I was up to. But I can’t.

“So, you filled Darwin and Rick in on everything?” Olivia asks Charlie.

“Yes. And never fear. I told them every detail of our brilliant damage control. I gave each of you ample credit for the parts you played in bailing out Untethered. They seemed satisfied—even proud of us.”

“Thank you,” I tell Charlie.

Olivia thanks him too. She studies me with a pensive expression on her face. I stand still, allowing her to wear herself out with conjectures.

When she seems satisfied or sufficiently frustrated—I can’t really tell which—she turns away from me and says, “Okay, well, we’ve got work to do. Let’s get to it.”

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