Page 161 of Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds

“When he slipped up,” I said. “I heard what he said, that Diana had been at Ethan’s house on Sunday night, and knew he’d done it.”

“How are you holding up?” Anja asked. “If you’d like, you can come back to my suite, away from people.”

I looked at her and smiled, though I wanted to cry. “I’m okay.”

I wouldn’t be okay for a long, long time.

I was about to go back inside when Luis walked up from the beach.

I was mad at him, too.

“Hello, Mia,” he said, and sat down on one of the chairs.

“I’m going home,” I said, making no move to sit down.

“Please?” He motioned to the other chair.

“I don’t want to talk to you. You lied to me as much as your nephew.”

“Great-nephew,” he corrected me. “Though you probably don’t think he’s all that great right now.”

My lips twitched, but I refrained from smiling. Instead, I sat. “You almost told me at the bar the other day.” I’d been replaying our conversation, and there were a few hints. But I hadn’t caught on.

“Ethan made a mistake.”

“A big mistake,” I said.

“He cares for you.”

My heart clenched. “I fell in love with Jason.”

I said it out loud. Saying it hurt even more.

“They’re one and the same.”

“No, they’re not. Jason is who Ethan wants to be. It’s fake. He’s pretending. I can’t trust him because I’ll never know who he really is.”

The uncertainty would turn me inside out. I needed order in my life. Firm expectations. A reliable job that required discipline, following the rules, respect. A life with friends who counted on me, and who I could count on. Responsibility to others, like my Grams. Who needed me to be grounded, not foolish. Who needed to be able to trust me and my word. I didnot need a billionaire fraudster who went to great lengths to deceive me and everyone around him.

“Don’t we all spend our entire lives trying to figure out who we are?” he asked.

“I know who I am,” I said with a lot more confidence than I felt.

“Is who you are who you want to be?” Luis asked, again with the riddles.

“I don’t play what-if games,” I said. “People don’t change, and they shouldn’t. People need to be dependable.”

“You’re right, people don’t change,” he said. “Not where it counts. Your values. Your loyalty. Your loves. But sometimes, we don’t know who we really are, deep inside, until we face challenges and obstacles we’ve never faced before.”

Luis stood, his knees cracking.

“Do you need help?” I asked, jumping up to offer him my arm.

He smiled, patted my shoulder. “I was right about you from the day I met you, Mia Crawford. Don’t be a stranger.”

Then he shuffled away.

I walked to the ferry after saying goodbye to Callie, to Henry, to his wife Millie. Kalise gave me a hug. I was about to board the shuttle when Brie ran over and wrapped her arms around me.

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