Page 66 of Truth, Lies, and Second Dates
“Oh. Well, I’m not sure if you heard but I’m taking a couple of days off for personal—”
“Oh my God, did you flunk another drug test?”
Thatgave her pause. “No, just the one. Which was a false positive. That was the only one I flunked. Except I didn’t, not really.”
“A number of false positives,” Tom added, because he thought he was being helpful. “Apparently, PCP hit twice.”
Ava forced brisk cheerfulness into her tone. “It shouldn’t take long to straighten out. I’m sure I’ll see you at work later in the month.”
“Yes! Okay!”
Jesus. She’s almost vibrating. That’s how badly she wants to get away from me. Or this conversation. Or both. Probably both.“Well, nice seeing you again.”
“Yes! Nice! Okay. Bye!”
They watched as she practically sprinted away, and Tom broke the silence with, “How well do you know her?”
“Barely. She just started less than a month ago.”
“Hmmm.”
“Yeah, that about sums it up. Let’s catch up to Hannahand Abe. And on the way, you can tell me which of my colleagues might have murdered my friend and then came back to wreck my life.”
“Your wish,” Tom replied, still watching Becka beat her not-at-all-suspicious hasty retreat.
Thirty-Five
“Govahment Centah!”
They were on the T’s Green Line,*on their way to meet Abe and Hannah. She liked Boston’s subways, especially the way the conductor blared the names of the stops (piercing by necessity; the car was a sea of bent heads and smartphones) over the PA system in a full-on Boston accent. She knew generalizing was lazy thinking at best, but she’d never run into someone with a Boston accent who at theleastdidn’t have a ton of common sense.
From the Baker family’s hotel, Ava would hop a train back to her own hotel, where she’d get some sleep and then… then she’d… um…
“So what’s our next move? Since we’re both on vacation?”
“Keep trying to reach Dennis. Do whatever research we can on Becka. See if this person left an IT trail. Eat garbage.”
“Pahk Street!”
She snorted and, as the train took a sharp curve, clutched the nearest pole but was thrown against his side anyway. This didn’t bother him at all, if the way he took her hand and held it was any indication. She was on board, too (no pun intended), if her accelerating pulse was any indication.
It’s holding hands on the subway, not a marriage proposal. All you know at this point is that he thinks holding your hand is less disgusting than clutching a subway pole anyone might have licked.
“You’re joining us for dinner.”
“Is this a date thing or a bodyguard thing or a just-being-polite thing?”
“Yes.”
“Oh. I.”Wow. Are you seriously having heart palpitations over this? Could you stop acting like you’re hard up? CALM. DOWN.“I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“Accepting a sincere invitation is the opposite of intruding.”
“Your niece and your—your Abe—might disagree.”
“Thankyou.” He let out a sigh. “I donotknow what to call him. And I never know how to introduce him.”
“Ahlington Station!”
