Page 77 of Silent Partner (Pine Falls 3)

“Kinsley—” She reached for me, and I gave her my hand. She held it between her shaky ones. “You two deserve all the happiness in the world. And—”

She was cut off by Ariana’s phone blasting “Eye of the Tiger,” Jonah’s favorite song and the ringtone Ariana had given him.

Dani and I broke apart while Ariana reached for her phone. “Sorry, he just can’t get enough of me.” She answered the phone. “Hi, honey, don’t say anything you don’t want my sisters to hear, like how your ears itch after we’re passionate.” She mischievously laughed.

Poor Jonah, I could picture him turning bright red. Ariana was always keeping him on his toes, but he lived for it. For her.

I could hear Jonah clear his throat and then say, “Thanks, baby; I’ll get you back later.”

“I look forward to it.” Ariana grinned. “So, what’s up?”

“I just talked to Dr. Paulson, and she wanted to give us a heads-up—her office was broken into last night, and her patient records were accessed. Nothing was stolen, as far as they can tell, but she’s worried sensitive information like social security numbers could have been taken. They’ll be sending out a formal communication to all their patients, but as a courtesy, since I’m her colleague, she let me know. You should probably tell Dani since she’s a patient too.”

“Yikes.” Ariana lowered her phone with Jonah hanging on the line and regurgitated to Dani what he’d just told her.

I watched Dani turn ghost white. If I wasn’t mistaken, she was shaking too. I didn’t realize she was so worried about identity theft. Or maybe when you had a baby, your OB-GYN office collected more sensitive information than I realized.

When Ariana hung up with Jonah, we both zeroed in on Dani, who looked like she might lose it.

“Hey, it’s highly unlikely they took any of your info. And even if they did, you can get it all straightened out. I bet Brock has identity theft coverage for your family.” I tried to make her feel better.

“Brock,” she mumbled almost incoherently. “I need to call him.” She sounded unwell.

Ariana and I looked between each other, not sure why she was so upset by this news. It seemed to go beyond pregnancy hormones.

“Dani, are you okay?” She was really starting to worry me.

She grabbed her bag and stood. “I need to go,” she stammered. “I’ll call you both later.”

She went to rush past me, but I reached out and took her hand. “Dani.” I didn’t know exactly what to say. This wasn’t the Dani I knew. Minor things like this never got to her.

With tears welling up in her eyes, she said, “I know. I’m sorry. So very sorry.” She squeezed my hand and ran off.

I turned and watched her weave her way through the tables and people before she flew out the door. I turned and looked down at Sammy, who was babbling up a storm. “What was all that about?”

Ariana took one of Sammy’s chubby hands and rubbed it. “I don’t know, but I’m worried about her.”

“Me too.”

Chapter Twenty

“Hey, boss lady.” Jai leaned against the doorframe to my office.

I looked up from the night’s receipts. “You and your crew did an amazing job tonight. Lots of happy customers. Thank you.” I had taken the time to go out and talk to as many patrons as possible throughout the night, though we had been so busy I’d had to jump in and help in the kitchen. Every table had been full until we closed. Which was amazing.

Jai yawned. “The closing checklist has been completed on my end.”

“Thank you. Go home and rest, or at least watch some Priyanka. You deserve it.”

“Everyone else is going home for the night. I don’t want to leave you by yourself.”

“I’m almost done here. I’ll put tonight’s deposit in the safe and go to the bank in the morning.” We usually dropped off the deposit at the bank’s night depository. For safety reasons, we always made that a two-person job.

He tossed his head from side to side. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. I won’t be far behind you. Just make sure all the doors are locked. I’ll set the alarm.”

“You’re the best boss. See you tomorrow.”

I was trying to be a good boss. “Goodbye.” I waved.

A few more people walked by and waved their goodbyes as well. Everyone was smiling, but they were all dragging their feet. It had been a night. By the receipts, maybe the best night we’d ever had.

I rubbed my tired eyes and inputted the last receipts into our POS application, then ran them against the digital receipts to make sure everything matched up. Thank goodness they did. I was so ready to go home and go to bed. Except, I hoped Brant was still awake. I at least wanted to say hi. Which reminded me, I hadn’t even had a chance to look at my phone all night. I pulled open the desk drawer where I kept my phone. I picked it up to find that I had a few missed calls and a voice message, all from Brant. Someone was anxious. I smiled to myself.

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