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“Mom, you have to be careful.”
Valerie sat with her arms crossed, glaring up at her mother from the back seat of Brad’s cop car. Brittany seethed in the front seat, her eyes glued to the Keating House, which glowed with yellow warmth, the very portrait of a “before” photo, as though the universe already knew Brittany was about to storm inside and tell Nicole the truth about the person she’d fallen head over heels for. They’d already been in the driveway for a good three minutes, as Brittany wanted to consider what to do next. Perhaps obviously, she hadn’t come up with a solution besides “storm in and curse Evan Snow once and for all.”
“She has to know who she’s involved with,” Brittany muttered menacingly. “She didn’t grow up here. She doesn’t have the background history on the Snow family. How could she have known?”
“Okay, let’s not jump the gun right now. All we know is this,” Brad tried. “You spotted him at the auction where your wardrobe turned up a week after it was taken from you. That doesn’t necessarily mean he was the culprit.”
Brittany cast him a glance that was about as good as a wordless threat. Brad shrugged and added, “There’s a whole lot of reasonable doubt. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Well, he still owes us an explanation,” Brittany blurted, tossing her weight into the car door and darting toward the front porch, where she yanked open the door and rushed into the warm air of the foyer.
Inside the living room, the rest of the family was in the midst of a slightly-drunken round of charades. Entering it was like walking into a beautiful family sitcom, one where all the silly problems were wrapped up in a tidy bow by the end of the final scene.
Heather was in the midst of acting out her charade as Brittany gallivanted in. Tipsy, she flung her arms out to greet Brittany, crying, “She’s back! Tell us everything! Did you catch your thief?”
One after another, Kristine, Bella, Nicole, Abby, and Casey turned back to eye Brittany curiously, several with salty snacks lifted to their lips. Brittany felt like the sideshow at a circus. She nearly crumbled to her knees with fatigue.
She wouldn’t embarrass Nicole in front of her entire family. It was too much.
“Nicole, do you mind if I talk to you for a moment?”
Besides a simple twitch of her eyebrow, Nicole maintained a cool and calm demeanor, proof of her long hours as a chef. “Of course.” She grabbed her glass of wine and stepped lightly around the couch, waving a hand toward Heather. “You can keep going, Heather. I don’t think anyone’s going to guess what it is with you doing that endless flailing of your arms technique, but you can keep trying if you want to.”
Heather stuck out her tongue playfully, even as her eyes glittered with curiosity. “Do you girls have secrets to swap?”
“That’s right,” Nicole teased right back. “You’re not invited.”
Brittany closed both doors that led to the kitchen, latching her and Nicole in tight. The kitchen was thick with smells of roasted duck, baked brownies, buttered asparagus and spilled wine. It was intoxicating. Brittany grabbed a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass as, outside, she heard both Brad and Valerie enter the Keating House, greeting everyone with bright hellos.
“You’re kind of freaking me out,” Nicole finally admitted, leaning tenderly against the counter as Brittany chugged one-quarter of her glass in a single go.
“I’m freaking myself out, too,” Brittany admitted. “But we’ve just had a whirlwind of an afternoon.”
Silence filled the space between them. Brittany marveled that she’d only just met this woman a few years before— that their story was entirely too short and would remain so. Nicole adored Evan Snow. With Brittany’s news, would Nicole retreat away from Brittany, targeting her unconsciously as the reason for her fledgling relationship’s downfall?
“The wardrobe was my wardrobe,” Brittany affirmed with a rasp. “Which was exciting and exhausting, all at once.”
“That’s fantastic news,” Nicole offered. “You’re having it shipped back?”
“Yes.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Brittany swallowed the lump in her throat. Nicole’s eyes widened as the tension between them grew.
“I might faint if you don’t tell me soon.”
“Evan was there,” Brittany blurted. “Evan was in the corner of the auction, and when I tried to approach him to ask him why he was there, he fled. He literally ran away from me.”
All the color drained from Nicole’s cheeks. She looked like a deer in headlights. Complete shock swept across her face. “What are you talking about? Why would Evan be at an antique auction?”
Brittany’s nostrils flared. Would Nicole actually tell her she didn’t believe her? Would Nicole side with Evan over family?
“I don’t know. All I know is, when I asked him the other day if he’s still in contact with Conner, he acted very strange,” Brittany whispered. “It was like he knew something. And then he shows up at the place where my wardrobe was being sold off? Whatever it adds up to, it doesn’t look good for Evan.”
Nicole’s hand tightened around the stem of her wine glass. After a pause, she drank it back, gulping down the rest, and placed the glass back on the counter with a terrible clank.
“Can Brad drive me?” Nicole demanded suddenly.
“Nicole... It doesn’t have to be now.”
“No, it does have to be now,” Nicole told her pointedly, rushing toward the kitchen door to press it open. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe I always do this.”
“What do you always do?” Brittany asked, suddenly terrified of the monster she’d created.
Nicole snapped her eyes back to find Brittany’s. “I always date the most horrendous of men. It’s like a unique talent I have but don’t want. I should be given an award.”
Nicole darted down the hallway with Brittany hustling behind to keep up with her. When she reached the doorway to the living room, there was the picture of Nicole pointing a finger toward Brad, demanding, “You good to drive? We’re headed to the Snow Estate.”
Brad’s eyes darted toward Brittany’s. Valerie groaned and placed her head in her hands.
“What’s going on?” Heather demanded. “Why are you going to Evan’s right now?”
“It’s a long story, Heather,” Nicole replied flippantly. “I’ll tell you another time.”
“Wow, okay!” Heather cried as Nicole flashed toward the coat rack, grabbing her coat and whipping it across her shoulders.
“Don’t take it to heart,” Valerie said hurriedly. “Mom just broke her world in two.”
“We’ll be here when you girls get back,” Casey said, scowling with worry. “But then we’ll need an update on everything. You understand?”
Not wanting Nicole to have to sit in the back by herself, Brittany piled in beside her and watched as Nicole’s cheeks twitched violently, matching her whirling thoughts as they drove out to the Snow House. Brittany could see so many of her own thoughts about Conner echoed back in Nicole’s expression.
Would they ever be able to trust anyone, ever again?
Was romance ever worth it?
Was the world out to get them?
Brittany had never actually been on the other side of the thick iron gate that wrapped around the Snow Property. When they reached it, they discovered, to her sincere surprise, that the gate was wide open. Had Evan Snow let down his defenses? Did he think he was now indestructible?
When they parked closer to the mansion itself, Nicole pushed herself against the door, attempting to get out. Brad and Brittany, both explained it didn’t work like that, that you had to wait for it to be opened from the outside. But Nicole’s anger made it difficult for her to understand.
Up at the front door, Brittany watched in awe as Nicole brought out her jangle of keys, one of which slipped easily in the keyhole. Had Nicole and Evan’s relationship reached such heights? It was a big deal to get a key— a big deal to make that step. Brittany’s stomach clenched with sorrow. Were women like she and Nicole always doomed to make the same mistakes?
The foyer of the elaborate Snow Mansion was shadowed, dark, with only the sinister carvings of various old-world statues peeking their heads out from far corners. Nicole stormed through the foyer, making her way down a hallway, daring both Brittany and Brad to catch up.
When they reached Evan’s study, however, they found the desk gleaming with lack of use, all folders stacked and organized, and the laptop black.
“Where is he?” Nicole growled.
“We don’t have to go through the whole place,” Brittany tried, even as Nicole bucked back, darting down the hallway and toward Evan’s top-of-the-line gym, where, apparently, he sculpted his body in front of an enormous television screen.
“His cars...” Nicole muttered, rushing again down the hallway and toward one of Evan’s three garages, where he kept some of the ritziest vehicles in Bar Harbor: a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, a Mercedes Benz, and another vintage vehicle from the fifties, which he’d occasionally driven through Bar Harbor’s yearly Fourth of July parade. Brittany had always thought this to be reckless. Bar Harbor detested the Snow Family. Who was to say they wouldn’t destroy his vehicle, throw milkshakes in his face, or ridicule him in some other way?
Of course, this was Bar Harbor, a family-friendly society where it was expected you do the right thing, no matter what.
Nicole rushed through the door between the main house and the first of the garages with such severity that Brittany half-expected the door to swing off it’s hinges. With the door wide open, they discovered that for one-half of this particular garage, a vehicle had been removed, and a wide, cavernous space allowed refuge for two beautiful, old-world antiques... an Italian-made sofa from the early twentieth century and the gorgeous desk that Valerie had hand-selected for the collection. The Chinese Chippendale.
Evan Snow stood alongside the antiques, his face surly, his arms crossed over his chest. His expression reflected back no sign of surprise. In fact, he seemed as though he waited for them to come.
“Evan.” Nicole stopped dead between the doorway and the antiques, her voice wavering only slightly.
She’d learned a thing or two since her narcissistic husband had left her.
She’d gained some confidence that would serve her.
“Evan... I don’t even know what to say to you. Except... How could you? How could you do this to my family? I trusted you. Even after so many people warned me about you— I trusted you.”
“Nicole...” Evan tried his voice in warning.
“And to think of it. You’re Evan Snow! We’re literally standing directly next to your Lamborghini. And you decide to go out of your way to steal this woman’s entire inventory of antiques, right when she’s on the brink of redesigning her life!”
“Nicole...” Evan interjected.
“Don’t you dare ‘Nicole’ me,” Nicole snapped, raising a finger to wag in his face. “I can’t believe I thought for a minute that we were actually headed somewhere! That we were going to have a future together! That we...”
“Nicole! Dammit. I didn’t do this!” Evan finally erupted. He looked like a boiling pot of water, bubbling over the sides and spilling out across the stovetop.
Nicole snapped her lips shut, shocked at his volatility and his answer. Brittany and Brad hustled on either side of her as Evan’s eyes scanned them.
“If you didn’t do this, why did you run away from me at the auction today?” Brittany demanded.
For the first time, Evan Snow looked hesitant and frightened. Stuttering, he slipped his fingers through his dark hair and answered, “I went there on a hunch, okay? I was still trying to put the pieces together. And I wasn’t sure what I’d seen yet. When I spotted you, I panicked and ran out.”
“A likely story,” Nicole spat.
“I swear.” Evan cleared his throat and added, “I had a tracker on my brother Elijah’s vehicle. And I followed that tracker to the auction.”
Nicole’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding.”
“I’m not.” Evan grabbed his phone, flipping through the apps to show the tracker’s location, which remained there at the warehouse where Brittany had seen him earlier that afternoon. “But I didn’t see Elijah anywhere. He must have tricked me somehow. I don’t know. But when I got back home, I found these here.”
Evan then pulled open the top drawer of the wardrobe as Brittany shrieked, “Be careful with that! It’s older than your mansion!”
But before she could hurl another insult about Evan Snow and his money, Evan showed her what lurked inside the drawer.
There sat a big white piece of paper on which someone had drawn a huge smiley face.
“That doesn’t prove anything,” Nicole blurted. “Anyone could have drawn that.”
“The paper looks new,” Evan pointed out. “If it had been in this wardrobe for a number of years, it would have been yellowed.”
“There could be another explanation,” Nicole added.
“Listen. Believe me or don’t believe me. All I know is, I tried to track down my brother, I couldn’t find him, and came home to these antiques in the garage.”
“But why did you start to track your brother in the first place?” Brittany demanded.
Evan’s eyes dropped toward the ground. He seemed to struggle with his answer but soon articulated it, still unable to meet Brittany’s gaze.
“I have a hunch he’s hanging out with Conner again,” he said simply. “And you’re right, you know. He’s the only one who could have been involved in this. He’s the only one who has it out for you. And my brother’s always up for madness, whatever it is. He gets off on getting away with stuff. The thing he hasn’t reckoned for, I guess, is that I’m not a full-blown member of the Snow family any longer. I’ve been shown a different way to live.”
Evan finally lifted his gaze toward Nicole. His eyes echoed back adoration, even love.
“Why should we believe you?” Nicole asked, her voice wavering dangerously.
“Again, you don’t have to,” Evan told her simply. “But I want to help you if you’re open to that.”
Brittany turned to find Brad beside her with his hand wrapped tenderly around his chin as he contemplated the current scenario. Brittany surprised herself, touching his shoulder.
“What do you think, Officer?” she asked.
Brad shook his head. “I’m going to have to get a statement from you down at the station, as you’ve been found with stolen inventory.”
“I understand,” Evan told him.
“Other than that...” Brad heaved a sigh of disbelief. “If you have some idea of where to go from here, Mr. Snow, I’m all ears. I have a hunch that Brittany’s ex-husband is trying to make her crazy, even from afar. And I won’t stand for it.”
“Neither will I,” Evan affirmed.