Chapter 8

 

 

Belinda sat outside Bennett's house for a minute to get herself together after pulling into the driveway. She'd been a nervous wreck the whole morning trying to get her thoughts—and entire self—in a state to go see him. Then she'd been shaky and mentally flighty all the way over in anticipation.

She could barely sleep the night before worrying what Bennett thought about the whole scene with Sawyer. She hadn't been able to tell if he was angry with her or Sawyer—or both of them—and he was distant the rest of the night and seemed distracted when they parted.

After taking a few moments to check her face in the car mirror and gather her purse, Belinda drew in a deep breath and walked into the open garage, knocking on the inside door. Bennett opened it in surprise, wearing a white T-shirt with some sort of fading brand logo written across it and jeans. They had matching dark circles under their eyes, so apparently Bennett hadn't slept well either. And he had lemon face and Sawyer was no where in sight.

She kissed his cheek, but his face was just as solemn when she pulled away. "Rough day?" she said, stroking his hair.

"Night, actually."

Belinda inhaled deeply, struggling with a way to broach the subject. She'd thought about it the whole way over, but there wasn't really a nice, discreet segue into "So, about Sawyer kissing me last night."

Before she could fumble her way into the topic, Bennett pulled away and without a word walked over to the kitchen island. Belinda followed, and when he turned around, he held out a blue and white plastic card. Belinda accepted it, flipping it over. The words Portside Inn filled one side. "What's this?" she said.

"Don't you recognize it?" His voice—and when she looked up, his gray eyes too—were rough.

Belinda looked at him warily. "No. Am I supposed to?"

Bennett's eyes constricted. "I would think so. I found it in your pocket last night—along with a note. After party. Room 12." He held up the sticky note.

When had he been in her pockets? Oh...oh, that's right. When she asked him to find the peppermint. But that still didn't explain where the card came from. "I still don't recognize it. It's not mine."

Bennett's mouth squished up as his jaw and cheekbones tightened. Sometimes it looked hot. Right then, it just scared her. He pinched the card, his voice low and raspy. "It goes to Sawyer's room."

Belinda blinked. "How do you know that?"

"It doesn't matter. Why do you have a key to his room?"

She was still pondering how Bennett knowing the card opened Sawyer's room didn't matter. "I don't." Belinda watched his eyes constrict even more. How was that possible?

"His key was in your pocket." He shook the note. "Do you think I'm a fool?"

"Bennett," Belinda said softly, and calmly considering her hammering heart. "You know I don't think that. And you know that I don't lie to you, and I'm not good at it anyway. I can't explain why that card was in my pocket last night, but I didn't put it there." She tried to think of any possible reason it ended up there. "Maybe somebody confused my jacket with theirs."

"How well do you actually know Sawyer?" His face didn't soften at all. Apparently he didn't hear or was refusing to acknowledge her probable reason for the key card landing in her pocket.

Belinda quelled her nerves. She just needed to keep her cool. "About as well as you do. You know that."

"Have you ever been in his room?"

Belinda recoiled in disgust. "Of course not!"

"Then why did you have his key card?" His voice rose.

Belinda took a deep breath. Was he not listening to her? She'd just explained why! Or, at least, offered a viable reason. "No one gave me that card, Bennett. I don't know why it was in my jacket. All I can tell you is that it doesn't belong to me and I've certainly never been in his room."

He retracted his hand, stretching taller in the same motion. "I saw you kiss him. And you admitted you went to see him at the jazz club."

Belinda shifted her weight, fighting the urge to cross her arms over her chest. The jazz club. Not her super ultimate idea of the week. "He kissed me. And I pushed him away immediately."

Bennett's eyes flashed and he pinched the note. "So you could continue later without me getting in the way?"

"What? No!" Belinda was trying hard to weigh her words, but he was making it harder and harder. Had he lost his mind? Was he on medication? Did he need to be on medication? "I'm not involved with Sawyer."

Bennett's jaw twitched.

She felt like they were just two big-horned rams lunging at each other at this point. As much as she wanted this settled now, Bennett wasn't listening to her. "Maybe we should talk about this later."

"So you can come up with a better lie?"

"No!" She sighed in exasperation. "So you'll actually listen to what I'm saying." Belinda slung her purse over her shoulder. "I'm sorry, but I don't know where the key card came from. And I think we should wait and discuss this when we've calmed down."

"I'm perfectly calm."

Belinda refrained from making a snarky comment on that. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Bennett didn't respond. Belinda took a deep breath and left.

 

Belinda left Bennett's more of a shaky wreck than when she got there. She had a gazillion things on her list to concentrate on that day, but all she could think about now was Bennett. And the key card. And the fact that Bennett somehow knew the key card went to Sawyer's room.

If he saw Sawyer after the cocktail party, did Sawyer tell him they were involved? Belinda's head steamed with that notion. But she had no idea what to do about any of it.

Her head was still a mess later that afternoon when she arrived at the music school where Victoria taught. Victoria wanted a small audience for one of her students so she could practice her piece for the spring recital before sitting in front of a full auditorium, so Belinda volunteered. As she marched up the stairs of the brick building searching for the right room, she figured it was just as well she had plans. She'd accomplished little and the distraction might do her good.

The building was technically an offshoot of her old private school campus. Though the two weren't directly affiliated, they had a long-standing professional relationship. The more gifted music students were encouraged to train here.

Belinda knew the floorboards squeaked, but she couldn't hear it for the cacophony of instruments playing around her. A violin and clarinet were the only two she could distinguish by name as she passed each closed door.

She found the room, and Victoria and her student. After a quick introduction, the girl sat down at the piano to warm up. She stretched her fingers over the keys first, her long blonde braid swaying on her back. Belinda guessed she was about ten.

The door knob squeaked and Mrs. Sykes came in. Belinda gave Victoria a puzzled look, but Victoria didn't look confused at all.

"Adrianna's mom had an appointment this afternoon," Mrs. Sykes said, shutting the door behind her. "So I volunteered to come."

"She mentioned that," Victoria said and smiled. "We're just getting started."

Mrs. Sykes beamed and gave a quick wave to Adrianna. She noticed Belinda sitting by the door, but kept talking while she joined her like she knew it all along. "Adrianna's my granddaughter."

"Ooohhh..." Belinda said. "She's amazing." Of course, she didn't actually know that yet, though she assumed as much since the girl studied here with Victoria.

"Isn't she, though? I don't know where it comes from!" She flipped her shoulder-length hair back in a way that told Belinda she knew exactly where Adrianna's Amazing Gene came from.

Adrianna finished her scales and did her finger-stretching thing again before starting the actual piece. Belinda wondered if it was more a physical or mental exercise.

Mrs. Sykes nudged her gently with her elbow. "Aidan will be at the recital, you know."

Belinda didn't know, and she struggled to come up with a suitable reply. So she said, "Ooohhh," her brand new default response. She had no clue what had become of Aidan Sykes post-high school. He was hardly even a dot on her radar then, and she thought the feeling was mutual. "I guess I'll see him at the recital."

"You'll be there?" Mrs. Sykes said innocently. "You'll get to see him then too." She smiled brightly and...knowingly.

"Too?" Belinda folded her arms to keep from grabbing her phone when it blipped. What if it was Bennett?

"He's coming in early, so he'll be at the pool party." Mrs. Sykes straightened up, very satisfied with her work. "You two can catch up."

Belinda shut her lips before she said "ooohhh" again and simply nodded like it was the most fantastic thing she'd heard all week. Not that Aidan would care to see her again either, but still. She had enough man trouble without having to dodge some mother's attempts at a setup.

Mrs. Sykes' phone rang and her face went dark. She pressed ignore and dropped it back in her purse. Belinda was just going to pretend she hadn't seen that, but Mrs. Sykes smiled and shrugged. "Albert. He likes to harass me a few times a day. Usually about the business or money—or both. He's always after me for spending too much." She smiled. "But you saw that firsthand, didn't you?"

Belinda smiled apologetically. The Sykes owned a pet boutique in Portside, which Belinda had heard was rather empty of late due to Mr. Sykes manning it because of the divorce. Speculation flew through Portside's social circles about what would become of Posh Pets once the divorce was final.

Ironically, the Sykes never owned any pets.

"I'm sorry Albert has been such a scene through this whole event." Mrs. Sykes patted Belinda's knee like she was five. "But you've been such a sport! I couldn't have pulled this all off without you."

No kidding, Belinda thought.

"You're a credit to your parents," she went on. "But you know, it's not always the kids who fail the parents. Sometimes it's the other way around."

"I'm sorry." Belinda felt like she needed to say something and that was the only response she could come up with. "About...everything."

"Don't be." Mrs. Sykes set her shoulders back. "If it wasn't for me, Albert wouldn't even have a business right now. No one in Portside would have stepped foot in our shop if I hadn't manned the front when we first opened." Her jaw tightened.

Belinda kept perfectly still, nodding and striving to look sympathetic. She had no response to any of this, and wasn't emotionally prepared to play therapist right then.

Mrs. Sykes pulled out some mints and offered Belinda one. "But no matter. It'll all be over soon enough." She smiled and went back to focusing on her amazing granddaughter.

Belinda let the mint dissolve slowly on her tongue. According to the tone in Mrs. Sykes' voice, Belinda suspected more would be over than just the divorce.

Victoria's student finished and peeked behind her shyly while Belinda clapped and Mrs. Sykes yelled Bravo! She couldn't help but be impressed by a ten-year-old playing Liszt. The girl curtsied and hugged Victoria. After a brief conversation with Victoria, Mrs. Sykes ushered Adrianna out.

"See you in a couple days!" Mrs. Sykes waved, backing out into the hallway.

A couple days? Belinda thought, seizing the break to check her phone. Hoping, maybe a little desperately, that Bennett had left that message. But it was just the newspaper reporter getting back to her about their interview appointment.

As she stared morosely at the screen, Belinda woke up to the fact that Victoria was standing right in front of her with an equally morose expression.

"What?" Belinda said, remembering what happened in two days. She was going to the Sykes to scope out their pool for the party. Ugh. Did that mean enduring Aidan Sykes and his mama's matchmaking?

"I saw Bennett," Victoria said. "At the market before I came here. He barely acknowledged me. And he looked...unhappy. Very unhappy." Victoria pinched her arm. "Man drama?"

"Man. Drama."

"What happened? You guys were just fine yesterday."

Belinda rushed through a synopsis of everything that happened at the cocktail party the night before, and Bennett's strange discovery in her jacket pocket. She exhaled. "I went to see him earlier, to explain and make things right. But he's convinced I'm having some sort of fling with Sawyer, and he won't believe I don't know anything about the inn key card." Her eyes started to sting thinking about how they parted that morning.

Victoria patted her hand reassuringly. "He'll come back to earth and believe you. Don't worry."

"How can you be sure?" Belinda felt the urge to cry coming on and she gripped her purse.

"Because you're going to prove the key card wasn't meant for you."

"How?"

Victoria pushed her playfully. "By finding out who it was meant for, goose."

"Excuse me, Nancy Drew."

"I'm serious. Listen." Victoria crossed her legs and leaned toward Belinda conspiratorially. "If we can find out the real reason behind Lily Devore's return to Portside, we can find out who Sawyer thought your jacket belonged to."

Belinda pursed her lips. "I do know Sawyer and Brooke have something going on."

"Really?" Victoria looked at her dubiously, so Belinda explained how she saw them kissing when she opened the bathroom window. It was still difficult to believe.

"But Brooke's ruled out because she wasn't officially at the cocktail party."

"Mrs. Sykes was." Victoria raised her eyebrows significantly.

"After everything, a note and key card in her jacket pocket seems a little...subtle...for them."

Victoria nodded slowly.

"Besides," Belinda said, "I doubt Sawyer would ever think my jacket belonged to her."

"Good point. So who at the party might have motive to see Sawyer, and might have a jacket like yours?"

Belinda tapped the point of her chin, mentally going through the guests. There were several models there, though she didn't remember Sawyer really engaging with any of them. That surprised her, come to think of it. He did talk to one of the assistant's at one point.

"Maybe Sawyer did mean the note for you."

Belinda shook her head. "I don't think so. Yes, he's being overly flirtatious, but I don't believe he means it to go any further than a quick kiss in the back of the art gallery. And it's almost like...like he picked me because he knows I won't want it to go any farther."

"It's kind of jerky of him considering you have a BF, thanks very much."

"I don't think he cares about consequences, at least not for me. And he already has a solid rep for being a womanizer." Belinda thought about how overly personal he behaved, but then how distant he actually seemed. Then all of his violent mood swings. She felt his attention to her was because he had an image to maintain, and that was about it.

Victoria swung her leg back and forth. "What if you did take it all the way?" Her hazel eyes sparkled wickedly.

Belinda wasn't sure she liked the sounds of that—or the look in Victoria's eyes. "What are you suggesting?"

"The damage with Bennett is done, and you need to get to the bottom of this. So...take Sawyer at his word. Pay him a visit at his room tonight. See how he reacts, snoop around."

"You don't think that will be strange?"

"Play dumb. How could you possibly know that note wasn't meant for you?"

A hum of excitement started building in Belinda's chest. Maybe if she buttered up Sawyer, humored him, he would talk. Even admit what happened with the key card and note. "I don't have the key card though."

Victoria chewed on her lip. "Get it back from Bennett."

"How?" Belinda just imagined going to Bennett and asking for Sawyer's key card. Not gonna happen.

"You have a key to Bennett's house, don't you?"

Belinda wanted to smack her forehead. "Yes! You're right."

Victoria grinned. "Good thing you have me around with my red hair instead of that blonde stuff shooting out of your head."

Belinda stuck her tongue out. "Hey, you have your moments, too." She checked the time. "He probably won't be at home now."

Victoria stood. "Then what are you waiting for?"