CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Pru Dunhill looked left, then right, seemed satisfied that no one was paying her any attention, and then walked into Wanda’s Wig Salon.
Jake and Holly, sitting low in Jake’s parked car across the street, stared at each other. Holly’s mouth dropped open.
“Why would a woman with gorgeous, long, thick blond hair need a wig?” Holly asked, narrowing her eyes. “Unless she wanted to be in disguise.”
“Let’s just keep our eyes peeled on that store,” Jake said. “Don’t take your eyes off the door. That’s how I lost her the last two times.”
No one entered or left for over ten minutes. Finally, a woman came out. She had long, curly brown hair and black sunglasses.
“Jake,” Holly said, sitting up, “That’s Pru! I recognize her shoes. She went in wearing knee-high black boots with laces up the back, and that woman is wearing those boots.”
“You’re right,” Jake said. “The hair and outfit are totally different, though.”
Pru had gone in looking the way she always did, in a very expensive designer outfit. Now, she had wild hair—the brown wig—and she wore a tight red shirt and a denim miniskirt. There was even a tattoo on her thigh, just above her knee.
“Does Pru Dunhill have a tattoo?” Holly asked, incredulous.
“Not that I know of,” Jake said.
“Well, she’s going through an awful lot to alter her appearance,” Holly said. “And my guess is that’s because she’s about to do something awful to Lizzie or one of us and doesn’t want to be caught!”
“It is suspicious,” Jake agreed. “I have a feeling she’s going to meet her mystery man. Let’s follow her.”
Jake and Holly got out of the car and trailed Pru down Troutville Plaza from across the wide boulevard. They watched Pru stop dead in her tracks and suddenly turn to face a store window. She was staring at a display of drugstore items on sale.
“What the—” Holly began. “Why is Pru so interested in dishwashing liquid all of a sudden?”
“Look who’s coming up the street,” Jake said, gesturing.
Mrs. Dunhill, walking Louis, her butler a few paces behind, was headed right for Pru. Pru seemed to be holding her breath. Mrs. Dunhill passed right by her own daughter.
Pru turned around as her mother passed by and let out a deep breath. Then she continued walking, picking up her pace.
“Jake, she’s headed Down Hill!”
“She seems to be,” Jake said, frowning. “Holly,” he added. “I think you should head to Lizzie’s and let me handle this.”
“No,” she said. “We’re in this together.”
“Holly, I have no idea what we’re walking into.”
“That’s why I’m not letting you walk into it alone,” she said.
“You were always very stubborn,” he tossed back.
“Takes one to know one,” she retorted.
“Okay, now I know we’re back in high school.”
“Is she going into the auto body shop?” Holly asked. “She’s heading straight for it.”
“Without a car,” Jake said. “Interesting.”
“What the heck is going on?” Holly asked, doubting that Pru Dunhill would enter an auto body shop even if she were driving a car in need of work.
“Let’s go in,” Jake said.
Troutville’s Auto Body Shop was a large operation. Jake held open the door for Holly, and they waited in front of the reception desk for the woman sitting there to finish her telephone conversation.
“Could you hold on, hon,” she said into the phone, then placed it against her chest. “Yeah?” she asked.
“Did you see a brown-haired woman come in just a minute ago?”
“A brunette?” the receptionist asked. “There’s a brown-haired guy who works here.”
“No,” Holly said, “A brown-haired woman. Long, curly brown hair, wearing a skirt and high heeled, knee-high boots. You couldn’t possibly have missed her.”
The young woman wrinkled her face at Holly. “Well I must be blind, then, because I didn’t see her. No brown-haired woman came in here.”
“But we just saw her walk right through that very door,” Jake said, pointing at the glass doorway.
“Look, I gotta finish this call,” the woman said. “If you need a car fixed, let me know. Otherwise, I can’t help ya.” With that, the young woman went back to her call.
And Jake and Holly went back to scratching their heads.
How could Pru Dunhill, in a getup like that, not be noticed? And more, how had she managed to vanish into thin air?
After a half hour of hanging around outside the auto body shop, waiting for the woman formerly known as Pru to make an appearance, Jake leaned against a tree and let out a long breath.
“I know that Pru is a smart cookie,” he said, “but when she begins to outsmart me—or you, actually, one of the smartest people at Troutville High—something is seriously wrong.”
Holly smiled. “Don’t worry, Jake. It’s not that Pru’s smart; it’s that she’s shrewd. There’s a difference.”
“Maybe so, but her shrewdness has us loitering in front of an auto body shop.”
Holly glanced at her watch. “Let’s go get something to eat and talk this out. Between the two of us, we’ll figure out what game Pru is playing. And we’ll beat her at it.”
Jake’s stomach rumbled at the mere mention of food. “No wonder I can’t figure out how the most visible woman in Troutville disappeared into thin air. I’m starving.”
Holly laughed. “C’mon. Let’s go have burgers at the best burger joint in Troutville.”
Jake grinned and led the way across the street to Morrow’s Pub, where in addition to two frosty sodas, the most delicious hamburgers in Troutville and a basket of golden onion rings, they received hugs from Holly’s Aunt Louise.
“Aunt Louise,” Holly said, “Have you noticed a flashy young woman with long, curly brown hair around here lately? Perhaps with a tall, muscular guy wearing a cap?”
Louise refilled their mugs from a pitcher of soda. “Funny you ask. A couple of weeks ago I did see a flashy gal with long blond hair with a guy wearing a cap. And then just a few days ago, I saw a brunette with the same guy.”
Jake and Holly exchangd glances. “You saw the same guy with a blonde? Are you sure?” Jake asked.
“Very sure,” Louise said. “I was about to walk inside the pub when I noticed a young couple walking down to the railroad tracks. A woman with beautiful, long blond hair, white-blond, like Pru Dunhill’s.”
Holly almost gasped. “Pru Dunhill? Was it her?”
“I don’t know,” Louise said. “The couple wasn’t facing me. But I don’t think it was Pru. I mean, why in the world would Pru Dunhill be walking along the railroad tracks Down Hill with a mechanic from the auto body shop next door?”
Jake and Holly looked at each other. “How do you know it was a mechanic? Jake asked, sitting on the edge of his seat. “And which one was it?”
Louise shook her head. “Can’t tell you which guy it was—as I said, the blonde and the guy were facing away from me, but I know it was a mechanic because I recognized the dark blue jumpsuit and the cap.”
The cap! Jake thought. Pru’s mystery man at the reunion had been wearing a cap.
“Tall guy?” Holly asked, clearly thinking the same thing. “Muscular?”
Louise nodded.
“Were they arguing?” Jake asked. “Could you tell anything from their body language?”
“If they were arguing,” Louise said, “I didn’t hear. They were too far away, almost by the tracks when I spotted them. From their body language, I wouldn’t say they seemed friendly. Well, maybe the blonde. She touched his arm a couple of times, and he sort of pulled away. I don’t know—maybe they were arguing.”
“And then you saw the same guy a few days ago with a brunette?” Holly asked.
“Yes, and it was strange because I saw them in almost exactly the same place, down by the tracks, almost hidden from view. I saw them for only a moment, though, before they disappeared around the bend.” Louise smiled. “Hey! Is this official private investigator business?”
“Just might be,” Jake said.
Two businessmen entered the pub, and Louise excused herself to lead them to a table.
Jake leaned back in his chair. “Well, at least we now know we’re not crazy—we did see Pru walk into the auto body shop. And now we know why—her mystery man works there.”
“Okay, so we’re not crazy, but I, for one, am more confused than ever!” Holly said. “We saw Pru as Pru, not in disguise, at the reunion with the mechanic—at least, we’re pretty sure it was him, from Aunt Louise’s description of him. They were arguing. Then, Aunt Louise saw them a few weeks ago, and this time, Pru was trying to get friendly and the mechanic wasn’t buying. Then Louise sees Pru in disguise as the brunette with the mechanic just a few days ago, but she couldn’t tell if they were arguing or not.” Holly let out a breath. “What the heck is going on? Who is this mechanic? And how do he and Pru know each other?”
Jake polished off the rest of his burger. “And how do he and the brunette know each other? Does the mechanic know it’s Pru in disguise?”
Holly shrugged. “Okay, let’s try some possibilities. Let’s say that Pru wanted to hurt Lizzie and her friends and needed a hired thug. I could see her going to a Down Hill guy and offering a pot-load of money to do her dirty work.”
“But would a Down Hill guy hurt Lizzie Morrow? Lizzie’s loved Down Hill. She works in Morrow’s, where everyone knows her. It doesn’t add up.”
“Especially a mechanic who works at the shop across the street from Morrow’s,” Holly added.
Jake took a sip of soda. “And, where does the disguise fit in? Why is Pru meeting the mechanic as herself and in disguise, as well?”
Holly shrugged. “I don’t get it.”
“Okay,” Jake said. “Let’s say that Pru isn’t our culprit. Let’s say she didn’t hire this mechanic to scare Lizzie out of marrying Dylan. What reason would she have for arguing with him? What could their relationship be?”
“Well, we can discount romance,” Holly said.
“Although, our lady did protest a bit too much,” Jake reminded her. “Remember how vehemently she denied that she was dating anyone?”
“That’s true,” Holly said. “But you don’t really believe Pru Dunhill would be dating a mechanic, let alone one from Down Hill!”
“The odds are a million to one,” Jake agreed. “And, anyway, when we saw them at the reunion, they were anything but lovey-dovey. And when your aunt saw them, same thing.”
“So what is their relationship?” Holly asked. “No matter how I try to figure it out, I come up with nothing.”
“Me, too,” Jake said. “Think your Aunt Louise would mind getting involved in some official private investigator business?” Jake asked.
“I’m sure she’d be thrilled,” Holly replied. “What are you thinking?”
“Louise could go over, tell that prize of a receptionist that she’d like one of the mechanics to have a look at her car, that it’s making a funny sound. And that one of the guys did some work on her car last year and he was so good she’d love to have him work on her car again, but she forgot his name, could she take a peek at the mechanics; she’d know him right away.”
“Good idea,” Holly said. “We’d get an ID and his name.”
Jake nodded. “Mystery man no more. And perhaps I’ll do a little undercover interviewing of our guy and see what I can get out of him. Something along the lines of, ‘You lucky devil, I’ve seen you around town with not one, but two Troutville lovelies.’”
“Pru as herself. Pru in disguise. Same guy.” Holly shook her head. “Arg! What is her game?”
“We’ll find out, Hol,” Jake assured her, pulling some bills from his wallet. “I promise you that.” Without thinking, he laid his hand atop hers, startled for a moment by how soft hers was.
“Jake Boone, you’d better not be thinking of paying for that lunch,” Louise gently scolded. “You know your money is no good in here.” Louise’s gaze stopped on their hands, and Jake could tell she tried to hide her smile.
Holly slipped her hand away, but not before she acknowledged how very good it felt to have his warm, strong hand on hers.
Later that night, as Jake and Holly were parked outside the Dunhill Mansion in a rented car, hoping, praying, waiting for Pru to make an appearance so that they could trail her again, Holly found herself staring at Jake’s hand, resting on the wheel. The same hand that had rested on her own just hours earlier.
Suddenly, the thought of that hand on her face, on her neck, around her waist, touching her, came to her unbidden. She willed herself to think of anything but, yet instead of thinking about Jake’s touch, she started feeling his touch. Well, imagining feeling his touch.
She sighed.
“Thinking about the case?” Jake asked, glancing over at her.
Her cheeks pinkened. If only you knew, she thought. “Um, yes,” she said. “I hope Pru makes an appearance soon.”
Lie. Total lie. Holly could sit in Jake’s car forever. For most of the time they’d been waiting outside the mansion, they’d sat in companionable silence. She was so aware of him sitting so close to her. So aware of his muscular legs. Those hands. Those shoulders, so close to her own. The clean, soapy, warm, male scent of him.
Get a grip, Holly, she scolded herself.
At that moment, the front door of the mansion opened, and Pru Dunhill came out.
“There she is!” Holly said, nudging Jake in the ribs.
“Thanks for making it easier, Pru,” Jake said. “She’s dressed as herself tonight.”
“Perhaps her disguise is in her overnight bag,” Holly noted, eyeing the small black duffel bag Pru had slung over her shoulder.
They watched her walk down the path and head toward the Volvo instead of the Jaguar she preferred to drive.
“Off we go,” Jake said, trailing Pru’s car down the street at a safe distance.
“She’s headed to Down Hill,” Holly said. “Back to the auto body shop?”
“We shall see,” Jake said.
She didn’t head to the auto body shop. She drove to the parking lot at the Down Hill square, turned off her car’s lights and ignition, and then tucked her hair up inside a hat and slipped on the sunglasses. She got out of her car, slinging the duffel bag over her shoulder, and ran into the public restroom near the playground.
“Why do I doubt she suddenly has to use the facilities?” Jake said.
“Yup, I have a feeling our brown- or red-haired rock-and-roller is going to emerge.”
Ten minutes later, she did. As Pru Dunhill came out of the women’s restroom, Holly’s mouth dropped open. The brown wig was teased a bit wilder, the makeup a little heavier, the skirt a little shorter. Pru looked like a Down Hill babe on her way to a hot party.
Pru threw the duffel bag into the trunk and grabbed a small purse, then she crossed the parking lot and headed for the auto body shop. There was a skip in her step.
Or so it seemed, Holly thought Pru was going toward the shop, but it wasn’t the shop she was headed for.
“Oh, God, Jake,” Holly said, panic rising. “She’s headed into Morrow’s Pub! For someone about to do some dirty business, Pru sure seems cheerful. Is she going after Lizzie’s mother?”
“Let’s go in,” Jake said.
They got out of their car and raced to Morrow’s. “Wait, Jake,” Holly said. “Maybe we should spy through the window first, find out what she’s up to.”
“We don’t have to be careful,” Jake said. “She has no idea that we’re on to her. Just be mindful of not staring at her or acting any differently. You’re just Holly Morrow, stopping into your aunt’s pub for some dinner.”
He was right. Okay, Holly-girl. Deep breath and head on in. Act naturally.
“Just remember that, in disguise, she has no reason to get nervous about us being in there,” Jake whispered to Holly. “And it’s perfectly natural for us to be here. Nothing will happen to your aunt while we’re there, Holly. I promise you that.”
Holly took a deep breath. “Okay, Jake. Let’s go.”
The moment they walked in, they were greeted at the door by Lizzie’s mom and given the best seat in the house, near the window overlooking the back garden. Pru was sitting alone at a table for two, facing toward the wall. She’d exchanged the sunglasses for regular glasses, leopard-print red frames. Holly had never known Pru Dunhill to wear glasses.
“She seems to be really studying the menu,” Holly noted.
“Or pretending to,” Jake commented. “If she noticed us come in, she’s giving nothing away.”
Pru ordered a pitcher of beer, a platter of buffalo wings and an order of nachos. Nothing that the elite Miss Dunhill would ever consume normally.
“What is going on?” Holly whispered. “I assume she’s meeting the mystery man, but it’s looking more like a date.”
Jake shrugged. “Things are getting weirder by the minute.”
The door opened and an attractive man, early thirties, Holly figured, wearing a mechanic’s jumpsuit with the name tag Dan on the chest pocket, glanced around, smiled at the sight of Pru’s back, and then sat down at her table.
The mystery man!
“Jake,” Holly whispered, “That has to be our guy! He’s the same height, same build. Put a baseball cap on him, and he’s our guy!”
“Perhaps,” Jake said, confusion on his handsome face. “But he’s also a good guy.”
“You know him?” Holly asked? “Who is he?”
“Dan Martin,” Jake whispered, leaning close. “He was a couple of years ahead of us in school. He’s definitely one of the mechanics at the auto body shop. He handles imported cars, the fancy ones, like our gal there drives. I’ve played poker with him a few times. He is a good guy. If he’s involved in hurting Lizzie and her bridal party, I’d be absolutely shocked.”
Holly seemed to absorb all that. “I wish we could hear their conversation.”
“I think we should go say hi to my old buddy,” Jake said. “I want to see who he introduces us to. And how she reacts.”
Holly smiled. “Good idea.”
They acted as though they were heading to the jukebox. “Dan Martin?” Jake asked. “Is that the best poker player in town sitting right here?”
“One and the same,” Dan said, smiling.
Holly quickly glanced at Pru and smiled. Pru was looking up at Holly and Jake with a pleasant expression on her face and as though she’d never seen them before in her life.
Pru Dunhill was one heck of an actress.
“It’s been a long time,” Jake said to Dan.
“Yeah, because you’re driving American and are a terrible poker player.”
Jake laughed. “Dan, this is Holly Morrow. Her aunt Louise owns the place.” He looked at Pru, waiting for an introduction.
“Well, Jake, meet Suzy, love of my life,” Dan said, taking Pru’s hand. “We met just a week ago and can’t get enough of each other. Suzy, this is Jake Boone. He’s a private investigator.”
Suzy? Holly thought. What is Pru up to?
Pru smiled at Jake and Holly. “Nice to meet you,” she said in a high-pitched voice.
If Holly wasn’t one hundred percent sure this woman was Pru Dunhill, she wouldn’t have recognized her. Aside from the wild wig, tinted eyeglasses, and rock-concert-esque outfit, she wore glittery eyeshadow and lots of pinky-red lipstick.
“And this is Holly Morrow,” Jake said. “Nice to meet you, too, Suzy.”
Pru offered a small smile. “You, too,” she said in a voice that wasn’t her own. Had Pru been taking how-to-disguise-your-voice lessons?
What the heck was going on?
“Well, good seeing you, Dan. Nice to meet you, Suzy,” Jake said, and then, smiles and pleasantries over, they headed back to their own table.
“They’re holding hands, smooching over the table,” Holly said, incredulous. “I don’t get it. Blond Pru and Dan argue and fight, yet redheaded Pru and Dan are in love?”
“Let’s just chow down on some wings and listen in and hope she gives something away,” Jake said.
Two baskets of wings later, Holly’s stomach so full she couldn’t even take another sip of her soda, Pru Dunhill had given nothing away. For an hour, Pru in disguise had had the time of her life, talking, kissing, even dancing to a couple of songs on the jukebox. No one recognized her.
“You’re sure he’s a good guy?” Holly whispered. “No chance he’s a thug in disguise? Hurling stones through bridal shop windows, leaving nasty messages on walls and lawns?”
“I’d bet just about anything on it,” Jake said. “He’s the real deal.”
“Then how could he like her?” Holly asked.
Jake smiled. “She’s not ‘her,’” Jake pointed out. “She’s Suzy.”
Holly glanced over at where Suzy and Dan were sharing a wing between their mouths. They each bit closer and closer until they were kissing.
The front door opened and in walked Dylan and Lizzie. Holly saw Pru freeze, then pretend great interest in the scarred tabletop.
Dylan waved at Jake and Holly, then stopped dead in his tracks. “Pru? Little early for Halloween, isn’t it?”
Holly held her breath.
Pru said nothing. She slid the menu closer to her face.
“Pru?” Dylan said, tweaking the menu down with his finger.
“Who’s Pru?” her date asked, an expression of confusion on his face.
“I’d know my baby sister anywhere,” Dylan said, grinning.
Pru glared at her brother.
“Suzy, I didn’t know you had a brother,” Dan said. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Suzy’s boyfriend, Dan Martin.” Dan stood and shook Dylan’s hand. “Aren’t you Dylan Dunhill?”
“Guilty,” Dylan said.
Dan looked from Pru to Dylan. “You’re a Dunhill? I thought your last name was Morelli.”
Pru let out a deep breath and took off her glasses. Then she took off the wig. Her blond hair was in a tight low bun at the nape of her neck.
“What the hell—” Dan began. “You’re Pru Dunhill?”
She gnawed her lip, then nodded slowly. “I brought my car in when it was having trouble and you barely gave me the time of day. So I decided to become someone more your style, and you fell for me immediately.”
Dylan, Lizzie, Jake and Holly all stared at Pru.
“Look, I’m not getting this at all,” Dan said, visibly upset. “Are you playing some sort of game?”
Pru shook her head wildly. “Dan, when I saw you for the first time, I—I fell completely in love. That’s never happened to me before. I’ve never had that kind of reaction to any man before. I saw you and then I watched you work for a little bit and it was like I had the wind knocked out of me. I tried to flirt with you, but you weren’t interested.”
“And I made that perfectly clear the night I ran into you at your high school reunion,” Dan said. “I happened to be in the Troutville Plaza Hotel that night to have a drink in the bar with an old friend who was there for the reunion, and you came barging in, interrupting. ‘Come talk to me, Dan. Come have a dance with me.’ I told you I wasn’t in your class and didn’t feel comfortable crashing the party, and you thought I meant your class as in your station in life. That’s how snobby you are, Pru. I meant your class in school.”
“Dan, I—”
“But you wouldn’t give it up. You made up a story about seeing someone passed out drunk in the woods to get me out there with you, and then you tried plastering yourself against me.”
“I didn’t think you’d be able to resist,” Pru said, her eyes downcast.
“Pru, I admit you’re a beautiful woman. But I found you and your style very resistible. Yet still, you wouldn’t give up. You threw a little tantrum in the woods, throwing rocks to emphasize your point. You were like a child. That’s Pru Dunhill.”
Ah, the famous fight in the woods. Now that it all made sense, it was still hard to believe.
“No!” she cried. “It isn’t! That isn’t me. Oh, God, I don’t know. Maybe that was me. But it’s not me anymore. Since I met you—”
“Since you met me you’ve been lying, Pru,” Dan said. “What about the next time you came to the shop? You made up a lie about your car dying near the railroad tracks so that I would come with you. You lied through your teeth!”
That must have been the day when Aunt Louise had seen Dan and Pru—not in disguise—walking down to the tracks.
“Oh, yeah, like lying would really make you appeal to me,” he said, exasperated.
“Let me finish, please,” Pru said. “I knew I’d blown it that day, and I didn’t know how else to get you to give me a chance, so I came over to the shop looking a lot different to see how you’d react, and you asked me out right away.”
“So you are a lie. One big lie.”
“No!” Pru said. “I’m the same person! Just different clothes and hair!”
“But everything you’ve represented to me is a lie,” he said, standing up. “What a dupe I am.” He stalked out the door.
“Thanks a lot, Dylan!” Pru screamed. “Thanks for ruining the one good thing I had going!”
Before Dylan could utter a word, Pru had also stalked out the door. Dylan, Jake and Holly raced after her, but she’d peeled off in her Volvo, leaving skid marks.
“Okay, that was really weird,” Dylan said. “My sister is in love with a Down Hill mechanic and has been pretending to be a Down Hill woman named Suzy? I thought I’d seen it all these past few weeks, but this is really crazy.”
“Wow,” Lizzie said, dropping into a chair.
Dylan, Jake and Holly joined Lizzie at the table, shaking their heads in wonder.
Holly and Lizzie were about to turn in for the night when the doorbell rang. Holly parted the living room curtain and glanced out to make sure the security car was still parked across the street. It was. She nodded at Lizzie.
“Who is it?” Lizzie said, shrugging at Holly.
“It’s Pru.”
Holly and Lizzie exchanged glances as Lizzie opened the door.
“I know it’s late,” Pru said, back to looking like herself. “But I’d like to talk to you if that’s all right. The both of you.”
Lizzie nodded. “Of course. Come in.”
Pru declined offers of tea or soft drinks, but Holly made a pot of tea anyway. When she returned to the living room with a tray, Pru and Lizzie were seated at opposite ends of the sofa, their hands folded in their laps.
Holly wasn’t sure who looked more nervous.
“I just wanted to drop by to ask a favor,” Pru said. “I would appreciate it if you would keep what happened this afternoon to yourselves. It’s worth a good deal of money to me, so”—she removed her checkbook from her wallet—“just tell me how much would be enough to guarantee no one hears about it—especially not the Troutville Gazette.”
“Pru,” Lizzie said. “Put your checkbook away. If you want us to keep mum about today, asking is all you need to do.”
“Why would you keep quiet for nothing?” she asked. “What’s in it for you?”
“Nothing,” Lizzie said. “Holly, what’s in it for you?”
“Nothing,” Holly repeated.
“Why would you do me a favor?” Pru asked. “I’ve been nothing but mean to you. To both of you.”
“How we treat people is a reflection of us, not other people,” Lizzie said. “Just because someone is a jerk to us doesn’t mean we have to be a jerk back. That’s not who we are.”
“Fine,” Pru said. “So I have your silence. You swear.”
Lizzie nodded. Pru looked at Holly, and she nodded as well.
“Fine, then,” Pru said again. “That’s all I came to say, then.” She got up, slid her purse on her shoulder and walked to the door. But she simply stood there, facing the door, not moving, not saying a word. And all of a sudden she started crying.
“Pru?” Lizzie said softly.
“What am I going to do?” Pru said, covering her face with her hands. “What am I going to do?”
Lizzie and Holly exchanged glances.
“I love him,” Pru said, still facing the door. “I love him so much.”
“Pru, how about you come back over here, sit down and have that cup of tea,” Lizzie said.
Pru turned around. “Maybe one cup. Do you have herbal?”
“I’ve got good old Lipton,” Lizzie said.
“I guess that’ll be fine,” Pru said as she headed back to the couch. She sat down, eyed Holly at the other end of the couch and then Lizzie as she poured hot water into a mug. “Must seem crazy to you two, huh.”
“That you fell in love with someone?” Holly asked. “Someone from a different walk of life?”
Pru nodded.
“Not so crazy,” Holly said, smiling. “It happened not so long ago to someone very close to me. “It did seem crazy at first, unbelievable, until I realized that love is love, no matter who you are, where you come from, what you do. Magic is magic. And sometimes what you have in common has nothing to do with outer trappings.”
“Magic,” Pru repeated. “That perfectly describes how it is between me and Dan. But now he hates me. He won’t return my calls, he won’t answer his door. I’ve lost him.”
“Well, he’s probably just in shock,” Lizzie said. “Once he has a night to digest it, he’ll probably be willing to hear you out.”
Pru nodded. “I hope so.”
“Pru, I’d like to ask you something,” Holly said. “If you’ve been in love with Dan these past few weeks, if you’ve learned yourself how love works, how your brother could have fallen in love with Lizzie, then why have you been so cruel?”
Pru looked down at her feet. “Part of it is wanting to keep up a front, protecting myself from how I feel, I guess. Maybe that’s what it’s always been about. Protecting myself from I don’t even know what. It’s why I’ve pretended to be so crazy about Jake. I mean, he’s a great guy and sexy as hell, but I thought he was a safe cover for me. Especially because my mother likes him so much.”
Wow, Holly thought. That’s a heck of a lot of trouble to go through.
“Pru, I’m going to ask this just once and then never again,” Lizzie said. “Has it been you who’s been trying to sabotage my relationship with Dylan?”
She shook her head. “Not me. And it’s not Arianna, either. I’m sure she’s on the top of your list of suspects after me and my mother.”
Lizzie nodded.
Pru stood. “Thanks for the tea.”
“You don’t have to rush off,” Lizzie said. “We’re pretty good listeners if you need to talk.”
“I just feel like being alone,” Pru said. “Maybe take a drive and think about what I’m going to say to Dan tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Holly said. “Good luck.”
Pru offered a weak smile. “Thanks. I’ll need it.”
Lizzie walked Pru to the door. “Just out of curiosity, Pru, are you going to tell your mother about Dan?”
“A few days before he proposes,” Pru said. She winked at Lizzie. “I think Dylan had the right idea there.”
Lizzie smiled, they said their good nights, and as Lizzie closed the door behind her future sister-in-law, she shook her head in wonder. “A day ago, I wouldn’t have thought there was even a possibility that Pru Dunhill and I could ever be civil, let alone friends.”
Holly smiled. “There’re a lot of strange happenings going on in this town.”
Lizzie laughed. “That’s the understatement of the year.” She dropped down on the sofa and leaned her head back. “I’m beyond relieved that it’s not Pru or Mrs. Dunhill or Arianna who’s been trying to ruin my life and my friends’ lives. But then, who is? I’m out of guesses.”
“I don’t know, Lizzie,” Holly said honestly. “But I do know Jake is working on the answer around the clock.”
She nodded and let out a deep breath. “The wedding is set,” Lizzie said, “and I don’t have anything but a bridal party and a groom.”
“That’s pretty much all you need, honey,” Holly said. “The reverend is still set, and you can wear one of the prettiest dresses in your closet.”
“That’s true,” Lizzie said. “I guess it doesn’t matter what I wear so long as the people I love are right there with me.”
Holly squeezed her cousin’s hand.
“And at least we’re telling the psychopath that he or she hasn’t won,” Lizzie said. “Dylan and I are marrying despite their best efforts to keep us apart or drive me out of town. Maybe once we’re married, the psycho will just admit defeat and leave us alone.”
Holly nodded a hopeful smile, but she wasn’t so sure that would happen.
The doorbell rang. Lizzie and Holly practically jumped out of their seats.
It was Pru Dunhill again.
“I’m sorry to barge in on you like this,” Pru said, “but, um, well you said I could come by if I needed to talk, and ...”
“And we’re glad you did,” Lizzie said, shooting Holly a perplexed look. “Were you able to talk to Dan?”
Pru nodded. “I reached him from my cell just sitting in the car. He wants to meet at Morrow’s Pub tonight and he wants me to come as me.” Pru suddenly burst into tears. “But I can’t do that. When I’m with Dan I’m Suzy. I’m not Pru Dunhill. And it’s fun being someone else. Someone who can do and say and be whatever she wants.”
“Pru, you do say and do whatever you want,” Holly pointed out.
Pru shook her head. “It might seem that way, and I’m not trying to come off as the poor little rich girl, but being so rich and beautiful and perfect and envied comes with a cost, too.”
Holly tried not to burst into laughter. She exchanged a glance with Lizzie. “Pru, why don’t you tell us what it is that you like so much about being ‘Suzy.’”
Pru smiled. “I love being able to dress in rocker-babe clothes and have wild hair. I love being able to drink a beer. I love being able to be sweet and nice and lovey-dovey with Dan and his friends. I’m an entirely different person when I’m Suzy.”
“Pru, why can’t you just try to incorporate Suzy, the person you want to be, into who you are now. You can be whoever, whatever you want—you’ve seen that. So just be Suzy. Get some more fun clothes, play with your hair, be sweet and nice. That’s all you have to do. You don’t have to pretend to be someone completely different.”
“I’m not sure I can change,” Pru said. “I wouldn’t know the first thing about changing.”
“I would,” Holly said. “And so would Lizzie. It’s tough, but in the end, you just might get what you really want.”
“So it’s worth it?” Pru said.
Lizzie nodded. “Don’t you think, Hol?”
Holly thought of Jake. She’d changed too late to get what she wanted.
“Yes,” she said. “It’s worth it even if you don’t get what you want.”
The wedding plans changed even more dramatically. Instead of the big church wedding that Lizzie had always dreamed of, the ceremony was now scheduled to take place under very tight security at Dunhill Mansion tomorrow, a day earlier than planned. Instead of two-hundred-and-twenty-five guests, all of whom had accepted the invitation, only family and close friends would attend. And instead of being warmly greeted by the bride and groom and their families, all guests—and the bride and groom—would be subject to intensive security checks of their persons and possessions before they would be allowed entry into the house.
Mrs. Dunhill had been surprisingly agreeable about hosting the wedding at her house; she’d made the arrangements with the reverend and hired a wedding planner to quickly turn her ballroom into a flower-and-gazebo “garden” and her kitchen into a makeshift catering center. She’d also personally called all the guests who were essentially being “uninvited” to inform them of the change.
Apparently, a grandchild with married parents meant a lot to Mrs. Dunhill.
As Jake made the last of the calls to ensure the security force would be in place, he swiveled around in his desk chair and stared out the window down onto Troutville Plaza.
In two days, Holly would be leaving.
Once again, he was Troutville and she was not. Ten years ago, it had been easy to let her go because of her dreams. He’d wanted her to realize them all, to be happy. To find the life and home that she’d always dreamed of.
But now, letting her go wasn’t so simple. There was unfinished business. And there was the little matter of his feelings for her.
How do I feel? he asked himself. Part of him loved her like crazy. And part of him knew he’d never be what she was looking for because he was Troutville.
Then again, if Pru Dunhill could fall in love with a Down Hill mechanic and change her entire being for him, anything was possible.