“No!” I yelled way louder than I’d intended to, shaking off Rafe’s restraining hand. “Just let me go, okay?”
All eyes in the place turned toward me, and I knew what they were thinking. Beale Goodman didn’t lose his temper. Beale Goodman never physically intimidated anyone. Beale Goodman was careful to use his words.
But Beale Goodman had never felt the way I currently felt either. Like I’d been fooled and betrayed. Like anger and helplessness were bubbling inside me, and I was coming out of my skin—
“I’ll see you guys later.” I turned and slammed my way out the door.
—like all the words in the Universe wouldn’t be enough to explain things, let alone fix them.
13
Toby
Help Me Hagatha
(Unsent)
Dear Aunt Hagatha:
I lied to my boyfriend and I feel like shit. Do I come clean, or—?
Still Me in Whispering Key
Dear Me,
You don’t actually have a boyfriend, Toby. Probably because you lie to people. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Consider a new career, maybe, and stock up on ice cream,
Other-Toby
“Trey, I laid out all the chafing dishes under the tent and labeled them, just like you suggested.” Maddie McKetcham, who’d declared herself my party-planning protégé, bounced on the balls of her feet and made her ponytail sway.
“Excellent.” I jotted this down on my clipboard. “Who’s hanging the bunting?”
“Me,” Juju Irvine yelled from a ladder. “I threaded it with the twinkle lights, just like you said.”
“Perfect.” I checked off a box. “Alright, coolers—”
“Got ’em, boss,” Littlejohn said, coming out of the guesthouse with two giant bags of ice. “Cleaned and filled.”
“Wow. You guys are doing gr—”
My phone rang, and I winced when I saw Jeanette’s name on the display.
Some idiot had possibly—misguidedly—called in to work this morning after Beale left, hoping for a casual chat with my editor so I could see whether HiWire had gotten any closer to connecting Tattooed Tommy from the tabloids to real-life me, and had possibly—also misguidedly—left my new phone number on her voicemail. She’d called back almost immediately, but in the intervening period I’d had a quick panic attack and realized I didn’t really want to know what anyone knew, so I’d declined the call.
It was too much to hope that she’d give up easily, though.
“Hey, Trey,” Littlejohn said, jogging over. “I don’t want to freak you out, but I think we have a problem.”
“Okay?”
“We’ve got the food tables.”
“Yes.”
“And the gift table.”
“Under the tent in case of rain. Right.”
“And we have a table for the drinks.”
“Yep. With you so far. What’s the problem?”
“Two words, man.” He looked at me expectantly.
“Am I supposed to guess them? Is this… charades?”
“Trey, man.” He motioned with his two hands like he was showing me the future. “Body. Shots.”
I blinked, tilted my head, then blinked some more. “No, sorry. Still not getting it.”
“You know, where people lie down, and…”
“I’m familiar with the concept, LJ.” From college bars, mostly.
“Well, where are we setting them up? Or is this like… a body shot free-for-all?” He snorted like he couldn’t imagine such a thing.
Before I could answer, Jeanette called again, and my heart rate spiked as I declined the call. Two calls in two minutes? Not good.
“I… really don’t know what the body shot protocol here is, LJ, but in general, I think housewarmings are a non-body-shot occasion in most parts of the world, but—shit,” I muttered as Jeanette called a third time.
“Everything cool, Trey?” LJ frowned.
I silenced my phone and gave Littlejohn a smile. “Yeah, totally. Just my boss.” I rolled my eyes. “You know how it goes.”
“Mmmm, nope. Put all my money in bitcoin back in ’09 and cashed out in ’17. Ain’t worked a day since.” He winked, and I stared at him. “But just remember, you need anything—money, fresh passport, SpaghettiOs—I’m your guy. M’kay?”
I blinked and shook my head, amused and weirdly moved. I’d never had anyone offer me a fake passport before. “Yeah, Littlejohn. Okay. Thank you.”
He clapped me on the shoulder just as Jeanette called again, and I motioned at the patio by Mason’s house. “I’d better get this.”
I walked a few feet away before engaging the call. “Jeanette! Oh my God, honey, how have you been this week? Are you languishing for want of me?”
“Tobias—”
I could tell from that one word that she was none too pleased, so I hurried on. “Sorry about the confusion earlier. I called you, then I was suddenly busy all morning. And, um, afternoon. And honestly, I’m still busy, but I didn’t want you to think I was ignoring you when—”
“Tobias, stop. Patricia in HR got a call this morning asking about you by name: Tobias Elford. Someone wanted to confirm your employment.”
Ah, motherfucker.
“Did they? Ha. Well. Good gracious. I’m… I’m… I’m stunned, that’s what I am. The lawlessness. The fraudulence! I—”
“Tobias, need I remind you that you are under contract with HiWire for five more years? It’s a contract that cannot be broken unless you are convicted of murder, and even then, I’d find you.”
“Well, yes, darling, I’m aware.” I frowned, genuinely bewildered as to where she was going with this.
“We traced the phone number back to BlazeNewz, so either you’re planning to jump ship and take the column to Blaze, which would imply you’d broken your nondisclosure agreement, or else you somehow managed to leak that you’re Hagatha, and would also imply you’d broken the NDA. Which is it?”
“Orrrrr, door number three, someone’s checking my identity for a totally separate purpose. HiWire is my legal employer of record on my credit report, you know.”
“Hmm. Well, Patricia refused to confirm your employment, in any case. So, while I’m giving you reminders that you might find pertinent to your life, let me remind you that we are all sunk if your identity gets out. Ratings would plummet. No one wants advice from a middle-aged man with no partner, no children… not even a pet.”
Middle-aged? That was low.
“Ah, Jeanette. You are a ray of sunshine lighting the cold and empty darkness of my existence. What would I do without your constant encouragement? And for your information, I have recently acquired a pet.” Temporarily. “She’s a cat. Her name is Marjorie. She’s feral.”
“Hmm,” she said dubiously. “You have so much in common. Anyway, just remember what I said, alright? You need HiWire.”