Page 16 (2/2)

My lanced at the laundry basket “I just put a load of sheets into the washer If you leave that here, I’ll do it later for you Hoas Hawaii? We didn’t expect you home until tomorrow”

“Haas good, but the plane ride was long Fortunately, I sat next to a guy who got off e stopped in LA, so I had more room”

“Yeah, but you were also next to Mr Tall, Dark, and Handsome” Grandma said

“Not exactly”

r />

This got both their attentions

“How so?” Grandma asked

“It’s complicated He didn’t fly back with me”

Grand finger It looks like you earing a ring when you got a tan, but you’re not wearing it no more”

I looked atoff, I hadn’t noticed a tan line

“Now I knohy you went to Hawaii,” Grandot the ring on anymore would put a damper on the celebration”

I blew out a sigh, pouredaround in , unable to find the phone in the jumble of stuff I’d crammed in for the plane trip I duh it Granola bars, hairbrush, lip balazines, a large yellow envelope, floss, ht, travel pack of tissues, three pens, and my phone

The caller was Connie Rosolli, the bail bonds office er “I hope you’re on your way to the office,” she said, “because we have a situation here”

“What sort of situation?”

“A bad one”

“How bad? Can it wait twenty minutes?”

“Twentytime”

I disconnected and stood “Gotta go,” I said to randmother

“But you just got here,” Grand”

“I didn’t elope”

I returned everything to , with the exception of the phone and the yellow envelope I put the phone in an outside pocket, and I looked at the envelope No writing on it Sealed I had no clue how it had gotten into raph out It was an 8×10 glossy of ajust past the photographer He looked like he didn’t knoas being photographed, like so with their cell phone camera and snapped his picture He was possiblyin a button-down kind of way Short brown hair Fair-skinned Wearing a dark suit I didn’t recognize the street corner or the man Somehow on the trip home, I must have picked the envelope up by mistake—maybe when I stopped at the newsstand in the airport