Page 14 of Exposed

“Let me guess, your father-in-law is behind this?”

She pulls in a shaky breath. “I have no idea. But Bill is behind everything so I assume he is.”

I give her a squeeze. “Bill is an asshole.”

She swipes the tears from her face. “I know. He always has been.”

“I’m glad you’re here. There’s no better place to hide out than Trippy’s old house. Does she know you’re here?”

She shakes her head and looks up at me. “No. I didn’t have the energy. She’s going to go allTrippyon me.”

“Nah. She’ll go all Trippy on Silas, and he’ll deserve it. You need to call her. Willa will be the distraction you need.”

Lake nods. “I’ll call her in the morning. Don’t you dare tell her when we got here. She’ll kill me.”

I move to the counter and pop a stray SweetTart in my mouth that’s probably Willa’s since Lake hardly eats sugar. “If she kills you, she’ll do it with her new golf cart.”

Lake freezes before whispering, “No.”

“Yes. The doc told her she couldn’t drive because of her reflexes. And what does the woman who has more money than sense do? She buys herself a top-of-the-line golf cart. She doesn’t think it counts as driving because it’s battery operated. It’s the color of a flamingo. If she doesn’t kill you, she’ll kill someone else.”

Lake goes back to the stove when a pot of water starts to steam. I realize she’s dug through the pantry and found a jar of spaghetti sauce. Probably the only meal she could piece together from what I have here. “When did this happen? The doctor took her keys away two months ago.”

“I picked her up for dinner last weekend and it was parked in front of her unit. It already has scratches on it. If you answered your phone, you’d know this.”

She turns and pins me with a blue-eyed glare. “That’s a lie, and I’m going to tell Trippy.”

“Tell Grandma what?” Willa asks as she comes back into the room. “Is she coming over?”

“I’ll take you there tomorrow, baby. Trippy doesn’t drive anymore, remember?” Lake says.

I bop my niece on the head. “You can drive her new golf cart. We’ll all be safer that way.”

She looks up at her mom, not as depressed as she was two minutes ago. “Can I?”

“We’ll see. I’m not sure if I trust you around all the other golf carts in the retirement community. That’s got to be like bumper cars.”

Willa starts to chew on her cuticle. “How long are we going to be here? I’m going to miss all the back-to-school stuff.”

“I told you, we’re going to hang out with King and Trippy. It’s been too long since we made a trip to Miami.”

Willa rolls her eyes and turns away from her mom. “I’m not stupid. I heard them fighting in Dad’s office. Then we packed and left.”

My gaze shoots to my sister. “Silas doesn’t know where you are?”

“Nope,” Lake says, popping the P.

I pull in a deep breath and shake my head. “This is getting more and more interesting by the moment. I’m going to change, and then we’ll eat.”

Willa catches my forearm. “What are we doing tomorrow?”

“I’ve got something tomorrow night. But unless something comes up, Sunday should be good. Think about what you want to do and I’ll make it happen.”

Lake gapes at me. “You have a date? Like, an actual woman who agreed to go somewhere with you?”

I pause, thinking about Goldie and how she absolutely did not agree to go anywhere with me. At least not the real me.

She was coerced.

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