Page 80 of The Charade

But I shook my head and said, "Mack's birthday is in February. So his mom would have already been expecting him at the time. I'm not sure when Mr. and Mrs. Aarden got married or anything like that, but I'm sure they were together and Dr. Aarden wouldn't have cheated on his wife."

Especially since that was around the time they found out about her first brain tumor. He wouldn't have cheated on Mack's mom when they were going through all of that.

"What about the other guy in that last photo?" Ava asked, seeming to perk up at the possibility of someone besides my dad being her father. "She seemed pretty comfortable with him in the photos."

When Ava stood to grab the papers she'd dropped on the ground earlier, I went to stand next to her to see what the guy looked like again.

I studied the guy with narrowed eyes. I didn't recognize him at all, but he did have a similar hair color as the girls. And if their mom had told them they'd gotten their height from their biological father, this guy was tall enough to match that description.

"Is he in the other photos?" I asked, taking the papers from Ava.

She leaned closer to scan the images with me, and I hated that my body still reacted to her closeness. I forced myself not to think about it; instead, I focused on looking for the guy in the group photo.

"There he is," Ava said, pointing to the same area where my dad and Mack's dad were standing at the top.

"Okay, so he was probably at least friends with my dad and Dr. Aarden if he was by them in several photos," I said as I pulled the group photo up to the top of the stack. I narrowed my eyes as I looked carefully at the people sitting around the table with my dad and Mrs. Cohen. Sure enough, Mr. Aarden was on one side of Mrs. Cohen, and this mystery guy was sitting right on her other side.

Ava and I looked at each other. As if thinking the same thing as me, she said, "Any ideas on how we can find out some info about this guy?"

"I don't know. We could always call your mom and just ask her, right?" I suggested. To me, it seemed like the best way to get answers.

"She's at a really fancy charity ball in New York tonight where they’re auctioning off a few of her dresses," Ava said. "She won't answer her phone while she's there."

"Well, we can't call my dad, either, since he's still unreachable for a few days," I said.

But there was someone else who might be able to help us. Someone else who had been in all of the photos from that night, someone who might know who this mystery guy was and what might have gone down at the reunion.

"I think it's time I take you to see Mack's shack," I said. "Maybe Dr. Aarden can help us."

It was still rainingwhen Ava, Elyse, and I drove up to Mack's house in my truck. It was already eight-thirty at night and more than likely, Dr. Aarden was already in bed since he had brain surgeries that started early in the mornings. But I continued driving toward the modern-style mansion where I'd spent thousands of hours hanging out at with my best friend.

"So this is Mack's shack?" Ava asked as the second biggest house in Eden Falls came into view. She pressed her forehead against the passenger window, her mouth open as she took in the massive house that was lit up by spotlights placed throughout the beautifully landscaped property.

"This is it." I pulled around the curved driveway and parked my truck in front of the path that led to the huge front door. "Ready to go?" I glanced at Ava beside me and then at Elyse who sat behind her.

"Ready," they said together.

All three of us climbed out immediately, eager to solve this mystery. I wasn't exactly sure where Elyse stood with the whole idea of my dad being their father and me being their brother, but from how quickly Ava walked up the cement path under her sister's umbrella, I got the feeling that Ava was just as anxious as I was to prove that my dad couldn't be her father.

We could only hope that was what Dr. Aarden would help us figure out.

Under the protection of the front porch, we closed our umbrellas and propped them beside the rocking chair close to the front door. Then with my heart in my throat, I knocked.

Mack opened the door about thirty seconds later. When he saw us, he stepped back, obviously not expecting us at his house this late. "Hey, guys." He blinked his dark-brown eyes a few times. "What are you doing here?"

I cleared my throat. "We're, uh…" I scratched at a spot behind my ear, not sure I really wanted to tell Mack why we were here. Then I said, "We were hoping to talk to your dad. Is he around?"

"Oh, yeah." Mack stepped back to let us inside and then glanced behind him. "Let me go find him. I think he and my mom were just watchingFinding Your Soulmate. He'll probably be happy to get out of watching it."

I chuckled at the thought of Dr. Aarden watching the reality dating show with Mrs. Aarden. It was weird to picture a neurosurgeon watching a show where a guy dated thirty different women at once, but I guess it really shouldn't surprise me too much. Dr. Aarden was the kind of husband who would do anything for his wife—even before her cancer came back, he'd done things like that for her.

We only had to wait about a minute before Dr. Aarden appeared in the entryway, wearing a white V-neck shirt and gray sweatpants.

"Hey, Carter." He smiled when he saw me. "Mack says you and your friends needed to talk to me." He glanced at the twins with a curious expression. "Hi, I'm Mack's dad, Brendon Aarden." He held out his hand to Elyse and Ava. "I'm not sure we've met before."

Elyse shook his hand first. "I'm Elyse," she said.

"And I'm Ava." Ava did the same. "We just started going to school with Mack this year."

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