Page 72 of Secret Spark

“Sadie and I were having breakfast.”

Pleasure replaced wariness as Greta gradually smiled. “Sadie. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Hi,” Sadie said. Delight danced through her. Joan had talked about her!

“Greta’s one of my oldest friends.” Joan raised her eyebrows at her pal.

Hmm. Greta was very pretty, and looked to be in really good shape, and had perfectly round nails tipped with black polish, and a couple of unique rings.

And a penetrating gaze she fixated on Sadie. “You’re wondering if Joan and I have slept together,” Greta said. “We were on and off for a while but make better friends. I have no interest in her. She likes you a lot.”

Joan ducked her head in embarrassment, but Sadie grinned. “That’s refreshingly candid,” she said. “Thanks. I appreciate honest people.”

A look passed between the friends. Was Greta part of the found family, like Perry?

“How did you two meet?” Sadie asked. “Through work?”

Greta burst out laughing.

Joan thought for a moment, then said, “We met at a gym where we were both working out.” She chuckled. “Oh man, I just rememberedthat’swhy I started saying I work at a gym. That was the origin of my fake job.”

Sobering, Greta said, “Wait, you know about…”

“That I don’t work at a gym,” Joan said.

“What?You told—” Greta darted a glance at Sadie. “You know?”

Sadie nodded and started to say the secret was safe with her, but Joan interjected, “This isn’t the place to talk about this.” She waved her hands at the hallway. “And Sadie has to get to work.”

“My real job,” Sadie joked.

Joan touched her arm. “If you want to grab your stuff, we can head out. Let me make sure my alarm is reset. Grets, we can talk in here.”

She went inside her apartment. Greta eyeballed Sadie as she followed. Well, sure. The secret identity was a huge deal. She didn’t blame Greta for being nervous.

Sadie walked back to her place and took an extra minute to dump out their experimental beverages and rinse the dishes. She didn’t have to leave for work quite yet and figured the friends needed a bit of time.

When could she introduce Joan to her friends other than Amit and Nyah? Would they agree on the gym job as a cover? Would they have to postpone plans because Joan might have to thwart evil?

She swiped on ruby-red lipstick, then grabbed her keys and phone. The vindictive pigeon lounged on her balcony in a sliver of sunlight. “Sure, now you show up,” she told the sky rat. “Now that Joan’s not here to scare you off.”

She was halfway to Joan’s apartment when the door swung open. Joan looked half worried, half irritated. Greta held back a smile, eyes bright like she’d been laughing hard enough to cry.

“All set?” Joan said, a touch too chipper. “Mark’s on his way over. He can drive you to work.”

“All of us,” Greta said. “I want to talk to Sadie, too. This iswaybetter than I could have imagined.”

After an awkwardly quiet elevator ride, they hit the lobby. Joan put her sunglasses on and murmured to Sadie, “Sorry about this.”

“I want to get to know your people,” Sadie assured her.

A sporty blue car screeched to a stop in front of the building. Greta opened the passenger side door to usher Joan and Sadie into the tiny backseat. In the driver’s seat, Mark was wearing sunglasses similar to his sister’s.

“Hey, Cute Neighbor Sadie,” he said. “I didn’t know you’d be joining us.”

“We’re dropping her off at work,” said Joan.

“It’s a coffeehouse, right?” Greta peered over her shoulder. “Why don’t we all go and have a snack and chat?”

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