Page 103 of Ten Beach Road

Thirty-five

The house was still packed with frantic designers and Maddie and Avery’s shock over Nicole’s true identity was still fresh when Chase called a halt to the day’s painting. Maddie and Avery had simmered with anger and righteous indignation for most of the afternoon, calling up instance after instance when Nicole could and should have told them the truth, expending far more time and energy piecing together the clues they’d somehow missed than perfecting their brushstrokes.

In the pool house, Maddie found Kyra on the couch fiddling with her editing equipment, a wan smile on her face. The tabloid article lay crumpled but still legible beside her.

When it was time to prepare for sunset, Maddie foraged in the refrigerator for a bottle of white wine and a beer for Chase, uwilling to try to follow in Nikki’s frozen-drink footsteps. With Kyra’s help she arranged snacks on a tray and carried them out to the pool.

“Everything feels so weird,” Kyra said, taking in the sparkling pool and the new wrought-iron patio furniture artfully arranged around it. Massive clay containers with a 1920s feel dotted the resurfaced pool deck, waiting for Renée Franklin and her gardening crew to fill them. The concrete picnic table with its mosaic top had been moved to the small porch on the west side of the house. There was no sign of their neon-colored beach chairs.

“I know,” Maddie said, setting veggies and dip and a bowl of Cheez Doodles in the center of the large round table. The new furniture was the least of it.

Kyra set down the wine and glasses, then went back inside for Chase’s beer and her own iced tea. “I can’t believe how much we can fit on this table.” As opposed to the packing box they’d begun with and the garage-sale find that had replaced it.

“It’s Brown Jordan,” Deirdre said coming out of the house with Chase. “It’s one of their newest groupings. Top of the line.”

Avery came out of the pool house showered and changed. Deirdre flashed her daughter a smile that froze on her lips when Avery looked right through her.

Nicole would have had no problem adjusting to the high-end furniture, Maddie thought as they hovered around the table not quite able to claim it as their own. She would have done more than adjust; she would have loved it. Maddie kept this thought to herself but suspected from the angry, yet baffled expressions on the others’ faces that she wasn’t the only one thinking of Nicole at that moment.

“Ahhh.” Chase reached for the lone cold beer and lifted it to his lips with a grateful sigh, then drained half of it in one long, thirsty gulp. “I needed that.” He looked around the pool area. “It’s been a pretty bizarre day,” he said. “Not to mention that we’ve lost a high percentage of our work force.” He took another sip of beer. “Giraldi’s gone, too. It kind of makes you wonder if that guy was who or what he claimed to be.”

“There’s an awful lot of that going around.” Avery aimed a pointed glance at Deirdre as Maddie poured her a glass of wine and positioned it and the bowl of Cheez Doodles within easy reach.

“Well, despite all the turmoil, it’s great to see things finally coming together,” Chase said. “With any luck Tropical Storm Bernard will fall apart before that band of thunderstorms gets this far. We probably only need another three to four days on the exterior.” He took another long sip.

Maddie didn’t know if he was actually unaware of the way Avery was looking at Deirdre or simply hoping to sidestep any further confrontations. Either way, Chase was out of luck.

“Speaking of ‘not what they seem,’ ” Avery said. “Why don’t you tell everybody why you’re really here, Deirdre,” Avery said.

Deirdre blinked. One eyebrow arched up in surprise.

“You know,” Avery continued. “You can start with how you were dropped by Lifetime and pushed aside by younger designers. Then you can explain what a boost this whole experience has been for your sagging career. And while you’re at it, maybe you can fill Kyra and Maddie in on how well you actually know Tonja Kay. Which you could use to segue into how the press found out Kyra was here and carrying Daniel Deranian’s baby.”

Kyra gasped. Chase stopped fingering his beer bottle. Maddie looked at the designer, not wanting to believe she’d intentionally exposed them, especially Kyra, to all that negative scrutiny. “Is that true?” Maddie asked. “Did you tell Tonja Kay and the press about Kyra?”

“Oh, no,” Deirdre began, but Maddie didn’t know if it was a denial or dismay.

“I happened to answer your phone today,Dee,” Avery said, cutting her mother off. “I don’t know if it was your agent or your publicist who called, but she was practically creaming in her pants over how you managed to use Bella Flora—and us—to resurrect your dead career. Apparently some things never change.”

“It wasn’t like that,” Deirdre said. Her shoulders were stiff, her hands had fisted in her lap. “I had no idea it would get so out of hand.”

The whole thing felt like some kind of train wreck, especially on top of the revelations about Nicole. Maddie wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen next, but if Avery’s accusations were true, Deirdre was not going to get off scot-free.

“You voted Nicole off the job,” Maddie said. “Maybe Deirdre needs to go, too.”

“This isnotthe Beach Road version ofSurvivor,” Chase said, making a small stab at humor.

Nobody laughed.

“Maybe it should be,” Maddie said, drawing in a breath, trying to stay calm. She had an almost overwhelming urge to reach over and wrap her hands around the designer’s neck.

Deirdre remained quiet, her expression uncharacteristically uncertain, her eyes on Avery.

“Believe me, I’d like nothing better than to send Deirdre on her way,” Avery said. “But at the moment she adds value. She brought the design community here and she’s the face they know.” She shrugged, but her smile was forced and Maddie had no doubt that what Avery felt inside bore no resemblance to her matter-of-fact tone. “Much as it pains me, I think we’re just going to have to use her. Like she’s been using us.”

Beside her, Kyra simmered silently. Despite her anger, Maddie wasn’t sure whom she pitied more: Deirdre, who seemed to have once again sacrificed her relationship with her daughter to her own needs. Or Avery, who had to once again feel abandoned and deceived.

Slipping her arm around Kyra’s shoulders, Maddie hugged her own daughter close. “I don’t understand you at all, Deirdre, but I’m putting you on notice right now. If you set those paparazzi on us intentionally and exposed my daughter to all of that nastiness, you better cut those ties right now. And you sure as hell better make sure nothing like that happens here again. Do you understand?” Maddie glared at the designer with all the menace she was feeling and none of the pity. If Maddie had been a Mafia don, Deirdre would already be wearing cement overshoes and standing at the bottom of the pool.

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