Page 22 of Sing with Me

Nice girl?“What would be a nice girl to you, Mom?”

Mom seemed taken aback by the question, even though he wanted to know what she was thinking.

“Well, for one thing, a nice girl wouldn’t be living with her boyfriend in Positano while her husband worked in Atlanta.”

“What? That was a long time ago. She confessed.”

“Nope. Two weeks before she drove off the cliff, she met him again. Apparently they had revived their friendship—or shall I say, relationship.”

That got Diehl’s attention. “Did you say two weeks?”

“Zeta told me that the man’s wife has a fortune. Isobel was only his mistress. He was never going to marry her.”

“You said girlfriend. Now you said mistress.” Diehl was glad he was sitting down.

“He was estranged from his wife. When she found out about Isobel, she was livid and threatened a divorce—which meant he would get nothing due to their prenup.”

“Is all this information just now surfacing?” Diehl had stopped paying attention to news about Isobel because none of them mattered. Isobel was still dead.

“Zeta said the Italian police is not letting up. By the way, they think the brakes to the Huayra didn’t work that day.”

Diehl was too stunned to speak. “It’s been a year.”

“Well, new information can always surface over time.”

“True.”

“She’s suing the man,” Mom added. She refused to say his name.

“Luigi?” Luigi Bellini, the other man whom Isobel couldn’t let go of. They had met in college about the same time as she had met Diehl. However, he had gone home to Italy shortly after graduation, which led Diehl to believe it was over between Isobel and Luigi when she married Diehl.

She nodded.

“Mom, suing won’t bring Isobel back.”

“Now Zeta wants paternity tests for Elisa and Ethan.”

Paternity tests.

Mom’s words rang in Diehl’s head and kept him up all night. He hardly slept a wink.

He got up in the middle of the night and went downstairs to get something to drink from the refrigerator. On the countertop was a printed menu of the next day’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On top of the page, it said, “Skye’s the Limit Personal Chefs.”

Diehl drank some milk as he read the menu. Read and not read. He stared at the menu, yes, but all he saw was Skye’s face. Why?

He was sure he wasn’t falling in love with a sort-of stranger the first time he had a day of interaction with her. Or was he?

To be fair to Skye, she was more of a stranger to him than he was to her. According to Brinley, Skye attended the same Women’s Bible Study, and they both went to the same church. Brinley trusted Skye. One proof: Skye had the key to the beach house.

Trust had been an issue for Diehl. As messed up as it had been, he hadn’t trusted any other woman beside Isobel. Look how she let him down!

Diehl wasn’t certain he could trust another woman again.

Perhaps his sister’s trust of Skye was only professional. Skye had to stock the refrigerator ahead of his arrival. Since getting here, he had been keeping odd hours. He attributed that to being on instant vacation mode. Sleep until noon. Eat breakfast at lunch and whatever.

Diehl went back upstairs to try to sleep.

Sleep did not come.

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