Page 31 of Saltwater Secrets
“There has to be something in there,” Gina said. “Something we can use?”
“I say we go back to Aria’s place and dig around a little bit,” Xavier said, rubbing his palms together.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Aria said, her heart thudding.
Gina gave her a pointed look. “Aria, come on! You used to be so fun. And it’s not like Xavier and I will take anything from the brownstone. We’ll just, you know, try to see things from Wagner’s perspective. We’ll try to get a handle on his tremendous life.”
Aria stuttered. “He hasn’t lived there in decades. I mean, he died almost thirty years ago!”
“All the more reason it isn’t a big deal!” Xavier insisted. “He’s long-dead, but he took all his creative financial wisdom with him. It isn’t fair, is it?”
Gina nodded furiously. Aria felt backed into a corner. On the one hand, she didn’t want to return to the brownstone by herself and longed for companionship during this difficult time. On the other, she hated that Gina and Xavier acted like hyenas, circling their prey.
Was Aria the prey?
“Say you’ll do it,” Gina blared angrily. “Say you’ll take us there.”
Aria realized that this had been Gina and Xavier’s plan all along.
Aria excused herself to the bathroom and gripped the edges of the sink, looking at herself in the mirror. She needed to stage an escape plan. But when she left the bathroom, she found Gina and Xavier already at the door, waiting for her. They’d paid forher bill, apparently. How kind of them. Aria raised her chin and walked past them, her tongue burning.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” she told them. “I’m starting to feel, um, not very good.”
But Gina and Xavier remained by her side during the five-minute walk. Aria tried to shake them off, to no avail.
But when they rounded the corner and saw the brownstone, Aria’s heart leaped into her throat.
Someone was standing on the stoop, preparing to knock.
It was a man. Mid-twenties. She knew him, sort of. His face was etched with fear.
Aria realized she’d left the lights on in the kitchen, which meant that he thought she was home.
“Who is that?” Gina asked, her voice filled with wonder.
It was then that Aria came up with a strange and exhilarating plan, one that probably wouldn’t work. Maybe it was her only hope.
“Logan! There you are!” Aria cried when they reached the steps.
Logan, the man from the bagel shop, the man who’d run away from her when Renée had shown up spontaneously, demanding to know who she was, leaped around, his hand on his heart.
Aria didn’t wait for him to protest. “I was waiting for your call,” she said, hurrying up the stairs, leaving Gina and Xavier behind. “My friends walked me back, but they’re going home now. They have work in the morning. Those stocks won’t trade themselves!” At the door, she stuck the key in the lock and didn’t turn back around as she grabbed Logan’s hand, pulled him in, and slammed the door behind them.
From inside, she could hear Gina and Xavier saying terrible things about her, calling her awful names she would neverrepeat. They called her crazy. They said they never should have invited her out.
Gina said she’d never liked her, not even in college.
Aria stifled a laugh. It was strange what you learned about yourself after college. Life began, and you discovered who you really were.
She wasn’t a person who could ever be friends with Gina.
Miraculously, Logan was in the foyer with her, watching as she triple-bolted the lock.
“Are you locking me in?” Logan asked with a smile in his voice. “You know I can just undo them myself, right?”
Aria let out a soft laugh. She let herself gaze into his eyes, then remembered herself and said, “Wait. It’s really good to see you.” Her body was flushed with warmth.
She didn’t know why he was here and didn’t want to ask him. She didn’t want to chase him away again.
