Identity Crisis(22)

Chapter Seven

Garrett had gotten lucky. He’d managed to catch Dee and Ellis between travels and meetings and wrangled an invite for dinner at Dee’s place. Well, it was just burgers on the grill, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t care so much about the food. He just needed to talk. Dee met him at the door in cut-offs and a Sportswide Extreme Adventure T-shirt. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. ‘Hope you’re hungry,’ she said. ‘Your brother believes in grilling for the masses.’

Her ease with him after everything that had happened always surprised him. She certainly didn’t hold the grudge that Kendra seemed to hold. In fact, she’d already accepted him like family. He was outrageously glad for that. Not only because he was sure she would be the dream sister-in-law, but because she had been the balm that had, in spite of everything, eased the way for greatly improved relations between him and Ellis. That had been a gift for which he could never fully repay her.

She motioned him through to the patio, where Ellis stood over the grill in faded jeans and a black T-shirt. Garrett had to do a double take. He’d so seldom seen his brother at his ease in the past few years, and he could never remember him looking so relaxed. Ellis coughed and moved out of the line of the smoke from the grill, then turned to offer his brother a smile and a wave with a spatula. ‘Hey, bro, beer in the cooler. Grab yourself one and tell us the latest.’

Dee went about the business of setting the picnic table and Garrett grabbed a beer. ‘How was Paris?’

‘Fast,’ Dee called over her shoulder.

‘And Spain?’ he asked Ellis.

‘Muy bueno,’ came the reply as Ellis returned his attention to the burgers.

‘Good. That’s good,’ he said, pacing the length of the patio, admiring the rhythm the two had fallen into with each other. He wasn’t sure if they’d worked out a plan for when to be at her place and when to be at his. He didn’t know if they’d decided where they would live after they married. He’d not had time to ask about the future since they officially announced their engagement. He needed to make time. It was important, maybe the most important thing ever – to see Ellis truly happy. But tonight, there were pressing issues.

‘Did you see Stacie before she headed off to Japan?’ Ellis asked. ‘I got an email saying she was overnighting here before she left. Plans for the new gallery seem to be moving along.’

‘No,’ Garrett said. ‘No. I missed her. So, Kendra does PR?’ The words were out before he had a chance to think about them, and suddenly he had both their full attention.

‘You could say that,’ Dee said. ‘Her degree’s in marketing and PR. After she graduated she went off to California to start her own business.’

Ellis laid the spatula down and dropped onto the bench of the picnic table. ‘That was why we were trying to head you off at the pass the other day at the engagement party.’

‘Of course, you had no way of knowing that she loves Tess Delaney novels, and certainly no one would suspect that from Kendra,’ Dee said. ‘But I don’t know anybody as tenacious as Kendra when it comes to getting what she wants, and once she found out that Tess needed help with PR, if anyone could figure how to get to Tess, Kendra could.’

‘Could and did,’ Garrett said, slugging back half his beer.

‘Shit,’ Dee half whispered. Then she dropped onto the seat next to Ellis. ‘What happened?’

‘Kendra’s going to be Tess Delaney for the Golden Kiss Award, or rather Kay Lake is. I’m going as her date.’

For a second neither Dee nor Ellis said anything. They only sat looking at Garrett as though he’d suddenly grown a second head. Then Ellis spoke, holding his brother’s gaze. ‘Garrett, are you sure this is a good idea?’

‘It’s not like I have any choice in the matter, is it? I’ve got less than a week before the award dinner and Don hasn’t found anyone but Kendra.’ He waved his hand. ‘I mean, I didn’t know K. Ryde was Kendra, and obviously Don doesn’t know either. We nearly gave each other a heart attack, Kendra and I, when she showed up at the Pneuma Annex and discovered Tess’s true identity.’

In spite of herself, Dee almost managed to hide a snigger, and Ellis was biting his lip, trying to keep back a laugh of his own. ‘That would have been a sight to see,’ Ellis said.

Garrett glared at him. Then he turned his attention to Dee. ‘Is Kendra really that good?’

‘Let me put it this way,’ Dee said, scooting forward on the bench. ‘The Shelby Mustang she drives? A gift from Devon Barnet.’