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“I’d like you to help me with the business side, too. I used to have your dad to talk out the finance stuff, and now it’s all on me. I can do it, but sometimes it’s nice to have another opinion.” She handed Meg the store credit card. “There’s more than enough room for the postage on this.”

Meg took the card and tucked it in her jeans. Then she packed up the boxes of mailings she’d organized yesterday. Her mom had made a dent first thing this morning, but she’d need at least two trips with the canvas-sided wagon. Hopefully, no one would get in line after her.

When she returned to the store after the final trip, she took Watson out for a short walk. Her mom had ordered lunch for them. They sat on the couch, with Watson sitting at the edge of the table, watching them unwrap the hoagie-style sandwiches.

Mom sipped her soda and focused on Meg. “What’s on the schedule for the rest of the day?”

“Not much,” Meg admitted. She was waiting to get Natasha’s report on her meeting with Uncle Troy and to hear from Dalton about his chat with Emmett about his involvement with Meade.

But her mom didn’t need to hear about that part of her life.

“I’ve finished returning all the wedding gifts, so I don’t have anything left on my failed marriage to-do list. Well, except for getting the engagement ring into a safety-deposit box. I probably should do that later today.”

“I thought you left that at the Seattle apartment?” her mom asked. She hadn’t agreed with Meg leaving the ring. She’d thought she should keep it. It was a gift. “Or is that what Romain was here for on Friday? To give it back? It’s more of a classy move than I would have expected from the man.”

Meg smiled. Her mom had finally realized that she and Romain were over. “He brought it over early last week and left it at the apartment with the rest of our travel money fund. I guess he felt guilty that I’d left it there.”

“Well, he should feel guilty. Taking that other woman to Italy and all but leaving you at the altar.” Mom sniffed. “It took a bit for me to accept how it all turned out, but your aunt Melody said she’d never liked him. Not one bit.”

“You always have the ‘hope springs eternal’ mindset,” Meg told her mom.

And given the blush on her mother’s face, Meg wondered how well the bookstore was doing.

She’d make sure they did a full review and projection sometime next week.

She didn’t want her mom to lose the bookstore. Then where would Meg work?

She hurried home with Watson, then left him at the apartment while she biked down to the bank with the ring and her documents.

She’d looked up what she needed for a safety-deposit box after Romain had dropped off the ring.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her neighbors, but they’d had the ring appraised during the purchase, and she knew it was valued in the low five figures.

She wouldn’t get all that on the secondary market, but she’d get enough.

Now she needed to figure out what she wanted to spend the money on.

A down payment for a house? Probably, but she needed to finish her degree and start a career before she did anything like that. For now, the ring could sit in a box.

When she got the paperwork all set up, she was escorted into the vault and the bank clerk opened her new box.

She took the ring, a pearl necklace, and a few documents out of her purse.

Her passport, Social Security card, and original birth certificate all went into the box.

Then she placed her grandmother’s pearls in and finally reached for the ring box.

She opened it and stared at the diamond as it sparkled in the bright light of the vault.

It was what she’d wanted. Marquise cut. Platinum band. Simple yet stunning.

It was too bad the ring didn’t match the relationship. She closed the box and put it with the other items. Somehow, having a real safety-deposit box made her feel like an adult. More than having an apartment of her own or paying the bills ever had.

This said she was successful enough to have things that needed protecting.

As she walked out of the vault, she saw Emmett Harding sitting at a desk with someone from the bank. Since he wore a suit, she wondered if the man was a loan officer. Was Emmett dealing with the loan from Meade? Or with Meade’s estate now?

As Meg stood staring at Emmett, the bank clerk, who had followed her out of the vault, came to a stop next to her. “Anything else we can help you with?”

Meg realized she was standing there, watching the activity at the front of the bank. No, she didn’t look suspicious at all. She smiled and shook her head. “I was thinking about the safety-deposit box. Now, the payment and renewal will come out of my checking account, right?”

The woman, who had explained the process to Meg not more than ten minutes ago, smiled, but her expression looked pained. “Exactly. It’s all on those papers I gave you. If you want to come over to my desk, I can walk you through it again.”

Meg shook her head. “I’m good. But thank you.”

With one last glance at Emmett, Meg walked out of the bank. Before she got on her bike and headed home, she pulled up the pictures on her phone. She scrolled through them, looking for the one of the registration of Emmett’s boat.

It wasn’t there. Dalton had deleted it from her phone.

The question was why.

She texted him to see if he was working or had time to talk. No response. Finally, she climbed on her bike and headed home.

She wasn’t sure why, but right now, she had the same feelings as when Romain had called her from the airport as he was leaving with Rachel. Had Dalton betrayed her, too?

Meg pedaled harder as her mood grew fouler. She hadn’t heard back from Natasha. Dalton was ignoring her text. And her mom might be in trouble at the bookstore. Monday was turning into a horrible day. Not to mention the time-share meeting with Irene.

Maybe she should hang out at the apartment tonight and watch movies with Watson.

Instead, when she got home, she turned on the renovation channel for Watson, then pulled up her laptop to her “Sleuthing Guide for Amateurs” document. She’d started an outline, but she decided if she started writing the text for the book, she might see what she was missing in Meade’s murder case.

She started the first chapter by talking about her love for Nancy Drew books.

The why behind her love for sleuthing. She wrote about the investigations she, Natasha, Dalton, and, for a while, Junior had carried out in middle and high school.

She pushed away her negative thoughts about her brother and her friends as she wrote.

Then she talked about her life. How she was a start-and-stop kind of person and had tried a lot of new things that hadn’t worked out.

And how, in her mind, that made her the perfect person to be an amateur sleuth.

At least until she could convince someone to pay her for the work.

Then she started writing about the death of Robert Meade III. Her first section was just the facts. Where he was killed. How. And she even included Natasha’s involvement, her driving him to Lilly Aster’s place. Eventually, she’d change all the names.

Watson nudged Meg with his nose, and when she glanced up at the clock, it was almost six.

She grabbed his leash and took him outside.

She hadn’t brought her phone down with her, so she had no idea if Natasha had texted her.

Her uncle’s truck was in the drive, but the house was dark, and her aunt’s car was gone. They must have gone out for dinner.

She made her way back up to the apartment and started turning on the lights. She locked the door, and Watson, once off his leash, went to drink again from the water dish. It was a never-ending cycle for him. She checked her phone. No missed calls or texts. She texted Natasha, Everything okay?

She watched as three dots appeared on her phone’s screen, letting her know that Natasha was crafting a response. Sorry. The bakery was slammed today. I’m fine. Talk later?

Meg texted back an okay, then set the phone down. “Your aunt Natasha never wants to chat about bad things. We’ll give her some space, then make sure she comes to the bookstore on Thursday.”

Watson wiped his wet mouth on the rug, then jumped on the couch to continue binge-watching HGTV.

Meg looked in the fridge for something to make for dinner.

She decided on shrimp pasta with the vegetables that her aunt had added to Meg’s shopping list. Cooking was one of her little pleasures.

Although she cooked only for herself on most nights, even when she had lived with Romain, tonight she felt the loss of being part of a couple more than usual.