Page 40 of Enigma (Pros and Cons Mysteries #6)

TEN YEARS AGO

O live dropped her backpack by the kitchen door and slumped into her usual chair at the small wooden table. The late afternoon sun streamed through the windows of her family’s house in Oasis, casting everything in a warm, golden light that made the place feel almost . . . homey.

“How was school, sweetheart?” Her mother looked up from the flower arrangement she was working on at the counter.

In the background, Jessie and Jules chattered as they made after-school snacks, their nine-year-old voices a comforting soundtrack of normalcy.

“It was . . .” Olive paused, trying to find the right words.

At fifteen, she’d learned to be cautious about getting too excited about new places. They never stayed long enough for excitement to matter.

But today had been different.

“There’s this boy,” she said finally, unable to keep the smile from her voice. “Jason Stewart. He’s in my English class, and he actually talked to me during lunch.”

Her mother’s hands stilled on the flowers she was arranging. For just a moment, something clouded her expression—a flicker of concern or maybe fear.

But it disappeared so quickly that Olive almost wondered if she’d imagined it.

“That’s nice, honey,” her mother said. “Just . . . don’t jump into anything too quickly. We’re still settling in here.”

The familiar warning about not getting too attached.

Olive had heard it at every new school, in every new town. But this time, she found herself pushing back against it.

“I wonder what Dad would think of him,” Olive mused. “What Jason would think of Dad.”

“Why do you wonder about that?”

“Jason’s father is a doctor.” Olive watched her mother’s face for a reaction, thinking she’d be impressed.

Her mother nodded, almost as if she already knew this information, but she said nothing.

“Maybe I’ll actually like Oasis,” Olive continued, the words tumbling out before she could stop them. “The town seems nice, and so do the people at school. Jason’s really easy to talk to, and he didn’t seem to care that I’m new.”

She looked at the flower arrangement her mother was creating on the table—a beautiful display that showed no hint of the wilted stems and damaged petals Olive had watched her trim away and hide.

The lesson her mother had taught her earlier came flooding back: Sometimes the most beautiful things require hiding the messy parts.

For a moment, a strange thought crept into her mind.

What if Oasis was like that arrangement? What if the pretty surface was hiding something damaged underneath?

Olive pushed the thought aside. She was being paranoid, probably influenced by too many moves and too many fresh starts that had ended in sudden departures.

The front door opened, and her father’s voice carried through the house. “I’m home!”

He appeared in the kitchen doorway holding a bouquet of grocery store flowers—not as elegant as her mother’s arrangements, but the gesture made Olive smile.

Her parents hadn’t been fighting as much lately. The late-night arguments that seemed to be becoming routine had stopped almost completely.

“For my beautiful wife.” He presented the flowers with an exaggerated bow that made the twins giggle.

He wrapped Olive in a quick hug that smelled like aftershave and whatever he’d been working on that day, then moved to kiss her mother and ruffle the twins’ hair.

For a moment, watching her father joke with Jessie and Jules while her mother smiled genuinely at his silly gesture, Olive felt something she hadn’t experienced in years.

They felt like a normal family.

“So,” her father said, settling into his chair at the table. “How was everyone’s day?”

“Olive met a boy,” Jules announced before Olive could stop her.

“Jules!” Olive protested, but she was laughing.

Her father raised his eyebrows with mock seriousness. “A boy? Should I be concerned?”

“He’s nice, Dad. His father’s the town doctor.”

Something flickered across her father’s face—the same quick shadow she’d seen in her mother’s expression. But like her mother, he recovered quickly.

“Well then,” he said. “I suppose I should meet this young man eventually.”

As her family settled into the comfortable rhythm of sharing their day—the twins chattering about their new teacher, her mother describing her trip to the local garden center, her father making jokes that actually made them all laugh—Olive felt a warmth she hadn’t experienced in years.

Coming to Oasis seemed like the best thing that had ever happened to their family. Maybe, just maybe, this time they could stay.