Page 26 of Love’s a Script (Hearts Collide #1)
Chapter Twenty-Six
“So you have no idea what it says?” Mary’s sister asked as they both stared at the manila envelope in front of them on the kitchen counter.
Mary shook her head. “I thought we should open it together.”
“I wish you’d just read it,” Hattie said, rocking her youngest son in her arms after his tearful morning.
Mary hadn’t expected the investigator to have such a quick turnaround.
It had barely been a week, but that morning when she’d gone to her car to head to work, she’d spotted the envelope under her windshield wipers, “For Mary Neilson” scrawled on top.
She’d texted her sister immediately and told her she was on her way.
“You open it,” Hattie said as she shut her eyes, so Mary tore open the envelope and spilled the documents onto the counter, sifting through them once, twice, and a final time to make sure.
“She’s real,” Mary said.
Hattie pried one eye open. “Really?”
Mary nodded, and her sister let out a long exhale and began going through the papers herself.
Aurora Pryor was in fact her real name. She was a retired ICU nurse. A divorced mother of four children ranging from twenty-nine to forty years old. She’d lived in the same home for two decades.
“She’s gorgeous,” Hattie said, studying a picture of Aurora in front of a fleet of vintage cars.
Her skin was bronzed, and her white hair coiffed.
A red lipstick highlighted her brilliant smile.
The longer Mary looked at the photo, the more she could imagine her dad, perhaps sometime in the near future, standing beside her in one of his plaid shirts he always buttoned to the very top.
“She’s real,” Hattie sang softly to her baby, who smiled with all his gums. “She’s real. She’s real. Aurora is real.”
Not only did Aurora exist, but she appeared honest. Their father had sent her money for music festival tickets and supposed home repairs after the blizzard, and included in the PI’s pile of evidence was a ticket purchase receipt for the festival and a picture of a debris removal truck parked in front of Aurora’s house which had a great leafless tree impressed into its roof.
“The PI was thorough ,” Hattie said.
Mary didn’t want to think of the powerful telephoto lens he must have used to capture the photos.
“Might hire him to find the shoes Luther keeps hiding around the house,” she said. “How much did he charge?”
“Nothing.”
“He did all of this for free?” Hattie was incredulous.
“He did it as a favor to the person who connected us.”
“Aren’t we lucky,” Hattie said. “Make sure to thank both of them.”
Mary nodded, though she would not be doing that.
Her evening talks with Ruben had come to an unceremonious end when they both just stopped reaching out.
Despite her resolve, for the last few days since, Mary would check for his missed call and wonder if the date he’d gone on was why he hadn’t so much as texted her.
Shame prevented her from asking Eden for intel.
“You want to stay for breakfast?”
“No, I have to get going,” she said, kissing her nephew’s temple. “It’s kind of a big day at work.”
Over the weekend, Mary was included in an agency-wide email from her boss, scheduling a staff meeting for that day.
So, within the next hour, she’d know if she got cruise lead or not.
She’d taken extra care with her outfit and hair that morning, and she’d planned to get to work early, but the PI’s delivery had detoured her.
She still arrived at the agency with time to spare but found that the other matchmakers, also wearing their best, had taken the good seats around the conference table.
“Finally, right?” Mary said when Eden showed up and slipped into the chair beside her.
“Eons in the making,” she replied.
Cassidy appeared shortly and commenced the meeting, filling the first half with meandering updates. Mary made sure to remain attentive, nodding and smiling. Soon, they reached the last item on the meeting’s docket.
“As promised,” Cassidy began, “I have made a decision on who will lead our inaugural matchmaking cruise event. I understand it’s been a nerve-racking wait. I thank you all for your patience.” Cassidy smiled. “Eden, I’ve chosen you for lead.”
Mary thought she’d misheard her boss, but the room turned to look at Eden, and her usually stoic colleague’s eyebrows were sitting high on her face.
“Thank you, Cassidy,” Eden said, surprise making her sound breathy. “I’m grateful for the opportunity and excited to start planning.”
Excited? Grateful? What happened to the disinterest Eden had expressed for weeks? The others clapped, and Mary dutifully joined in but wanted to shout, “Objection!”
The meeting was adjourned, and the matchmakers circled Eden to congratulate her. Mary’s stomach was in knots listening to all the cooing. When it was her turn to offer Eden some kind words, Mary pushed past her scattered thoughts to say, “Wow, congrats!”
“Thank you,” Eden simply replied, and Mary waited, hoping for an explanation for her coworker’s change of heart. It didn’t come, so on stiff legs, Mary got up and retreated to her office.
There, she paced the floor a few turns, her heart pounding, refusing to ease. She pulled out her phone, intending to text Ruben, only to remember she’d deleted his information and their messages. She fought the urge to search the recent call log for his number.
There was no one else she could reach out to, so she chucked her phone into her desk drawer.
The ugly emotions bearing down on her chest would’ve been too much for the friends on her contact list who mostly knew her as an upbeat person, and she didn’t want to freak out her sister or her dad by sending a distressed message.
Mary took a seat and flipped her head over her knees, willing the rush of blood to bring some relief. She stayed that way until there was a knock at her door.
“Sorry,” the receptionist said, peeking inside. “Your door was closed, so I wanted to make sure I could send in your first client.”
“Yes, I’m ready,” Mary responded, pasting on a big smile. “Show them in.”