Page 54 of No More Secrets

It is. All of it: the lack of furniture, the length of her stay, her questions. He really isn’t sure what to make of her.

She shrugs. “I’m just here for the week. As for my things...” She glances around the room. “I travel light.”

“Huh.” He did, too, when he found himself here, which makes him wonder if she’s running, too. From who and what?

He picks up the toolbox and tucks the stepladder under his arm. “Unless there’s anything else you need, I’ll see you around.”

She shakes her head, but he only makes it to her door. “Will I see you at Ivy’s tonight?”

“She making dinner?”

Zea nods, walking to the door. “Everyone’s invited, I’m told.”

He grunts, his standard nonanswer, and leaves her apartment. He filled his dinner-party quota for the year last night. He makes it halfway down the stairs when she calls out, “Bring your niece.”

He looks back over his shoulder, catching her watching him. She quickly puts on a smile and waves.

25

At the end of her shift, Shiloh turns over her clipboard to Ivy.

“Wonderful.” The old woman flips through Shiloh’s notes from behind her desk in the little office off the stockroom. Other than the desk and chair, there isn’t much room for anything else but a trash bin and a safe.

Shiloh’s eyes round as she considers what’s locked inside. Visions of money stacks and jewels circle in her head.

“You did well today. I’m proud of you.”

“Uh... thanks?” Her gaze swerves back to Ivy.

Ivy smiles warmly. She puts her elbows on the desk. “How are things?”

She frowns. “What do you mean?”

“With your uncle. Everything going well?”

“Um, yeah.” She fidgets with the cord in her hoodie, tugging one string then the other until the hood shrivels into a tight ball of material behind her head.

“I imagine it must be tough being away from home.”

“Not really.”

Ivy frowns. “You don’t miss your mother?”

“I do,” she admits in a flat, monotone voice, her heart aching for the mom Harmony was before she got into drugs. But she can’t reflect on that now, remembering she needs to stick to the story she and Lucas invented. “I meant I visit Uncle Lucas all the time. This isn’t the first time I’ve been away from home.”

“Really?”

“Why just last month we went camping in Zion—”

“Last month?” Ivy interjects.

Shiloh’s stomach bottoms out at her gaffe. “Last year.” She laughs it off. “We went to Zion last year.”

“I thought you hadn’t been. That you two are going this summer.”

Shiloh shuffles her feet. Ivy heard that? She remembers telling that story to one customer yesterday while wrapping a sandwich but didn’t think it was while Ivy was there. Obviously she screwed up.

A nervous chuckle. “You’re right. We are. This summer. Going there. Is there anything else you need me to do? Because if not...” She jabs a thumb over her shoulder at the door behind her, anxious to leave before she digs herself into a ditch. “I’m going to go.”