Page 76 of The Fallen Man

“OK, but who is she?” asked Evan.

“Over a month?” demanded Aiden, looking thoughtful. “That’s got to be Miss Mindblowingly Nice.”

Dominique turned to look at her brother. “Who?”

“The day you and Evan got your subpoenas, Jackson came home from a night out. He said she was mind-blowing, but he wasn’t going to see her again because she was too nice for him.

“Why is our cousin an idiot?” demanded Dominique. “Although, this does make sense. I thought Marissa was just being a wench.”

“It may make sense to you, but we’re going to need more thanMarissa is a wench,”said Evan.

“Marissa Shaw from Junior League,” said Dominique. “She asked about Jackson a few weeks ago. Said she bumped into him at a coffee shop, which sounded like bullshit. And then she had the gall to ask about his schedule. She said she didn’t think he was serious about the model-girl he had his arm around, which sounded like a heaping pile of elephant-sized dung to me because—in order of objections—Marissa is married, Jackson doesn’t like models, and he never puts his arm around anyone except us.”

“Yes,” said Theo, sadly. “I believe that, like Mrs. Deveraux, he is a very affectionate person who has been trained not to show it in public.”

Dominique froze as she considered this. Her grandmother was distinctly not a hugger. What did Theo know that she didn’t?

“Well, that makes me sad for both of them,” said Max.

“Yes,” agreed Theo.

Dominique looked frantically at Evan and Aiden. They also looked immobilized.

“Well, we can’t go around hugging people in public,” said Dominique. “Then people would know that we had feelings.”

“OK,” said Max. “And now I’m just generally sad.”

“That’s because you have feelings,” said Aiden.

Dominique reached out and grabbed Max’s hand, and he squeezed it back. “OK, but basically, what we’re saying is that he’s seeing someone? A model-type someone who likes coffee, but who is nice?”

“Yes,” agreed Theo.

“That’s what I’m hearing,” said Evan.

“Well,” said Dominique, “I guess I could like someone who likes coffee. I drink coffee-based drinks sometimes.”

“Pretty sure that’s not her only personality trait,” said Evan.

“Well, I’m trying,” said Dominique, “butnicedoesn’t reallysound very fun.”

“Well, how are we supposed to find out who she is?” demanded Aiden.

“I’m going to go out on a limb,” said Max, “and suggest asking him.”

Dominique could see that Aiden and Evan were trying not to outright tell Max what a ludicrous suggestion that was.

“I mean, I could even go upstairs and ask him right now,” said Max and then looked at the trio of Deveraux faces. “But obviously, you’re going to run some top secret mission on him while you’re in DC, and I wouldn’t want to ruin your fun.”

Dominique laughed and kissed his cheek. “It’s not going to be fun. It’s serious. What if he’s in love?”

“It’s only been a month,” said Aiden reasonably. “Jackson is like Mister-Plan-It-Out. We don’t really think that could happen, do we?”

Max started laughing.

“Mm,” said Evan. “And how long did it take you?”

“Right,” said Aiden. “I mean, that sounded stupid coming out of my mouth, and I don’t know why I even said it.”