“What’re you doing here, Brooks?” Austin asked.
“I’m showing a friend of Trudy’s around town. We had lunch at El Diablo, and now we’re checking out the exhibit. I’ll introduce her to you when she’s finished admiring Robin’s photos.”
Austin glanced around the room. “Man, this is great. The photos are fantastic.” He wrapped his arm around Robin’s waist. “You rock, Robbie.”
“Thanks, honey.” Robin beamed, and the twosome wandered off to admire more of Robin’s work.
I looked around for Elizabeth but didn’t see her. There were three more aisles of photographs, so there was plenty to look at. I figured I’d catch up with her in a few minutes.
I thought of something and turned to my brother. “Do you want to join Derek and me for dinner tomorrow night? I thought we’d take Elizabeth to Arugula.”
Jackson gave me a sideways glance. “This isn’t some kind of a setup, is it?”
I was taken aback. “No.” I started to laugh. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“You’d be amazed to know how many people would.”
“Uh-oh. So now that Austin’s spoken for, you’ve moved to the top of the eligibility list?”
“Exactly,” he drawled. “So don’t try it.”
“I didn’t even think of it. She’s in town for only a few days, and Trudy wants her to meet people in hopes that she’ll visit more often.”
“Sounds reasonable,” he admitted.
“I’m going to ask China and Beau to join us, and Robin and Austin, too. I thought we could make it a party. But I understand if you’d rather not.”
He frowned, probably because he realized he was misjudging my intentions. “Yeah, okay, I’ll join you.”
“Great. Tomorrow night at seven.”
“I’ll be there.” Jackson walked over to the first photograph on the aisle in front of us. “Robin did a good job with these.”
“I think so, too. The lighting is awesome, isn’t it?”
He grinned at me. “I take it you helped with the lighting?”
“Yeah.”
“Well then, the lighting is phenomenal.”
I heard a sharp intake of breath and turned to see Elizabeth, staring wide-eyed across the room.
“Oh, there you are, Elizabeth,” I said as I went over to her. “I wanted to introduce you to my brother.”
She was trying to swallow, and I wondered if she was about to choke on something. I grabbed her arm. “Are you all right?”
But she couldn’t speak. Worried, I glanced back at Jackson.
But he was gone.
“What the heck?” I scanned the room to see where he’d wandered off to, but I didn’t see him anywhere.
Now, that was weird.
I turned back to Elizabeth. “Did you see where he went?”
She gulped convulsively, still unable to speak.
I grabbed her arm. “Are you going to be sick? What’s wrong?”
She finally shook herself out of whatever state she’d fallen into, took a deep breath, and exhaled heavily. “I’m sorry. I thought I saw someone I knew, but I was obviously mistaken.”
“You mean, my brother? Tall, good-looking, denim jacket?”
“Who?” She still looked alarmed and a little dazed. “Oh. No, sorry. It was a woman. I looked out the window and was sure I saw an old friend from . . .” She inhaled deeply again and let it out. “Um . . . but it wasn’t her. Sorry.”
I wasn’t entirely sure I believed her because I thought she’d been reacting to Jackson. But why would she lie? And where had Jackson disappeared to? “We can check outside to make sure.”
“No, I already took a second look, and I was mistaken. But wow, what a shock. Sorry.” She laughed ruefully. “That was weird.”
“Yeah, you looked completely flabbergasted. I hope you’re okay.”
“I’m fine now, thanks.” She linked her arm through mine, and we walked toward another aisle of photos. “These pictures are wonderful.”
Clearly she wanted to get things back on track and so did I. But I was going to be talking to Jackson about this. And Derek. Most definitely Derek. “Aren’t they cool? Robin took them.”
“Robin?”
“Oh. Where’d she go?” I realized I hadn’t had a chance to introduce them, so I glanced around but didn’t see Robin or Austin anywhere. Frowning again, I said, “People seem to be disappearing right and left today. Anyway, you’ll meet her tomorrow night if you’d like to join us for dinner.”
“I’d love to,” she said with enthusiasm. “You’re so sweet to include me. I’m having such a good time.”
“I’m glad.” We spent another half hour at the exhibit before we both decided we were ready to go home.
*
Dinner at Arugula the following night was a blast. Elizabeth regaled us with stories of Trudy on a mission to find the best champagne-tasting venues in the region. “We drove for miles over the mountains toward Napa. There were so many treacherous hairpin turns, I didn’t think we’d make it out alive.”