“I will. Bye, Poppy.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to steady myself before heading back out to the dining room. I was just turning the corner when I caught sight of the back of Lucien’s head. He was in the lobby, a woman’s arms in his hands as he carefully pushed her back, out of sight of the dining room.
“What are you doing here?” I heard him ask.
“I needed to talk to you.”
“What about?”
“Is it like that?” the woman asked, her words slurring together. “We don’t see each other for months, and then you talk to me like that? What am I supposed to think?”
“You’re supposed to think that Jacob is just a few feet away from us at this moment and it wouldn’t do for him to see you like this.”
“Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. It’s always about Jacob with you, isn’t it?”
“He’s my brother, Lynn. What do you think?”
Lynn? Jacob’s estranged wife?
I walked over, my shoes making me wobble a time or two. I was pretty sure I was going to break my ankle if I didn’t watch it. But, despite that, I walked up behind Lucien and ran my hand over his arm in a possessive gesture that I made sure his companion could see.
“Hey, babe,” I said. “Are we ready to go?”
He glanced at me, a flash of surprise in his eyes even as he turned back to focus on Lynn.
“Who’s this?” she asked, her green eyes moving quickly over me and then dismissing me with a flick of her hair. “You didn’t mention you were seeing someone, Lucien.”
She was taller than me (but most people are) with that color of hair that clearly came out of a bottle, despite the amount she probably paid to hide that fact. Her skin was pale, perfectly wrinkle-free, something else that probably wasn’t quite natural. She was wearing a simple shift dress that was a little tight around the waist, and carried a purse that probably cost more than I would make in the next two years. She was not the kind of woman I would have imagined Jacob married to. But, as they say, to each his own.
“Adrienne, this is Lynn Callahan. Jacob’s soon-to-be ex-wife.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said politely.
She didn’t even look at me.
“We need to talk, Lucien.”
“You need to go home and sleep it off, Lynn.”
She shook her head, but the movement knocked her off balance, and she would have fallen backward if Lucien hadn’t been holding her. He was clearly annoyed, a muscle popping in his jaw as he studied her.
“We have to get her out of here,” he said finally, glancing at me.
I just nodded.
He pushed Lynn toward the door, and I followed, slipping out of my shoes as soon as we were outside. We’d come to the restaurant in Lucien’s car, Jacob and Rachel riding along with us. But Elizabeth and Karl had a car big enough to get everyone home. Lucien handed me the keys, and I unlocked the doors, stepping out of the way as he pushed Lynn into the backseat. She protested, but halfheartedly, clearly drunk or high on something. The moment her ass touched the seat, she fell over and curled up into a little ball.
“We can’t take her back to the house,” Lucien said, glancing back at the restaurant. “If Jacob saw her like this—”
“I’ll text Jacob and tell him you aren’t feeling well.”
He nodded. “That’s the best we can do, I suppose.”
We stopped by the house so that we could grab our stuff. I didn’t have a chance to look for a computer because Lucien was with me, and he didn’t want to leave Lynn alone in his car too long. I did peek into the master bedroom while I was waiting for Lucien to get his stuff out of the bedroom—the door was left open—but I didn’t see a desktop or a laptop sitting out anywhere.
Whoever was doing this was trying awfully hard to make it look like it was Jacob’s doing. And that was beginning to piss me off.
The drive back to the city was uneventful. Lynn snored in the backseat, and Lucien concentrated on his driving. He didn’t speak, didn’t even look at me. He glanced into the rearview a few times, but that was it. Once in the city, we drove into one of the lovely suburbs—Katy, I think—and into the driveway of a nice, colonial-style house in one of those perfect, cookie-cutter housing developments.
“Help me get her out of the car.”
Sure.
I held the car door open. Then I took the keys he fished out of her purse and unlocked the front door. He walked in like he owned the place, taking her not up the stairs but to a large bedroom suite at the back of the house. When he laid her on the bed, she opened her eyes and smiled, planting a huge kiss on Lucien like this wasn’t the first time she’d found him leaning over her.
“Hey, lover,” she said, her words still slurring.
“Cut it out, Lynn.”
“Oh,” she said, her bottom lip puckering out in a big pout. “Are we playing this game again?”
“You’re high.”
“I know. It’s great, isn’t it?”