And just like that, the tension eased. It was subtle, and if Lucy wasn’t so focused on Eden, she would have missed it. It was like Eden was relieved Sean wasn’t there. Had she thought there would be a confrontation?
“Well, I’ll be around for a while, I’ll catch him when he gets back,” Eden said. “Would you mind if I stayed here with you this morning? I don’t have a hotel reservation, I need to call around, find a suite for the next two weeks. And truly, I really want to get to know you. I hate that Sean and I have gotten out of touch, but weddings are new beginnings.”
“Stay here,” she said. It just came out, and it was probably a bad idea. “At least for a day or two. My sister and her family won’t be here until Sunday, we have plenty of room.”
Lucy hoped Sean wouldn’t be upset at her spontaneous invitation. But this was his sister. He hadn’t seen her in years, and when he was nostalgic, he talked about the time when he was young, before Liam and Eden went to Europe where they’d stayed since college. When he sent them wedding invitations he’d said they wouldn’t come, but he wanted to reach out anyway … maybe this was Eden’s way of trying to fix their relationship. Sean wouldn’t have sent the invites if he didn’t want to mend fences.
Spontaneously flying halfway across the world and dropping by unannounced? Something was up.
She wanted to talk to Sean about this, but he’d turned off his phone. He wouldn’t turn it back on until after he left Jesse. Maybe not until he arrived back in San Antonio. She’d send him a message that he’d get as soon as he turned on his phone—at least that way he wouldn’t be blindsided when he got home.
“Are you sure?” Eden asked. “Call Sean, please, make sure it’s okay with him. It has been a long time. But he sent the invite, and I thought…” Her voice trailed off and she looked nervous.
“He’s traveling, I won’t be able to reach him until tonight. Let me show you around.” Lucy gave Eden a quick tour of the downstairs—the living room, dining room, kitchen, family room. She skipped the other rooms—like Sean’s office—and led Eden down the hall to the guest rooms. There were two on the main floor, each with its own bathroom. Next week, Carina and her family would have one, and Lucy’s brother Dillon and his wife would have the other. Upstairs was another guest suite, and Sean had partially finished the large space above the garage. It wasn’t fancy, but had a working bathroom. Lucy wished she could put Eden there because then she could secure the house—the garage apartment was on its own security system with its own entrance. The pool house was Kane’s when he visited—he liked being separate from the house with his own space, and he’d been coming and going a lot over the last month. It was one of the reasons Sean started renovating the garage apartment—he wanted to offer Kane a permanent place. But for the wedding, they needed it for family.
Just two days ago, Sean had treated her to breakfast in bed and announced, “This is the lull before the storm. We’ll be overrun with Kincaids and Rogans in a week. Enjoy the peace.”
Lucy had the distinct impression that Eden was the beginning of a hurricane.
“This place is amazing,” Eden said. “I love it. Thank you so much, Lucy. I won’t be a bother. I’ll be out of your hair tomorrow.”
Lucy showed Eden the security panel. Eden frowned. “Is something wrong?”
“Wrong?” Lucy asked.
“Sean has always loved his toys, but this system is … rather advanced. Overkill.”
“We’ve both worked cases that have made us cautious,” Lucy said carefully. “I work for the FBI.”
“Oh, I know,” she said with an almost dismissive wave of her hand. “Surprised, though, since Sean has never particularly liked authority. I suppose true love knows no bounds.”
Lucy decided to leave the comment alone. She didn’t know Eden, and she didn’t really know much about her relationship with the rest of the family, other than that there had been a falling-out and Liam and Eden had walked away from RCK when it was still Rogan-Caruso Protective Services. “Is Liam also coming to the wedding?”
“I doubt it,” she said. “I really tried, but … well, some things can’t be fixed.”
Why did Lucy think she was lying? Why would she? Because she knew that Liam still had problems with his brothers? She probably spoke the truth, but there was more to the story, and Sean would get it out of his sister. Still, this visit was odd, especially with Sean out of town. She couldn’t possibly have known—Sean didn’t even know he was leaving until last night. Eden would have already been on a flight by the time Sean got the approval from the Marshals to visit his son, Jesse.
Lucy was now really late to work. She said, “I have to go. I’ll try to get off early, take you to dinner. I’m not a very good cook.”