Ipull out a sundress that’s fairly similar to the oneI’mwearing, but instead of the boring, solid-colored teal of mine, it has a bold pattern that looks like abstract art and is adorable. “Butalso for the record,”ItellLivi, “neither wasSpencer’slife.Justbecause he says he ‘works under the cover of darkness to investigate shady characters and thwart their intents to do harm’ doesn’t mean he isn’t a security guard who stares at computer monitors all night, pretending to be aCIAagent on dates.”
Thatwas actually a first for me.Well, not my date pretending to be something he’s not, but theCIAAgentthing, specifically.
“Heneeds to go to yourOutsidetheBubbleclub!Well, notyourclub, obviously, because that would be awkward, but one like it.”
Ilaugh. “Heshould.Everyoneshould.”Iknow it helped me.Ninemonths ago, whenIfirst moved into my garage apartment, the only peopleIknew in the entire town ofCipherSpringswereMaggieandRowan.LiviandIused to do fun things together all the time, andIwas having not onlyLiviwithdrawals but fun withdrawals.
Ikept finding myselfnotdoing fun things even thoughIwas desperately craving it because a)Ididn’t know anyone and b)Inow lived with my sister.IlikeMaggie, andIget along with her, and we used to do fun things together.ButthenAddiwas born and their lives got kind of focused on her.
Eventually,IdecidedIneeded to take matters into my own hands.Grabthe bull by the horns.Rollup my sleeves.Jumpin with both feet.Setsome adventure-loving wheels into motion.ThenIwas watchingBexlandia— aYouTuberIlove— and she interviewed a guy about an app he developed calledNudgeOut.Itfelt like it was made for me, soIdownloaded the app, let it track what was normal for me, and then started tapping the “Nudgeme out” button to have it suggest new things for me to try.
Itwas life-changing.Therewere some things, though, thatIonly wanted to do ifIhad someone to do it with me.Ifigured there had to be other adults in my town who needed to get out and enjoy life and weren’t going to do it without an adventure buddy.SoIstarted posting signs to invite adults of every age inCipherSpringsto join me on the thirdFridayof every month, and the club was born.
Well, born but not wildly successful.Thosefirst few meetings were kind of disastrous.ButI’vesince learned some very helpful things.Liketo change the plans away from roller coaster-riding atSixFlagswhen only an adorable but very elderly couple shows up.
Orto not line up a cooking class for a three-courseFrenchmeal after a naturally scatterbrained, made-worse-by-sleep-deprivation-from-parenting couple joined the mix. (Cleaningup from that event took longer than the class itself.Plus, there was that whole incident that required a visit toUrgentCare.Wedon’t talk about that.)
Oh, andInow know that petting zoos are particularly stressful for germophobes.
Butthe last few have gone well.AndI’vebeen advertising the one coming up onFridayquite a bit.Aflyer about it is even supposed to go out with everyone’s water bill this week.I’mhoping for a bigger crowd becauseI’mfeeling pretty desperate for some good, solid adventure. “Mydate told me, ‘I’mbetting that you don’t have enough excitement in your life.Peoplerarely do.’Foras little as he got to know me, he sure nailed that part.”
“Okay, our goal over lunch,”Livisays, “is to brainstorm ways to make our lives more exciting.”
“Deal.”
“Doyou know what will make my life more exciting?”Livisays as she glances back in the direction we started shopping. “Gettingthose fabulous sunglasses after all.Theywere just so well made!”
Lividesigns the machinery that companies buy in order to fill vials, tubes, syringes, and things like that.Cosmeticfoundation?Check.Lotion?Yep.Sodacans, cleaning chemicals, you name it, she’s made a machine that will fill its container and close it tight.Itmakes her a sucker for anything well-made.
“Youshould!”
Iturn to head back to the sunglasses with her, but she holds up a hand. “IthinkI’mgoing to try to haggle on the price, and that always works better solo.I’llcatch up with you in a minute.”
Asshe heads off to get the sunglasses that excite her as much as the spectacular shoes in my bag excite me,Igo around to the other side of the rack asIhike my magenta purse onto my shoulder a bit better.Iam ready to discover something else exciting.
CHAPTER5
JUST YOUR AVERAGE JACE
JACE
I’msitting at a table in an outdoor café, a crab cake sandwich on a plate in front of me thatI’vebarely touched, pretending to read something on my phone.Thisshopping center has the feel of a courtyard, even though only two sides of it are enclosed by the shop buildings.Probablybecause the other two sides are bordered by trees and shrubs.
Thearea is mostly cement except for square sections with small trees planted here and there.I’dprobably have a good view of everything if it weren’t for all the racks and racks of clothing and shoes filling so much of the open space.Mysunglasses hide my eyes just enough thatIcan scan the area constantly without looking too suspicious.
“Haveeither of you seen anything yet?”IhearCharlieask through my earpiece. “I’vetapped into theCCTVfeeds from the area, but they don’t have the best resolution.ThefeedsI’mgetting from your glasses are forty-billion times sharper.”
“Nothingover here,”Ledger, my brother and my partner for this mission, says from where he stands leaning against the building nearest the north parking lot.
“Nothingfrom here, either,”Iadd.Nota single person appears as if they are looking for someone.Iglance at my watch.Eleventwenty-eight.Brushpasses don’t tend to be late, so any second now, something should be happening.
AsIscan the area again, my eyes fall on a woman across the courtyard.Herhair is brunette, slightly wavy, and falls just below her shoulders, and she is wearing a flowing teal dress with spaghetti straps that ends just above her knees, a dark pink purse hanging from her shoulder.
“I’vespotted her,”Isay into my comms. “She’sstanding next to a rack of dresses in front ofSqueakyChic.”
“Isee her now, too,”Ledgersays.
Itap on the right frame of my glasses to zoom in for a close-up of the woman’s face.IknowCharliewill pull a still image from the video that’s streaming to her, and that it’ll only take her a moment toIDthe woman.
