Zoe shakes her head. “Not me. I’m immune.”
“I’ve met Ledger,” Livi says, “and he seems like the kind of guy who’d have a great growly voice, so I don’t buy that for one second.”
“What’s the growly voice?” I ask. Surely I can’t be the only one who doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
“It’s when they use that deep, kind of gravelly voice that’s also kind of sultry.” Livi clears her throat, then says, “Like this,” which is kind of deep and gravelly but not at all sultry, especially when you factor in the waggling of the eyebrows that she’s doing.
“No,” Reese says, and then changes her voice, “it’s more like this.”
We’re each trying to pull off the growly voice and all failing, but we’re all laughing so much that it makes me forget about how exposed I’m feeling when it comes to my neighbor.
“Does Jace ever use the growly voice?” Zoe asks Mackenzie.
I’m not at all sure I want to know this information about my brother.
Mackenzie gives a sly smile and says, “Why do you think I said yes to marrying him?”
Maybe it’s from doing the same task over and over as we make these, but we’ve all apparentlyreached the stage where everything is funny, and I find myself laughing just picturing it. And, of course, talking about Jace and Mackenzie brings up the subject of the wedding that’s happening in just two weeks.
“Who are you taking to the wedding?” Zoe asks Reese.
“Miles and I are playing the best friend card and taking each other. I’m not dating anyone right now, and he doesn’t want to bring a woman he’s only going to take on one date to a big family event, so it works out perfectly for both of us.
“Oh, but it was so funny. We had gone out to lunch, and just as he was taking a drink of his soda, I asked, ‘Hey, do you want to be my date for the wedding,’ and he nearly choked on his soda! I was like ‘Relax, big guy. No one is trying to endanger your prized bachelor status.’ It was the greatest. I think I really had him going for a second.”
Then, of course, Mackenzie asks me, “Do you know who your plus-one is, yet?”
No. No, I do not. “I haven’t figured out if I want to bring someone. I’m not sure I even want to date at all right now.” I say it casually, like it’s not stressing me out in the least, even though it totally is. I’m thinking of just telling her to seat me at the single table.
“You should ask Owen!” Reese says.
I motion for her to keep her voice down while we’re without a wall.
“You should,” Mackenzie adds in a (thankfully) quieter voice. “I’ve seen that look on your face every time your eyes land on him.”
“And make all of this…” I motion at our lack of a wall, “even more awkward?” Being seen—either through a wall or because someone like Owen has X-ray eyes that feel like they can see into a soul—feels unsafe. “‘Hey, Neighbor,’” I say in some voice that just comes out weird. “‘Since we can see what’s going on in each other’s place, what do you say to dating, too?’ Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
Reese shakes her head slowly. “I just don’t understand you.”
Without even taking her eyes off the ribbon she’s trying to tie, Zoe says, as if it’s nothing, “It’s because she was kidnapped as a preschooler. That kind of thing has long-term effects.” Then Zoe looks up, notices everyone’s reactions, and says, “Oh, do we not talk about that?”
“No, it’s okay,” I say. I wouldn’t have brought it up, but it’s not that big of a deal. “But that’s not what’s going on here—I mean, the kidnapping happened over two decades ago!”
Zoe raises an eyebrow and goes back to tying the bow.
“You were kidnapped?” both Reese and Livi say nearly in unison. Yeah, I guess I really don’tbring it up.
“Why?” Reese asks. “For money?”
I shake my head. “They wanted information from my dad.”
“Information?” Livi asks. “From someone with a business solutions company? What information did they need? Steps on creating a spreadsheet?”
I laugh just picturing things through Livi’s eyes. Her best friend, Mackenzie, knows all about the Clandestine Services Agency and our cover as Lancaster Business Solutions because my brother told her. I mean, I guess it’s important information to know before you marry a guy. Mackenzie swore she’ll never tell the secret to another living person, and based on Livi’s reaction, it’s clear she’s kept her word. Of course, being obsessed with spy movies has probably made it easier for Mackenzie to cover for any minor slip-ups.
Reese doesn’t know about the agency or that our “family business” and my job as an IT systems coordinator are covers, either. Zoe does, of course, since she works for the CIA and has had a lot of mission crossovers with my brother, Ledger. That was how they met. But she can keep a secret with the best of them.
I don’t talk about my kidnapping often. I have before, though, so I know the cover story to use well. “No, not spreadsheets. Our company has secure servers that house sensitive data from our clients’companies. The kidnappers wanted him to turn over information belonging to our clients that they didn’t want shared.” It’s not exactly the truth, but it’s close enough.
