“Seriously, Peirson, no pressure here. If you can’t sing for the ball, then—”
“It’s all good. I’ll be in Nashville next month, so it isn’t any trouble making the two-hour drive to Louisville. Let me do this for you. It’ll be payback for all that advertising you gave me. That kickstarted my career.”
It had. Despite Travis’s complaining, she’d featured Peirson’s breakout album free of charge on Space Station. She was glad at least one good thing had come from all that mess. “You don’t owe me anything. Friendships don’t have strings attached.” And neither did relationships. She would never again put herself in a position where she felt she had to earn someone’s love.
“It’ll be fun. Hey, why don’t you sing with me? We can revive our rendition of that Elvis and Nancy Sinatra duet like in English Lit.”
She laughed.“That hadn’t gone well then and won’t now.” When she sang “Ain’t Nothing Like a Song” with her brother’s college roommate, she had no idea the man would move on to be a chart topper. “You nailed it. Me, not so much. I’m just glad no one else saw the video except Professor Andrews.”
“No way. I wouldn’t exploit you like that. I’m not Leeman.”
Nothing like the mention of an ex-fiancé to damper a good conversation. “Which makes me like you all the more.” They talked several minutes about the Dream River event, and she ended the call just as her mother entered the den.
With a smile, she handed Devyn a glass of sweet tea and settled beside her, the warmth in her hazel eyes always the same.
Devyn nudged her mom’s shoulder. “Guess what? I just lassoed Peirson Brooks into singing for the ball.” She couldn’t wait to surprise Steph with the news. Her boss was a huge fan of his.
Mom’s brows raised in surprise. “How nice of him. It’s still strange to think that the twenty-year-old kid who’d steal Mitch’s socks is now on my radio.”
“He’s a decent guy. Glad there are still some around these days.” She took a sip of sugary goodness and placed the glass on the coffee table.
“There’s plenty out there.” Her mom’s thin lips bowed into a smile, her bobbed salt-and-pepper hair sliding against her cheek. It had taken two years for her hair to grow back after rounds of chemo.
Devyn whispered her thanks to God. By looking at Mom now, no one would know the fight she’d won against breast cancer. Patty Asbury, the warrior, the survivor.
“Speaking of men, what time’s your new boyfriend coming?”
“He’s not my boyfriend. Not even close.” Oh, please don’t let her speak like that when Chase arrived. “Do I look like I’m dressed for a date?” She tugged the rolled hem of her cutoff sweatpants. It had been her day off, so per usual free-time attire, her hair was a messy knot atop her head. But she had slipped on a clean T-shirt. “He should be here any minute.”
“Just curious why you picked your parents’ boring place for a ‘research meeting.’” Her slender fingers air-quoted the last two words. “Especially when you have that amazing penthouse.”
“Are you encouraging me to invite single men to my apartment, Mother? I’m shocked.” She threw her hand over her mouth with a flair of drama.
“You have a good head on your shoulders. I’m sure you’d never invite anyone over to your place you didn’t trust. Which makes me wonder about this man.” She raised a knowing brow.
“Chase would behave.” She’d been alone with him in a car for six hours plus several times on the Belle, and he’d acted honorably. “My reason for coming here is simply because I wanted to be near you. Also, you have better food.”
“Don’t flatter me.” She gave a playful swat to Devyn’s shoulder. “You really want me to serve you and your friend Kraft Mac & Cheese and frozen cookie dough?”
“I’d love it actually.”
Her mom laughed. “I forgot who I was talking to.”
Devyn tamed her smile. “Mom, you know why I can’t invite him to my place.” She shifted. “He doesn’t know about Space Station. Or the specifics about the breakup. I don’t want to explain why I live in a luxe penthouse on a wedding coordinator’s salary.”
Her mom’s mouth pulled into a scowl. “You should’ve gotten more than that penthouse when you two parted ways. You were the whole reason that social media site even started. I should’ve gotten you a lawyer despite your refusal.”
“I couldn’t then, Mom. I was struggling to survive the day. And at the time, I didn’t want any part of Space Station.”
“But all the work you did—”
“Isn’t worth the heartache. I got the penthouse. When I sell it, I’ll have a nice chunk of change to start my own business. If I get brave enough to do that solo.”
She gently squeezed Devyn’s arm. “You’re braver than you think.”
The doorbell rang, saving her from forming a response.
“I’ll get it.” Devyn rose to her feet.
“Want me to make myself scarce?”
“You’re not getting off that easy. You owe me mac ’n cheese.” Devyn winked. “Do you care if I crash here tonight? I don’t have to be at work until noon tomorrow.”
“You never need to ask.” Her mom’s smile revealed how glad she was for the company. Dad was in Lexington for work and wouldn’t be back until late Friday.
Devyn crossed the den and hustled to the foyer. She opened the door and found Chase in jeans and a…UK wildcat T-shirt? She wrinkled her nose. “You have to change before entering this house.”
With one hand he clutched a sleek folder, and the other he raised, palm flashing. “I wore this for self-protection.”
“Ha! How is that self-protection when it makes me want to shove you down the porch steps?”
His mouth twitched as if fighting a grin. “This shirt ensures me you’ll keep your hands to yourself.”
“You are ridiculous.”
He leaned in. Hello, Gucci cologne. “You invited me to meet your mom. Every guy knows a visit to the girl’s parents’ house is a serious elevation in the relationship. We’re practically committed to each other now.”
She shook her head with a snort. “And for that bit of craziness, I’m totally eating your half of the mac ’n cheese. Get in here, wildcat, before I change my mind.”
“Is your friend still on the doorstep?” Mom called from the kitchen. “Quit tormenting the poor soul and let him in.”
“I like her.” Chase adjusted his baseball hat and stepped inside.
“Mom, brace yourself,” she called. “He’s wearing a UK tee.”
She could hear her mother’s snicker. “Does he know how competitive you are?”
“I’m beginning to realize that, ma’am.” He answered for Devyn. “I’ve already sacrificed my portion of mac and cheese to make it this far inside.”
Devyn pinched him.
Mom appeared in the archway that led to the kitchen. “Is my daughter being a lousy hostess?”
“The worst.”
Another pinch, but this time Chase swerved from her reach, his eyes alight with laughter.
“Just remind her that I can always bring out her baby books and—”
“Nope, nope, nope.” Devyn rattled off the introductions and grabbed Chase’s wrist, tugging him toward the sunroom. “We’ll be out here if you need us, Mom.”
She laughed. “Play nice, children.”
As soon as they were out of her mother’s earshot, Chase turned his wicked smile on her. “I always play nice.”
“I’m sure that’s debatable.” She motioned toward the wicker chairs surrounding the patio table. “So, you texted about having a sample invitation done?” She held out her palm. “Wow me.”
Chase opened the folder and set his notebook on the table.
“Ah, the mysterious book that holds all your sketches of the longwattled umbrellabird.”
“Did you just make that up?”
“The bird? No. It’s a real species. I went through a Discovery Channel phase in my teens. No more sta
lling.” She snapped her fingers. “Do you want me to make a drumroll sound? I feel like I should.”
“Not necessary.” He slipped the card from the folder’s inside cover and handed it to her.
The first thing she noted was the quality of paper. Ivory with an iridescent sheen, giving the illusion of ripples. Like water. The lettering was navy, and she could hug him for not using Papyrus font. No, the words were sleek and classy. The border too. “It’s perfect.” She raised her gaze to find him watching her. An intensity in his eyes pulled the air from her chest. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” His voice was raspier than usual, as if her praise had meant something to him.
“Can I take this to Steph?”
“Of course. If she approves, I’ll send over the file for you to get them printed.”
When he said that, reality struck deeper. They were doing this. Really going to host a ball for the leading wedding magazine in the country with the addition of the Belle’s patrons. “I sure hope this all turns out okay.”
“I have no doubt it will.” He gave her a reassuring nod. “Now it’s your turn. What did you discover about Hattie?”
She took a deep breath. “Only that I don’t think she exists.”
Chapter 14
Devyn carefully set the invitation on the table and regarded Chase with a sad smile. “I can’t find her anywhere.” With the wicker seat being so large, she pulled her legs up to her chest and curled her arms around them. They’d divvied the next phase of research, Devyn taking on Hattie, while Chase further investigated his great-grandfather. “I’ve checked every ancestry and newspaper site for a Hattie Louis. Thank heaven for free trials.”
He scratched his cheek. “And there was no trace, huh?”
“I found several matches to the name, but nothing for the time and location we were looking for. Plus they all had pictures. None matched her photo.”
“That’s odd.”
“Very. I was hoping for some trail of her existence, a birth or death certificate. Even a census sheet. On one ancestry site there was like a gazillion scans of census forms. All nothing.” Her lips twisted. “How should we proceed? Have you done research on your great-grandfather?”
“As much as I could. He married great-grandma Julia in 1933. He wasn’t married before that. So if he had a fling with Hattie, it wasn’t on record.”
“It seems nothing is on record for her. Which leaves us with nothing.”
“Not exactly.”
“What do you mean?”
His smile flashed. “Remember the other slip of paper? The code?”
“Of course.”
“I have a professor friend from UK who believes it went through the Coast Guard. There was a faint set of initials on the corner. EF.”
“Really?”
He pulled out his phone and opened the photos. “Here’s a screenshot of this lady.” He angled the screen toward her, the motion highlighting the muscle in his forearm.
Devyn peered at a very twenties pic of a young woman sporting a cloche hat, her sturdy frame wrapped in a long overcoat, and her right hand clutching a briefcase. “Who is she?”
“A genius. Her name is Elizebeth Friedman. She was a decoder for the Coast Guard in the twenties and thirties during the prohibition. Pretty much all the codes went across her desk.”
“A woman doing a supposedly man’s job? And rocking it? I love it.” And the lady worked with codes! Of course Devyn’s coding had been of a different sort, but there was still the configuration of lettering. Talk about a kindred spirit from a hundred years ago.
“Right? During her time there she was responsible for decrypting over twelve thousand intercepted codes.”
“Think she had a hand in this one?” Devyn gestured toward the slip of paper Chase had set on the table.
“Most likely.”
Devyn ran a thumb over the paper with a gentle swipe. She raised her gaze to find Chase watching her. “Sorry, it’s just so interesting.” Even she heard the wonder in her voice. “It’s like touching history. Finding something this authentic is kinda breathtaking.”
His gaze pulled from the code and aimed fully on her. “I agree. There’s beauty in the genuine.”
He stared at her with the same enrapturement as she had the code. Something stirred between them.Was he saying she was genuine? Because if that was his implication, he’d gifted her a compliment above all others.
“All right, back to work, my dream girl.” He motioned toward the code.
Dream girl? Really? She realized he was probably trying to lighten the mood, but she wasn’t a fan of being ridiculed about something so precious to her. She should have never told him about her dream of the river. But then they wouldn’t have stumbled upon the theme. Still… “Please don’t mock me. Not about this.”
He flinched. “Who’s mocking?”
“You are. Are you ever serious?”
“Actually, yes. A lot of the time.” He stuffed his phone back into his pocket and gentled his expression. “I’ve been accused of being too serious.”
“Really? Because you haven’t been that way with me.”
His fervent gaze zipped heat down her spine. “Maybe all it takes is being around the right person.”
She worked to steady her voice. “Or maybe you’re trying to sweet talk me so I’ll give you your mac ’n cheese back.”
“A man can try.” He dimpled. “Back to before you distracted me—which you’re very good at, by the way—I had a question about the Idlewild. Was it ever rumored to have illegally transported alcohol during the twenties or thirties?”
She ignored his remark about being a distraction because right now, with his inviting gray eyes and crooked smile, he was the offending party. “No, not that I know of. Like I told you earlier, there was a lost period of time when there wasn’t much documentation with the boat. It did excursion trips, but I never heard about anything like alcohol smuggling. Maybe that’s what the message is about. Can we find someone that could crack whatever it says on the code?”
He nodded. “Two steps ahead. I sent a picture of it to my professor friend. He wants to see if he can figure it out.”
“What’s the next course of action?”
“Keep digging for clues about Hattie Louis.”
“What about a steamboat museum? There are several throughout the country. I can call around and see if anyone has anything in their archives about the Idlewild.”
“That’ll work. And if we need to, we can always take another road trip.”
She should really ignore the fluttering in her stomach at the anticipation of spending extended periods of time with this man. But really, it was fun to be around him. Even if he was an outrageous flirt. So much so that… “I was thinking of watching a movie after this. Would you like to stay for a bit?”
“Love to.”
A gentle hand brushed Devyn’s hair from her forehead.
“Devyn.” His voice was soft, and she tried to lean into it. “You aren’t making this easy.”
Her hand skimmed…a toned abdomen? Her eyes shot wide, and she sat up straight. She blinked, clearing the haze, and Chase came into focus. He sat beside her on her parents’ love seat. Just as he had the entire movie, except at some point she must’ve dozed and ended up on his shoulder.
“Wow, how awkward.”
He smiled. “Not really.”
“I can’t believe I fell asleep.” She yawned, covering her mouth. “I feel like an old lady. Not able to stay up past nine.” She knew her hair was a mess and she probably had a crease from his sleeve on her cheek. “When did I conk out?”
“Right when Audrey and the British dude huddled in the broom closet.”
Ugh. “I missed the kissing scene.” Her favorite part.
“I’m sure I can recreate it for you, if you’d like.”
“I think you only say these things to get me irritated.”
“I do.” His grin broadened. “You get this pucker
right here when you’re annoyed.” He gently pressed his finger between her brows. “I like to see how often I can make it appear.”
His phone buzzed. With a quick look of apology, he glanced at the screen and then silenced it.
“You can get that if you want. I don’t mind.”
“I’ll call ’em back in a second.” He shoved his phone in his pocket. “I should probably get going.” He stood.
“Yeah…uh…thanks for hanging out with me.” Could she sound any lamer?
“I enjoyed it.”
“Even though I fell asleep on you? Just so you know, I don’t make a habit of cuddling with my guests.”
“I hope not. Then I wouldn’t feel as special.”
She laughed and walked him to the door. “I’ll let you know what Steph says tomorrow about the invitation, and keep you updated if I can locate anything from the museums.”
“Sounds good.” He pulled his keys from his pocket. “Goodnight, Devyn.” His gaze lingered on hers and it looked like he wanted to say something else. But instead he gave her a parting smile and left.
She locked the door and made her way to her childhood bedroom. It still had pink walls and butterfly-print curtains. Mom had a sentimental streak the size of the Smoky Mountains. Devyn changed into her pajama top but kept the cutoff sweatpants on because, let’s face it, she could live in them till Jesus came.
Devyn awakened late the next morning, and it was glorious. She hadn’t slept this soundly in…well, she couldn’t remember the last time. Her dozing bliss could be attributed to the security of being in her parents’ home. But it could just be on account of her pleasant evening with Chase. Even thinking about him made her heart light.
She dressed and met her mother at the table for a hearty brunch. Mom loved to spoil her when she stayed over. It was like retreating to her own bed and breakfast.
Devyn arrived at work with ten minutes to spare, giving her time to gather numbers of the steamboat museums to call later on her break. She’d finished logging them into the notes app in her phone when her cell dinged with a text. It was Chase.
Morning, my dream girl. Just wanted to let you know how cute you were asleep on my shoulder. So adorable I could almost overlook the drool stain on my sleeve.
Undercurrent of Secrets Page 10