back to sleep, but you should. I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay.” Annabel yawned, reaching up for a sleepy kiss.
It snowed last night, not for the first time this winter, but for the first time it has stuck, and although it’s barely there, just a fine dusting, perhaps less than an inch, it is already freezing, and Kit is driving carefully, aware that anything faster than a crawl could send her into a dangerous spin.
The roads are empty, and Kit crawls along, her mind spinning, not sure that she should tell Adam, and yet Adam seems to be the only person who can set her mind at ease.
Is there something going on with Adam and Annabel? Yesterday she would have laughed at the thought. Today it simply causes her pain. But the only thing she knows for sure is that she believes her mother, and she isn’t sure why. Perhaps it’s because Ginny, who loves drama, wasn’t dramatic. She was cool and low-key and concerned.
Kit has never seen her like that before, and although there is a part of her that wants to believe her mother is wrong, she needs the proof, and right now Annabel’s handbag and documents are at Adam’s house.
She needs Adam.
Adam has a look on his face Kit has never seen before. Guilt. She is absolutely sure of it, and, in that second, she is sure that even if nothing has happened, it is not for want of trying.
He brings their drinks back to the table—regular coffee with half and half for him, and a skim frappuccino for her—and sits as Kit leans forward, her voice low and impassioned, and repeats, word for word, what her mother told her about Annabel.
Adam listens, sipping his coffee occasionally, as the torrent of words continues.
“So,” Kit says finally, “mother is sure Annabel is here with some ulterior motive. She told me that Annabel had stolen before, and is convinced she’s after money. And then I changed all the passwords to my accounts, and I just looked at the history to check”—she pauses, and takes a deep breath—“and it was cleared. The only person who could have done that is Annabel. So I feel sick with wondering what she’s been looking at. And my mother thinks she wants to replace me. She thinks . . .” She stops, nervous as to whether or not to say anything; but she’s come this far, she has to say it all. “She thinks there’s something going on with you and Annabel.” Kit looks up at him expectantly, hoping that Adam will instantly reassure her, say whatever words it will take to still the little voice that has been whispering to her since her mother arrived, the voice that tells her Ginny is right.
Adam says nothing. He sips his coffee, then looks at Kit, who notes in alarm that his left cheek is twitching with a nervous tic that only appears when he is stressed. Or angry.
“I think you are out of your mind,” he says finally, his voice low and cold.
“What?” Kit fights the tears threatening to well up in her eyes.
“I mean it,” Adam says. “Your mother swans in here with her drama and her ridiculous stories, and you believe her. I think this is disgusting. It’s a witch-hunt.”
“Look, I agree my mother has a tendency toward the dramatic, but I swear, Adam, she wasn’t the way she usually is. I believe her.”
“I wouldn’t believe anything until I had proof.” Adam snorts. “It’s ridiculous. Traveling under a false passport? Checking your bank accounts? Trying to replace you? Sleeping with me? If it wasn’t so completely insane, I’d be sitting here laughing.”
“I agree, it sounds . . . unbelievable. But even if you think I’m insane, her handbag is at your house. Could you just check? Even to rule it out? ”
“You’re asking me to sneak around and look at her passport without her permission? ”
“Yes. Maybe you’re right. Maybe my mother is crazy. But at least that way we’ll know.”
“So because she had some trouble in her past you want to judge her today based on her past? It won’t tell you anything anyway, that’s what’s so ridiculous about it.”
“It will,” Kit says vehemently. “It will prove she’s lying, and if she’s lying about that, then I can start to believe that my mother isn’t completely crazy.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? ”
“It’s supposed to . . .”
Kit’s voice tails off as she looks at Adam intently, a cold shiver running up her spine as