The Rivals - Dylan Allen Page 0,218

telling a story that’s not mine to tell. My nephew, Hayes, and Remington—they are the ones who will have to tell you the story.”

My gut twists when I realize that Remi, somehow, is mixed up in whatever is happening with the Rivers family.

“Do you think Hayes will speak with me?” I ask, hopefully.

“Why don’t you just ask Remi?” she asks in a voice now full of skepticism.

“Because no one knows where he is,” I remind her.

She angles away from me, her arms folded tightly across her chest, and narrows her eyes at me. “How did you say you knew him?”

I sit up straighter. Give her what I hope is a convincing smile.

“We were friends when I was in high school. Good friends. We’ve lost touch over the years. But now that I’ve heard that he’s missing, I want to try to find him.”

She gives an assessing glance and then pulls out her phone. “You are a terrible liar.”

“I’m not lying. I am really just trying to find Remi.”

“Enid, I’m ready to go. Please come down.”

“Please.”

“No. Please leave. I don’t know what you really want. But, I can’t help you.”

“You naughty girl. I can’t believe you have the nerve to show your face in here after the way you disappeared.” Sweet’s loud voice envelops me in an embrace nearly as warm as the one she’s giving me with her arms.

“I’m sorry, Sweet. It wasn’t up to me.”

“That mother of yours,” she says without a hint of acrimony as she lets me go.

We sit down at a corner table and hold hands across it. She scans my face and then sits back.

“You look… different,” she says and even though I know she’s not judging me, I still run a hand over my hair.

“It’s been eight years, Sweet. I’ve had a kid, I was bound to change.”

She frowns, unimpressed.

“No, it’s not that. Like… maybe you wouldn’t call Joni West a cunt if she tried to push you around today.”

Sweet had laughed so hard when I told her that story.

“Back for less than a day and her name crops up. Should I be worried that she’s going to stroll in any minute?”

“Thank goodness, no. She’s that lout of a husband’s problem now.”

“She got married?” I can’t disguise my surprise and she laughs.

“Oh, yeah, except I doubt Remi even noticed. Now, she’s making everyone in Greatwood miserable.”

“Greatwood?”

“Her husband bought the golf course and they live there now. She used to come by whenever she had a new car to show off. But she stopped doing that when she realized no one cared.”

I know she and Remi broke up, I saw it all over the news, but after carrying a torch for him for most of her life, I imagined that she’d never move on. But I guess that was silly considering that even though I loved him, I married someone else, too.

“Now, tell me why you’re in town.” She smiles sweetly.

“I’m working on a story. Can’t really talk about it, but my lead is here in Houston. So I’m chasing it.”

I don’t add that I’m failing so far and the only lead I’m chasing is Remi. After being very unceremoniously asked to leave Gigi’s house, my stomach is in knots. Something weird is going on. I need to find him.

“So, you know Remi’s not around. I mean, no one’s saying anything, but he’s been gone for months,” she informs me with a conspiratorial glance around the restaurant. It’s like she read my thoughts.

“So people are talking?” I ask.

“Not yet. His people have covered for him good, but I’ve noticed. And you’ve been in town for less than a day and you have, too. It’s only a matter of time before everyone does.”

“Regan told me. I promised her I’d try to find him, but the only person who knows anything just threw me out of her house.”

“I don’t even want to know. You know how I hate gossip.” And she does. Her husband, Lo lives for it, though.

“But, she might know something.” She nods at a dark-haired woman, holding a steaming mug of coffee and staring blankly out of a window.

I look back at Sweet in surprise.

“Who in the world is that?”

“She was Remi’s personal assistant for years.”

Ah, the one who quit. I eye her. She looks more like a low-maintenance yoga enthusiast than she does the former personal assistant to one of the wealthiest men in the state.

“Are you sure that’s her?”

“Oh, yeah. She’s been spending a lot of time in here. Doing nothing. But