Summer Breeze Kisses - Addison Moore Page 0,333

the life of me, I can’t figure out how to segue this conversation to her killer of a sister. “Has Hannah managed to move on? You know, after that whole bridal party debacle? I felt so bad, seeing her in that wedding dress knocking back one drink after another until she was almost blackout drunk.” I bet Craig Carter waited until she was good and wasted before he made her pull the trigger. He totally strikes me as the kind of a devil who would make a woman do his dirty work.

“Hannah?” Her upper lip curls in disgust, and I can’t quite figure out what that means. Is she disgusted by her sister?

“Let’s just say Hannah has sworn off men for the next millennium. She’s all about cats and needlepoint from here on out.” She averts her eyes. Her voice is curt with sarcasm.

Wait a minute…

“It sounds like you get along with your sister about as good as I do with mine!” Liar, liar, West Virginia on fire. Lex and I get along great now that I’m no longer lying to her about which university I attend and the fact I work at a bar. “Sisters.” I shake my head, trying to garner an ounce of camaraderie with her. “You can’t live with them. You can’t—”

“Oh, hon, I can live without ’em.” Belinda flings a towel over her shoulder and laughs. “Hannah and I have never been close.”

“You might think so, but I saw you right there by her side supporting her the night of her freedom-fest. It takes a real sister to dress like a bride and show up to a bar. You’re practically a hero in the sister hall of fame.”

Her expression sours while scooping up her gym bag. “I wasn’t exactly invited to that party. Hannah was so toasted by the time she arrived, I doubt she even realized I was there.”

What? I watch as she heads to the door. Crap. I need more—only the deeper I dig, the more confused I seem to be. Why wouldn’t she be invited? And more to the point, why would she voluntarily show up in a wedding dress and become a public spectacle if she didn’t have to?

“Wait,” I call after her. “I found something the night of Hannah’s party, and I thought it might belong to her.”

She freezes midflight before pivoting on her heels. “What did you find?” Her eyes oddly congeal, the cords of her neck flexing as if it were taking all of her self-control not to freak out.

“A piece of paper. It was just some random numbers I found floating around on her seat when you left. I figured it fell out of her purse. It didn’t really look important, but the Black Bear has a policy that we have to make every effort to return lost items. It has something to do with integrity and other nonsense expressed by the owners.”

She hisses something indiscernible under her breath. “Do you have it here?”

“Oh no, actually, I need to give it directly to Hannah—there’s that stupid company policy again.” Baya and Bryson are going to kill me for making them look like assholes. That is, if Hannah doesn’t do it first.

Her mouth falls open a moment. “Fine. She’ll be at the lumberyard tonight at seven, closing out business with an old friend. It will be your last chance to get anything to her at all, so I suggest if you want to keep your job, you show up there as well.” She glances to the door a moment. “Hannah is sort of a recluse when she’s sober. If she sees a mob coming at her, she’s liable to get skittish. You should probably come alone.”

“Lumberyard at seven—alone. I’ll make a quick trip to drop off that paper. Not a problem.”

She chortles under her breath. “Thank you. Hannah is going to be so relieved!”

I bet she is.

Belinda trots off, and I trail after her. Harley texted to let me know she’s already in the car, so I take off for the exit myself.

“Excuse me!” the secretary calls as I’m about to make a break from one sauna into the next, and I take a step back toward her desk. “Did you want to sign up for another class? They fill up so fast you’ll want to reserve your spot now.”

I think on it for a minute. I suppose if I need to question Belinda again, it will be totally natural this way—plus, we’re in her territory. People are