Free Lie to Me by Julie Ortolon Page B

dolls, she realized the sparkle came from the lights she’d set up around the display. Not a ghostly encounter at all.  
    Stifling her disappointment, she bent back to the camera.  
    She and Allison fell easily into the groove they’d developed by working together during the years since Chloe had first come to Pearl Island. She may have come initially as a runaway looking for her uncle, but she’d quickly worked her way into the rhythm of the inn. Today, though, she found herself sneaking peeks at her watch and glancing at the door, hoping to see Luc.
    “Is something wrong?” Allison asked.
    “No, not at all,” she insisted quickly. “Why do you ask?”
    “You seem distracted.”
    “A little,” she admitted, wondering how Allison would react to hearing about Luc. Her reluctance to talk about him with her aunt surprised her. Allison might hover and worry at times, but she never spoiled anything Chloe confided. Allison would likely listen patiently to every detail. That assurance had a smile tugging at her lips as she lined up another shot. “I had a date last night.”
    “Oh?” Allison asked, instantly curious as Chloe had predicted. “With the hot guy from yesterday?”
    “Um-hm.” Chloe’s cautious smile broadened to a grin.  
    “Well?” Allison asked eagerly. “How’d it go?”
    “Pretty well, I think.” Stepping away from the camera, she adjusted one of the lights.  
    “You think?” Allison looked confused.
    “Actually”—she remembered the easy conversation over dinner and the kiss on her front porch—“it went really well.” Just saying that out loud made nerves jangle in her belly. “I think I really like this guy.”  
    “You do?” Eagerness brightened Allison’s eyes. “So, tell me about him.”
    That quick, unconditional joy for her wrapped around Chloe’s heart.
    Before she could open her mouth, however, the phone in her apron pocket filled the air with the ominous “Imperial March ” from Star Wars . The warmth drained from her body. Retrieving the phone on reflex, she stared at the caller ID to confirm what she already knew. As if Darth Vader himself had entered the room, dread landed in the pit of her stomach.
    “What a cheerful ring tone.” Allison scowled.
    “I just installed it,” Chloe explained, her voice flat. “So I’d know who’s calling.”
    “Oh?” Allison looked cautiously neutral. “Who’d you assign it to?”
    Staring at the phone as it continued to emit the oppressive notes, Chloe took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Diane.”
    “Your mother?” Surprise lit Allison’s voice followed by hope. “Are you two talking again?”
    “Sort of.”
    “Or not,” Allison added. “Since you’re not answering it.”
    “I don’t need to.” Chloe muted the phone and dropped it back into the pocket. “I know why she’s calling.”  
    “Care to tell me about it?” Allison asked with no hint of judgment or censor.  
    That automatic support made Chloe’s eyes sting, but she pushed aside the stupid urge to cry. If she gave in to that useless impulse, who knew what might come tumbling out of her mouth. She couldn’t possibly tell Allison the truth without the whole family getting in an uproar. Lord knew what would happen if Scott found out about his sister’s weird obsession with the necklace, or that his father was threatening to cut off Chloe’s trust fund.  
    Her uncle and the St. Claires would rally around her, but at what cost? The tentative peace between Scott and his mother was already on shaky ground since his parents had reunited. The twins and Nicki could lose what little contact they had with the only grandparent they knew. Deirdre LeRoche, or DeeDee as her friends called her, might not be the most loving grandmother in the world, but she was better than no grandparent at all. Wasn’t she?
    That would end if Chloe couldn’t figure out a way to defuse this latest bomb on her own. Even worse, if her grandfather really did take