LOGINAfter dinner—
Riley sat in her room, staring at the schedule for the next day.
“...That’s long.”
The page was filled with times.
11:00 a.m.
Lunch.
1:00 p.m.
Hair and makeup.
3:00 p.m.
Final fitting.
4:30 p.m.
Photos.
5:30 p.m.
Head to the ballroom.
6:00 p.m.
Doors open.
6:30 p.m.
Gala begins.
“We start getting ready at one, and the gala doesn’t even start until six thi
On Saturday afternoon, Riley was sitting in the Whitmore mansion living room, looking at her phone.Jax, Tasha, and Benji had come over that day.Not that they had any particular plans. Jax was sprawled across the couch watching TV, Tasha was flipping through a magazine, and Riley was sitting beside her answering messages.The problem was Benji.“Where’s Benji?”Riley looked up.Without taking his eyes off the television, Jax answered, “He was here a minute ago.”“That does not answer the question.”“Went to get water, maybe?”Tasha closed her magazine.“Ten minutes ago?”The three of them went quiet.Riley stood.“We should find him.”“How do you lose Benji in this house?”Jax finally sat up.“Because it’s huge?”“This feels like losing a kid at the zoo.”“Close enough.”“He’s gonna be offended if he hears you.”“First we have to find him.”
It was Mia’s fourth day at the diner.By Saturday afternoon, the lunch rush had finally started to die down.Riley was wiping an empty table when the bell over the front door rang.“Welco—”She looked up and immediately smiled.“You’re back again.”“Are you ever going to improve that greeting?”Charles walked in.Marcus was, naturally, right behind him.“You’re a regular. It’s fine.”“You say that every time.”“Because you keep coming back.”Charles did not argue and headed toward his usual table by the window.Marcus followed.Mia approached with an order pad in hand.“I’ll get them.”“Go ahead.”Riley gave her no explanation.Mia still had no idea who Charles was.From a short distance away, Riley watched her step up to the table with her usual smile.“Hi. Know what you want?”“What pies do you have today?”That was his first que
On Wednesday afternoon, Riley came in through the diner’s back door and immediately found Nora walking toward her a little faster than usual.“Perfect timing.”“I don’t like the sound of that.”“We’re not moving a couch today.”“How do you know about that?”“You spent half your last shift complaining that your arms hurt.”“That was Jax’s fault.”“Sure. Anyway, new hire.”Nora tilted her head toward the dining room.At the end of the counter stood a girl Riley had never seen before.She looked about Riley’s age, maybe a little younger. Her black hair was tied back at shoulder length, and the borrowed uniform she was wearing still looked too new on her. Her hands were folded neatly in front of her, and every time someone spoke to her, even her spine seemed to straighten.“She starting today?”“Yep. Mia Lopez. Seventeen. Mostly after school and weekends.”“Huh.”“You’re with her today.”
At lunch on Monday, Daniel was choosing a drink from the university store.Beside him, Elliot was holding two bottles.That in itself was not unusual.The unusual part was that Elliot had been staring at the shelf below them instead of the labels for the past several moments.“What are you doing?”“Looking at the prices.”“I can see that.”Daniel followed his gaze.“Why are you taking it so seriously?”“This one is twenty ounces. This one is sixteen.”“Okay.”“But the smaller one costs less.”“Usually how that works.”“The larger one is slightly cheaper per ounce.”Daniel went quiet.“...Who are you?”“What?”“What happened to Elliot?”“I went to the supermarket yesterday.”“Can supermarkets change people this much?”Elliot continued comparing the two bottles with complete seriousness.“But I’m not going to drink that much today, so I thi
On Sunday evening, Elliot came home carrying grocery bags in both hands.When a member of the household staff moved to take them in the entry hall, Elliot said, “I’ve got it,” and continued toward the kitchen himself. Most of what they had bought that afternoon had gone back to Riley’s apartment, but he had picked up a few things that caught his attention along the way.He set the bags on the kitchen counter just as Catherine appeared from the other side of the room.“Welcome home. You bought quite a lot.”“Not that much.”“It’s unusual to see you come home carrying supermarket bags.”“I went shopping with everyone.”“With Riley and the others?”“Yeah.”Catherine nodded as though that explained everything and looked into one of the bags.“What did you buy?”“This.”The first thing Elliot pulled out was the mysterious popcorn flavor Benji had found.The package featured a large picture of what
On Sunday afternoon, all five of them stood at the entrance to a supermarket.The reason was simple.Riley’s apartment had run out of soda and snacks.That was it.“We’re only buying soda and chips,” Tasha said firmly.“I know.”Riley grabbed a cart.“And eggs.”“That already increased.”“I ran out this morning.”“Fine. Eggs too.”Jax picked up the weekly ad near the entrance.“Wait. They’ve got sales today.”Tasha immediately made a face.“Don’t do that.”“Do what?”“That look you get when you see the word free.”“I haven’t even said anything yet.”“Last time it was a couch.”Elliot laughed a little.“It’s a supermarket this time. How bad could it be?”All four of them looked at him.“Elliot,” Riley said as she started pushing the cart, “you really shouldn’t let your guard down in here.”“In a supermarket?”“Especial







