The Fidelity Files (Jennifer Hunter #1)(150)

And just as I had originally suspected, there was none.

"Nice to meet you... finally!" I said with an animated smile.

"Same here," he replied.

Satisfied with our initial encounter, Sophie sat back down at the table and gestured for me to take the seat across from them. "Isn't this fun?" she said, her face lit up like a halogen lightbulb. "My best friend and the love of my life meeting for the very first time." She tossed me a knowing look and winked playfully.

Eric and I both laughed at her endearing enthusiasm. "Yes, hon," he said, patting her leg affectionately. "It's nice to finally meet the famous Jennifer."

"You look better," Sophie pointed out.

I nodded, trying to keep the excitement from spreading over my face too fast.

Sophie was apparently oblivious to it, because she was too busy turning to Eric and explaining diligently, "Jen and her um... boyfriend. Or the guy she was dating, got into a fight a few days ago, and they broke up."

She then looked at me with sympathy, ready to receive my nod of approval at her flawless cover story, but instead she noticed something else. Sparkles dancing in my eyes. A glow radiating from my face. And she cocked her head to the side and asked, "Didn't you?"

"Well," I began, pulling my napkin onto my lap. "Actually..."

"Oh my God!" she nearly shouted. "You guys got back together, didn't you?"

I felt myself flush with exhilaration as my head fell into a humble nod. "Yes, we did. Last night."

Sophie clapped her hands ecstatically, as if she was a mother sitting in the front row at her child's first school play. "Oh my God. Tell me everything. What happened?"

I eyed her warningly. "It was just a misunderstanding."

She took the hint and nodded back at me. "Textbook case of Mars to Venus interplanetary communication failure," she confirmed, and then turned to Eric and kissed him on the cheek. "Well, no reason to bore you with all the juicy details, baby. Jen can fill me in later."

I smiled as I watched Eric turn to her, look adoringly into her eyes, and then kiss her on the lips. To my great satisfaction there were no bells going off. No warning lights. No radar beeps. He probably didn't have one unfaithful bone in his entire body.

But something inside of me refused to let it go. I no longer felt confident in my normal devices. Yes, I had essentially been right about Jamie all along. He wasn't the cheating type. But the whole experience had left me feeling unsure of myself. Uncertain of my abilities. Insecure, even.

And as I sat across from the loving couple, soon to be husband and wife, and listened to them take turns fondly rehashing the events of their very first wedding planning weekend, I knew I had to know for sure.

If there was even the slightest margin of error in my internal prediction software, it wouldn't be good enough for me.

Because seeing Sophie so happy, so in love, so hopeful for the future, I knew that "probably" wasn't going to cut it.

I needed a "definitely."

And for the first time, I also knew exactly how to get it.



OCTOBER 31. Halloween. Time for goblins and ghouls and ghosts and monsters to come out of their dark hiding places into the open night air among the rest of us and beg for candy.

Hannah, having proclaimed this Halloween to be her very last one of trick-or-treating, had invited everyone to meet at my mom's house for her official "send-off."

Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. It always had been. And not just because it was a good excuse to eat bucket loads of candy without regret, but because I'd always loved the concept of dressing up. Pretending to be someone else, even for one night. Hell, I'd even managed to make a living out of it for a little while.

I pulled into the driveway at 1355 Mayfield Circle, my childhood home, and killed the engine. Before going inside I fished out my Treo and placed a very important phone call to someone who would hopefully prove to be a very important individual.

"Hello?" Lauren Ireland's voice came on the line.

"Lauren. Hi, it's... Ashlyn. What the hell, it's Jen. My real name is Jennifer. But most people call me Jen."

"Hi, Jen," she said respectfully.

"So, have you found your sanity and decided against becoming a fidelity inspector yet?"

She laughed. "No, not yet, unfortunately."

"Well, that's good to hear. Good for me, at least. Because I need your help."

"You do?"

"Yes. Truth of the matter is, I think I might have an assignment for you... should you choose to accept it."

"Definitely!" I could feel her excitement spilling through the phone. As if I had just told her I would be giving her the most rewarding, fulfilling, satisfying gift I could possibly give her.

But in all actuality, it was she who would be giving that gift to me.

"What's the assignment?" she asked eagerly.

I took a deep breath and started listing all the details I had once made a living collecting: occupation, hobbies, tastes, schools, fraternities, clubs, drinks of choice. But the first and foremost had always been a name. And today that name was "Eric."



"CAN YOU guess who I am?" Hannah asked with excitement as soon as I walked in the front door. She leaped off the couch and came running over to greet me. I took a step back and examined her outfit carefully, taking in every stitch and every seam. She was wearing a short denim miniskirt, knee-high red boots, and an off-the-shoulder black sweater with a large red flower pinned to the front. Her curly blond hair was half up, secured by an entire box of bobby pins.