Say It Again (First Wives, #5)(69)

Sasha unclenched her hands, relaxed her shoulders, and took a deep breath. “I know,” she lied. “For both our sakes, I’ll stop him from dragging me to a chapel in Vegas.”

AJ’s mother blinked several times.

“I mean . . . not that he did that.” Sasha went back to work, doubling her efforts with the potatoes. “He hinted. I said no way. Next thing I know we’re on our way here to visit you.”

“Isn’t that interesting.”

“I’m sorry. That was probably too much information. It isn’t like he’s asked me to marry him. There was a lot of tequila that night.”

“Yet here you are.”

Sasha offered the most innocent smile she could muster. “Crazy, right?”

The back door to the kitchen opened and AJ stood shaking out his coat. “I think I have enough firewood brought in for the night.”

“Thank you, honey. Your father hates that chore.”

The door from the front of the house closed as if AJ had timed it.

“Marjorie? Whose car is in the driveway?”

Sasha turned off the water and dried her hands on a kitchen towel. Time for round two.

“We’re in the kitchen, Alex,” AJ’s mom called out.

Footfalls moved closer. “Who are we?”

AJ stiffened beside her, reached for her hand. When Alex Senior turned the corner, he stopped and tracked AJ with his eyes. There was a hesitation in his smile.

“Look who came to visit!”

Both men faced each other. AJ stood a good three inches taller than his father, broader in the shoulders.

Sasha felt the tension rising.

“AJ, aren’t you going to introduce me?”

AJ released Sasha’s hand and moved to his father with his hand out. “Hey, Dad.”

They shook hands and then suffered an awkward half hug.

“Did we know you were coming?”

“No.”

Marjorie moved beside her husband. “AJ wanted us to meet his girlfriend, Jennifer.”

“I didn’t know you had a girlfriend.”

Adopting her Jennifer smile, Sasha lifted her hand. “He didn’t until after he met me. Pleased to meet you, Mr. Hofmann. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Alex Hofmann grasped her hand to shake and let go as quickly as he could.

He looked down at himself and stepped back. “I’m going to go clean up. I take it you’re staying for dinner.”

“As long as you’re okay with that,” AJ said.

“Of course he’s okay with that. Aren’t you, Alex?” Marjorie asked.

Alex nodded. “Of course.”

Sasha placed a hand on AJ’s waist, gave a little nudge.

“After our last conversation, I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted me to leave.”

Alex hesitated and some of the harsh lines in his eyes softened. “We were all emotional that day. I’ve already put it behind me.”





Chapter Twenty-Five



“It’s a warning.”

Claire stood in the middle of the war room while the card was passed around.

Jeb had taken the flowers outside and determined that they were in fact nothing but lilies. They’d arrived from a UPS truck and not a florist, so the team was working to figure out who had sent them.

“Miss Scarlet is Sasha. Right, everyone can see that.”

Cooper nodded enthusiastically.

“In the dining room with the revolver. Richter’s lower levels were reached through the dining hall. That’s where the indoor range is, the martial arts gym . . . any of the stuff not written on the brochure of academia.”

Trina sat beside Wade. “Who is Charles?”

“Checkpoint Charlie. He’s the gatekeeper. The guy who is always there. The guy who isn’t a teacher or any kind of administration, but who everyone knows.”

“He mans the gates?” Neil asked.

“No. The front door. Kinda like a doorman, only more than that. He always knows what’s going on. We could count on him to have our backs, so long as we weren’t doing anything really stupid. On my birthday this year, he reminded me that the legal drinking age in Germany is eighteen, and that I might find something if I could pick the lock on his locker.”

“I like this guy,” Cooper said.

“Everyone loves Charlie.”

“Like the maid or butler of the house. Knows everything that’s going on,” Wade offered.

“So he sends flowers to me?” Trina asked.

“Not just any flowers. Lilies. A flower associated with funerals.” Claire was beaming now.

“Why does that make you smile?” Trina asked.

“At Richter, if lilies were placed in the vases in the dining hall, it meant all subterranean classes were canceled for the day. It’s a code every student understood. It usually meant someone was visiting the school that had no idea about what we did down there. Any open house or graduation or promotion was littered with lilies.”

“How does Charlie know where Sasha is?” Wade asked.

Claire shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe Sasha said something about Trina.”

“Our relationship isn’t a secret,” Trina said. “Even though Sasha’s pictures were kept out of the papers at the time of her father’s death, I’m pretty sure her name was linked.”