Chapter 2

“You’ve got a lot of pictures of her.” Samantha kept swiping through Margaret’s gallery. “You and her at the beach, by the pool, out shopping, at Six Flags. Seems like you should know each other by now. Hasn’t she told you anything about her past?”

Margaret had been spending a lot of time with Jennifer since Anthony went to work in the family business. The girl filled the void in her life when Andre was away, the way Tony had years before.

Margaret felt so close to Jennifer at times, like she really knew her, except Jennifer avoided talking about her past and what Margaret knew she wasn’t sure she believed. It seemed manufactured. “Some, but not a lot, and I don’t want her to feel like I’m interrogating her. She might tell Anthony. That’s why I’m asking you to help me.”

“Alright, you convinced me.”

“Thank you.”

“What are old friends for.” Samantha leaned across the console and kissed Margaret’s cheek. “I better get going.”

Margaret waited until Samantha got into her Honda before driving away from her friend. There wasn’t anybody left in Margaret’s life who she had known longer, yet they barely saw each other and lived worlds apart. That was telling of the life that Margaret now lived.

On her way home, Margaret thought about what Samantha said, “That’s not like you.” It seemed that Samantha knew her better than Margaret knew herself lately. Why would she want to uncover Jennifer’s past?

Margaret drove up the bleached-white concrete driveway that arched between the fountain and the mansion. She passed a red Corvette Stingray and a widebody hellcat Dodge Challenger and parked in front of Jennifer’s second-hand Toyota Camry.

Most of the staff had nicer cars than Jennifer, and Anthony would have let her drive one of the many cars in the stable, but she insisted on putting that eyesore in front of the house. Thinking about it made Margaret smile.

Their favorite cars in the drive didn’t mean they were home. For sure, Andre wasn’t. He was somewhere in Europe finalizing a takeover of some company Margaret knew nothing about. Lily, one of the live-in staff, greeted Margaret in the foyer. She handed the woman her keys and handbag and told Lily she didn’t need anything else. “Is anybody here,” Margaret asked, knowing Lily would understand who she meant.

Lily tsked. “No ma’am, but the girl is in the kitchen.”

Margaret wondered how long Lilly had referred to her as the girl or if she still did behind her back.

The smell of coffee reached Margaret before she got to the kitchen. The powerful odor said it was the strong stuff Jennifer liked. The motion of the girl’s body told Margaret that, as usual, she was listening to music through her earbuds. Margaret paused and watched Jennifer sip the steaming black coffee, then reach for a sponge.

That’s when Margaret saw how worn the girl’s blue jeans were. Jennifer bent over to wipe drops of coffee off the tile, and threadbare patches stretched tight, cutting into tan flesh. She’s either wearing a thong or nothing, Margaret thought.

She swatted Jennifer’s butt. It surprised Jennifer but didn’t scare her. She touched the earbuds to silence them, squinted her eyes, and tried for a scowl, but a not-so-repressed grin and Jennifer’s adorable face made Margaret laugh.

“You know I can be scary mean if I need to be,” Jennifer said.

There was no doubt in Margaret’s mind that despite the cute sprinkling of freckles on her cheeks and those enchanting blue eyes, there was a fierce rage burning somewhere inside Jennifer. “I know you can.” Margaret wondered if Jennifer had ever felt like she was looking into a mirror at the future, the way she felt she was looking into her past.

“You know I can see your ass through the holes in your jeans,” Margaret said. “We could go shopping?”

Jennifer twisted further than seemed possible and looked down over her shoulder at the finger she had just poked into the hole. “Why, you wanna get a pair like these, too?”

With as much indignation as Margaret could muster, she said, “That’ll be the day.”

Jennifer firmly grasped Margaret’s ass cheek and squeezed it appraisingly. “You got the goods to rock a pair like these.”

She just felt up my ass, Margaret thought, I knew it, it wasn’t my imagination.

As if Margaret hadn’t believed her, Jennifer continued, “I mean it, your body is insane, and I rarely see you using the gym.”