Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN IN THE RED DRESS
Adrien lifted his head.
A woman stood just inside the restaurant door.
Red dress.
Black winter coat hanging open.
Soft brown hair pinned loosely at the back of her neck, several strands already escaping around a face flushed from cold and panic.
There was flour on one sleeve.
And frosting on the heel of one shoe.
The triplets exploded.
“Mommy!”
All three abandoned the interview at once.
Lily ran first.
Sophie followed.
Emma hesitated only long enough to collect the pink notebook before rushing after them.
The woman crouched.
“Oh my God. I’m so sorry.”
She kissed one forehead, then another, then another.
“I told you to wait in the car until I came inside.”
Lily looked offended.
“You were taking too long.”
Sophie added:
“He was going to leave.”
Emma pointed toward Adrien.
“So we interviewed him.”
Their mother slowly looked up.
Her eyes met Adrien’s.
For one second, neither moved.
Then she stood.
“I am so unbelievably sorry.”
Adrien almost smiled.
“For the interview?”
“For all of this.”
She gestured helplessly toward the three children now reorganizing his table.
“My sitter canceled. My emergency sitter is apparently dating my ex-landlord. My biggest wedding cake collapsed thirty minutes before delivery, and my daughters decided they were qualified to handle my social life.”
Lily whispered:
“We are.”
Adrien heard her.
The woman did too.
Her eyes closed briefly.
“I’m Mara Bennett.”
“Adrien Moretti.”
She shook his hand.
Her expression changed.
Not dramatically.
But enough.
She knew the surname.
Most people in Boston did.
“You’re that Moretti?”
Adrien considered lying.
Then remembered three serious faces asking whether he would leave.
“Yes.”
Mara went very still.
Lily tugged her mother’s sleeve.
“He said family business and real estate.”
Mara looked at Adrien.
“You left out a few departments.”
Adrien almost laughed.
“I did.”
The promise already pressing against him.
Do not lie to her about who I am.
He pulled out a chair.
“You came. Sit.”
“I’m forty minutes late.”
“Thirty-seven.”
Her eyebrow rose.
“You counted?”
“I was leaving.”
“Fair.”
Then Emma climbed back into her chair and opened the notebook.
“We are not finished.”
Mara covered her face.
Adrien sat.
For reasons he could not explain, he wanted to hear the remaining questions.
Dinner began awkwardly.
Then less awkwardly.
Mara owned a bakery called Bennett & Bloom.
The cake disaster had been a four-tier wedding order damaged when a refrigerator compressor failed.
She had rebuilt the bottom layers herself.
She had been raising the girls alone since before they were born.
Their father had left after she told him she might be pregnant.
Never returned.
Then her mother Rose helped.
Until Rose died eleven months earlier.
At the mention of Rose Bennett, Dante—who had just entered the private dining room—stopped in the doorway.
Adrien saw it.
“What?”
Dante shook his head.
“Nothing.”
Adrien knew him too well.
“What?”
Mara looked between them.
Dante’s face had gone pale.
“Your mother was Rose Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“Rose Evelyn Bennett?”
Mara’s expression sharpened.
“Yes.”
Dante slowly reached into his coat.
He removed an old envelope.
Adrien stared.
“What is that?”
Dante looked at Mara.
“Something your mother gave me before she died.”
Mara stopped breathing.
Then Lily gasped.
“Wait.”
She opened the pink notebook.
From the back cover she pulled another smaller envelope.
Same handwriting.
Same cream paper.
Across the front:
IF THE MAN’S NAME IS ADRIEN MORETTI, GIVE HIM THIS.
Adrien stared at Mara.
Mara stared at Dante.
May you like
The date had not been random.
Rose Bennett had arranged something from the grave.
