Page 70 of The Getaway

Please let me have imagined it.

She couldn’t take another tragedy.

The knock sounded again. Then, “Gemma! It’s me, Lily. Are you up?”

For a long moment, Gemma still didn’t move. She had avoided being alone with Lily all night. She was still so angry at her, and at herself, that she wasn’t sure what she wanted to say to her oldest friend, and she didn’t want to risk saying the wrong thing. Everyone had lost enough this weekend. Gemma wasn’t ready to write off Lily just yet. Not when everything was so heightened and fraught.

“Gemma, please. I need your help with something.”

Of course she did. And of course this is what got Gemma out of bed. Old habits died hard, it seemed. Quietly, Gemma tiptoed to the door and cracked it open, and a flashlight blinded her. Grant gave a snort and rolled over.

“Oh, crap, sorry.” Lily clicked the light over to a dimmer setting as Gemma tried to blink the purple shadows from her eyes.

Lily was in the hall alone, wearing a pair of white sweatpants and a cropped gray T-shirt. Where she’d gotten the change of clothes, Gemma didn’t know or care. The fact that she was bouncing on her bare toes was a bit disturbing.

“I thought we were supposed to stay with our partners,” Gemma said by way of greeting.

“Josh passed out on the floor in the billiards room, so I made him go up to bed, but it’s not like I’m really going to sleep in the same room as him,” Lily said, waving her free hand. “He needs time to himself. And besides, if you’re with me, I’ll be paired up.”

“But Josh and Grant won’t be,” Gemma pointed out.

Lily rolled her eyes slightly. “Okay, but are you really worried about Grant?”

As if on cue, Grant let out a small, contented sort of sigh and tugged the blankets closer around him. Gemma and Lily both stifled laughs.

“Okay, I guess not.” Gemma slipped into the hall. “So what’re we doing? And please remember that the last thing you asked me to do didn’t go all that well.”

Lily laced her fingers together in front of her chest, holding on to the flashlight with one thumb hooked around its wand, and nodded. She looked like a little girl about to confess that she’d broken her brother’s bike or something. “I know. I know. I’m so sorry, Gem. I really am. I obviously had no idea—”

“Don’t start crying,” Gemma said. “If you start crying, I’m gonna start crying, and then we’re never going to do whatever it is you need to do.”

Lily sucked in a long, broken, bolstering breath. “You’re right. I know you’re right. I just want you to know I’m truly sorry for everything you’ve been through the last two days, and I will find a way to make it up to you.”

“Thank you,” Gemma said. “Now, what’s the mission?”

Lily turned and began walking down the hall, back toward the main stairway. “What is up with these photographs?” she asked, gesturing broadly at the artwork in the hallway. “Doesn’t she know this is a beach house? Who wants to look at this depressing crap when they’re trying to relax? Is something fundamentally wrong with her?”

“Yeah, it’s a little off putting,” Gemma agreed, wrinkling her nose at an empty rocking chair on a jetty.

“And everything is so sharp and dark and ugh. I spent so much time decorating this place. What a waste.”

“Your artwork is still up in the guesthouse, you know.”

“Well, thank God for that,” Lily said.

“Are you okay?” Gemma asked. There was something a bit manic about the way Lily was behaving. Like she was overly caffeinated and wired. But at least she wasn’t fully focused on Lincoln. Maybe it was good for her to be distracted from her sadness for a bit.

“No, I’m not okay! There is literally nothing about any of this that is okay!” They had reached the top of the stairs, and Lily turned to whisper in Gemma’s face. Her breath smelled of vodka and coffee. Espresso martinis? Gemma held herself as still as possible to keep from wincing. “We should have power, you know. There are three generators. But you know what Magdelena told me? That they disconnected all of them for the construction! What construction, you ask? She’s building a ballroom! She took out my pool and is building a ballroom. Like she thinks she’s Cinderella or something!”

Gemma didn’t tell Lily that she was very aware of the construction because there was currently a dead body back there. It didn’t feel like the time to discuss Trevor and whether or not his blood was on their hands.

Lily wavered on her feet, and Gemma’s heart leaped to her throat. She grabbed her friend by both arms before she could fall backward down the stairs.

“And did you know that she turned my painting studio into a barre studio?” she whispered, completely unfazed by the fact that she’d nearly crashed down the staircase.

Gemma took a deep cleansing breath and gave a nod. “I did hear something about that.”

She really hoped Lily was not about to suggest they burn the barre studio to the ground.