Page 109 of The Last Goodbye

Briar smiled. “Maybe it’s not such a bad thing if she knows what we’re up to?”

I laughed, and she continued to fill me in on the plans for the weekend. We’d be staying at the family home in the Hamptons, which was also where the party would be held.

She sighed. “And we’ve got to sit through that interview tomorrow morning before the party.”

“It’ll probably be a few photos, and then he’ll do the interview and you can sneak out of there,” I said, trying to ease the stress I could see on her face.

She nodded and followed it with a yawn. As if on cue, Brandy walked over to clear our trays, and Briar raised the armrest between us and rested her head on my chest.

“You seemed offended when she mentioned that your father said your name is Briar Winchester. Is that a sensitive subject?”

She sighed. “I’ve been Briar Sinclair my entire life. Sinclair was my mother’s name, and I’m proud of it. My father doesn’t like that people know I’m his daughter, but I have a different last name. He only cares about what other people think, and not about the fact that I have a different name because I didn’t know him for the first twenty years of my life.”

“So he thinks he can just tell people the wrong name?” I asked, not hiding my surprise.

“Buckle up. It’ll all make sense after this weekend.”

A quiet laugh left her lips as I wrapped my arm around her a little tighter.

The next thing I knew, we were preparing to land at a small private airport near her family home. We were both shocked that we’d slept for such a long time.

“I guess we’ll have to rain-check that bathroom meeting for the flight home?” Briar said, her voice sleepy.

I laughed as we thanked the pilot and Brandy before deboarding the plane. A black SUV was waiting on the runway for us, and we were soon on our way to her father’s home.

It was obvious that our driver, an older man named Albert, knew her well and adored her.

“I can’t believe how long you’ve been in Blue Sky Bay,” Albert said.

“Yes, I took on an extra project there, and I’ll be there for a few more weeks,” she said.

“And you met Mr. Bennett there? Is that where he’s from?” he asked, which made me chuckle.

Mr. Bennett is sitting in the car, so you could just talk directly to him.

“Yes,” I said, putting a hand on her knee. She appeared edgy and nervous the closer we got to our destination. “I’ve lived there my whole life, but I did attend cooking school here in New York, and I enjoyed my time here.”

“And I take it you two have hit it off?” he pressed.

Briar chuckled and shook her head. “I don’t remember you being this nosy before, Albert.”

“You’ve never brought a man home with you,” he said, and I wasn’t totally surprised by the interesting tidbit. She didn’t seem like she was super comfortable with this side of her family yet, so I could imagine bringing people around could be awkward.

“Don’t give away all my secrets,” she huffed, feigning annoyance, but her lips turned up in the corners, giving her away. “It’s time for you to give me all the scoop, and don’t hold back.” She turned toward me, to fill me in. “Albert and I love to gossip about all the family drama. And Albert, you can speak freely in front of Bass. He’s proven very trustworthy. If he blows our cover, we’ll make him disappear, won’t we, Albert?”

Now it was my turn to laugh. Maybe I was jet-lagged. Maybe I was wondering what the fuck I was about to walk into. But once I started laughing, it took me a minute before I could rein it in.

Briar was looking at me like I’d lost my mind, and Albert was watching us in the rearview mirror with a goofy grin on his face.

“Good to know.” He cleared his throat. “It’s chaos at the house. Tabitha is in full party mode, and the staff is trying to stay out of her hair. I think the mix of the party and the magazine coming to the house in the morning has her on edge.”

“Great,” Briar said. “The woman is wound tight normally, so stressed-out Tabitha is no one’s friend.”

“What a wonderful time to introduce me to the family,” I said drily, which earned me some laughs from the driver’s seat.

“Buckle up, McGrumpy, things are going to be very turbulent for the next few days. We have a family dinner tonight, so you’re going to get a front-row seat to the madness. Tomorrow a larger group will be there, so we can hide out and blend in more.”

“It’s what our girl does best. I found her napping on a lawn chair in the backyard at the holiday party,” Albert said. “Mind you, it was snowing hard, and she was wrapped in a winter coat and a blanket.”