My Spy 6: Private Eye

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Momma bought our fib and decked Ryan out in all of my father's military garb. I was eager to get the hell away from her because I still couldn't decide if I was pissed at her or terrified of her.

She gabbed the entire time she opened sewing boxes about how much she was looking forward to our debut and that the town needed to see us being happy and positive after the hearing. She mistook my grimace as anxiety over the parade and I let her. 

She then led Ryan and me back into wedding central and asked if we were ready to continue with making our wedding plans. We realized we no longer had such a short timeline and the thought of my duplicitous father walking me down the aisle now enraged me. I shot out of the room and told her I wasn't ready to discuss more details yet. 

We then made plans for her to pick us up at Austin's for Founder's Day since it was on the way to the start of the parade route, which I realized takes us right past Sweeney's. I haven't been to the winery in weeks and I wonder how Karen is managing without me or Annabeth, although she might actually be getting more work done with A.B outta her way. I wanted to ask my mother about getting back to work, but I couldn't bring myself to have a conversation with her. I can't talk to her about normal things when over lives might be about to implode. 

Once we made it over to our house, I stayed quiet as we took inventory of what still needed to be done before it was move-in ready. My brain couldn't decide if it was stuck in the past or ready for the future. I tried to shake the knots in my stomach, but they lingered while we moved from room to room. When we finally made it upstairs and into the master bedroom, Ryan looks to me as he says, "We're about to be wide open in town tomorrow. After Founder's day, I think we can handle being in our house if I can get the cameras installed." 

I flick my gaze to him in surprise, "Really? Because our mattress and bed should be here today. I would love to officially move out of my mother's house."

"I think she still wants to dote on you, but the tension rolling off you the entire time we were there made it evident that we can't stay there much longer before you become unglued," he says flatly and I nod. 

"I hate this. I hate that Whitney and Annabeth know. I hate that this secret can be used as a weapon against us Sweeneys," I say with a shake of my head. "I get why Whitney was willing to resort to blackmail to keep her business a secret."

"Please don't go down the blackmail route. We need to stay away from drama and not invite it in," he replies flatly before tugging on my arm to pull me over to him. I release a sigh into his chest. We stand in the middle of our empty bedroom in silence. I want to be excited to start imagining paint colors to cover these tacky wallpaper-covered walls, but my heart isn't there yet. I'm about to reply to Ryan when his phone rings. We see it's Austin so I give him the go-ahead to answer. He walks off toward the bathroom and his voice echoes around the empty space. I listen to him coordinating something with Austin as I stroll over to the bay window. I slide my hand against the wooden bench that sits deep into the wall and imagine filling this space with silk pillows and colorful cushions. The windows look out to the back yard and it is blue skies hitting the treeline as far as I can see. I get why this spot on the hill is so special. It faces the woodsy boundary that circles and snakes around Hollis. I can see the tip of the white church steeple in the distance but the rest is just a sea of green hues. 

Ryan's voice snaps my focus to the bathroom entryway as he says, "Austin's getting your grandfather's car towed to his house tomorrow morning. We'll have another project to keep us busy."

"You and Austin you mean? I have enough on my plate," I tell him and he nods. 

"I kinda thought you'd prefer the car to be a male bonding thing."