“There will be no problems,” Eli said between bites. “I turned everything over to my dad, and he’s going to look into the papers we found and . . .” Eli shrugged. “That’s it. I thought maybe we could all go out on a boat today. I have some relatives who are really good on the water so I’ve spent quite a bit of time with boats and we— What?!”
Everyone was staring at him. Pilar, Lanny, Chelsea, and even Shamus were all looking at him as though they couldn’t believe what he was saying.
“Let me guess,” Chelsea said. “You get us all on a boat, then you suddenly remember that you forgot your sunscreen and you . . . What? You swim away? How good a swimmer have you become since I last saw you?”
Eli filled his mouth and didn’t answer.
“None of the agents can beat him in a pool in the training sessions,” Pilar said.
Eli gave her a look of disgust. “Traitor!” he mumbled.
Lanny was frowning as he looked from Eli to Pilar. “Is there anything between you two besides work?”
“No!” Eli and Pilar said in unison.
Shamus gave a little laugh at their tone.
Chelsea stood up. “I think I’m going to stay here today and do nothing. Maybe I’ll take a nap. Pilar, I bet there’s a lot of work Eli needs to do, so maybe you two could drive up to DC for the day.” She gave an exaggerated yawn. “Yeah, a nap would be lovely.” She started to leave the room.
Eli caught her hand and motioned for her to sit back down. “Okay, no boat, no nap.”
“What about saving the world?” Chelsea asked.
“That’s been put on hold too.” Eli couldn’t help a small smile.
“So what are we going to do today, Great Leader?” Chelsea asked.
“Anyone wanta tell me what’s going on?” Lanny asked.
“Pilar will,” Eli said. He was looking at Chelsea. “What’s in your mind?”
Chelsea looked at her nails. “I need a manicure and I thought I’d do a little shopping. Not much, just some.”
Eli looked at her. “You’re planning to buy Abby a prom dress, aren’t you?”
“Possibly,” Chelsea said and looked at Lanny. “Where can I go shopping?”
“There’s a big outlet mall in Williamsburg.”
“Sounds good,” Chelsea said and again started to get up, but again Eli caught her hand.
“You can’t get involved in this. I’m concerned about . . . about some things.”
Chelsea sat back down. “What have you found out?”
Eli gave a glance at Lanny, then Shamus. His eyes told Chelsea that he couldn’t speak in front of them.
But she wasn’t buying it. She had no doubt that if at all possible Eli would exclude her from everything. She looked him in the eyes. “Remember when we were kids and every time you thought there was danger you tried to exclude me? It didn’t work then and it’s not going to work now.”
Eli glared back at her. “You want to buy her a dress so she can go out with Axel, don’t you?”
“Did I miss something?” Lanny asked Pilar. “Who is Axel?”
“My guess is that he’s Chelsea’s high school football player.” She didn’t take her eyes off Chelsea and Eli, who were glaring at each other like dogs ready to attack.
“You’re not going to stop me,” Chelsea said, her teeth clenched. “Whoever Abby goes with, she deserves to look good.”
“And where has your beauty taken you? Heard from your polo player yet?”