Lovely Neighbor (Lovely 1)

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. The supervisor Garry called me from home last week and said something about catching him looking at files he wasn’t supposed to be in.”

“Why would he do that?” He’s in IT but he shouldn’t have had access to everything right away.

“He said when he talked to him about it he said it was a mistake.” She shrugs as she looks at her notes. “I’ve got down here that he reported an incident to HR last week as well when he saw the guy go into some kind of emotional rage.” She reads a little more and makes a hmm sound.

“What?” The hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“It’s just weird because we were both in the office that day and I don’t remember it. I think it was the day Erin and Betty came to have lunch with you.”

I lean back in my chair as I try to connect the dots. Something is definitely off, and when it comes to things like this I trust my gut.

“Send me the information on him. I want to pass it on to Jarico just in case.”

“Sure, no problem,” Renee agrees, making a note. “I don’t ever recall meeting him in person, but I can ask Garry for anything he might remember.”

I nod as I stand up and send a quick text to Erin. My hackles are rising and I have this urge to make sure she’s okay.

“Do you, Devin? His name was Peter. Peter Green.”

“No.” I shake my head as another chill goes across my back.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Erin

“This is a lot to take in.” The dining room table is covered in books, fabrics, dishes, and things I don’t recognize.

“It is, but just remember it’s one thing at a time. How many people are you thinking?” I look to Grams for her answer because I only have her, Jenna, and Lucas. There’s no one else in my life and I didn’t realize how small my circle was until now.

“I’m going to guess around fifty. We’ll want to keep it intimate, but Devin and I will be inviting several people. I want to show my granddaughter off.” Grams beams at me.

“Perfect.” The woman writes in her notebook before moving on to the next item. “Okay, the next thing is colors. We’ll need to know so we can have a theme.” I look to Grams again, who laughs at my panicked face.

“Sugar, it’s a wedding and this is supposed to be fun. Don’t take it too seriously.”

“A wedding feels serious.”

“It is but it isn’t. You’re madly in love and getting married. This day should be fun and filled with romance. Nothing you pick will be wrong.”

She’s right. I let out a breath knowing Devin will be happy with anything I pick because he wants me to have the wedding of my dreams.

“If I say pink is everyone going to cringe?”

The wedding planner, Sasha, laughs. “No, lots of brides use pink. What shades are you thinking?”

“Pastels, I think. I want it sweet and light.”

She nods with a smile as she writes it down. “Now on to the date. I spoke to Devin this morning and he wants this yesterday. I bargained for two weeks since I’ll do most of the heavy lifting, but I’m going to need you to be ready for lots of random questions I’ll send you.”

Excitement bubbles inside of me because this is all happening so fast. I’m going to be Erin Meade two weeks from now.

“I can do that.”

“Of course she can.” Grams pats my hand. “We can’t wait much longer than that or she’ll have a baby bump.” I snap my head over to look at her and she shrugs.

“I’m not pregnant.” I put my hand on my stomach. I guess I could be, but it would be too soon to tell.

The wedding planner laughs. “Now the one big thing I need you and Devin to start working on is your prenup. These things can take months to negotiate, but with Devin being a lawyer, I’m sure he can fast track you guys. I just want to put it out there now so we can get ahead of it. We don’t want it to be the day of the wedding and we can’t proceed.”

I hadn’t thought about that. Devin has so much, so I could see why he’d want one. I would never take what belongs to him and it hurts a little that he thinks I would. It’s the right thing to do so no one will ever have to worry over it.

“Ha! Like Devin is going to sign a prenuptial agreement. This wedding is happening,” Grams chuckles. “They will handle all that, so let’s not worry about it.” She waves her off.

Sasha goes to the next item, but I can’t stop thinking about what she said. It’s going to be awkward to bring it up, but I don’t bring anything to the table so there isn’t anything on my end to protect.