"Eliza, what are you talking about? I'm crazy about you," he said. "I've been crazy about you since the first time I saw you at the Perrys' pool."
"What about Carolyn? Or Lindsay? Why were you with them?"
"I met them through work. Carolyn is cool. And she was friends with your friends. I thought ... I don't know, I thought that would matter to you, that I knew people you did. Lindsay was nothing. I was only with her because I thought I could make you jealous, since you were with Ryan."
"Ryan and I aren't . . . aren't anything special. We're just friends."
"Really?" he asked hopefully.
"Really," she said firmly.
"So . . . you're not with him?"
267
"No." But Eliza had to come clean. "I mean, not anymore. He's great, but he's. . . he's just not you."
Jeremy smiled his crooked smile. Eliza smiled into his eyes, and just like that, they kissed. Jeremy stroked her hair, and Eliza put a hand up to his cheek, warming her hands on his skin while the hurricane swirled around them and the house shook.
"I love you," he said. "You're the only girl for me."
Eliza felt so much happiness that she wasn't sure it could fit inside her skin. And when he kissed her again, she felt as light as air, like a bubble that had popped out of a bottle of champagne, floating dizzily toward the ceiling.
268
mara steals from the rich to give to the, uh, rich
THE LIGHTS WENT OUT AT FIVE, AND THERE WERE NO MORE
towels to stop the water from entering through the cracks in the doorway. The kids were getting antsy. Mara had spent the afternoon with them, playing Go Fish and Old Maid. William was actually sitting still for once. Zoe had a knack for Go Fish, and even Cody was being quiet. Madison had even found a bag of chips and was eating them along with everyone else.
"Old Maid!" Madison crowed, when Mara took the wrong card.
"Well, let's just hope it's not prophetic," Mara joked.
The house shook with a rumble that came from the driveway, and they all ran to the window to see an immense Home Depot truck pull up to the front of the Reynolds estate.
Mara couldn't believe it. Ryan had called to tell Laurie that there was nothing at the Home Depot. Looking at the truck, she could only guess what had happened.
"C'mon, kids!'she said, getting all of them together. "We're going to do a raid!"
269
After making sure all the kids were dressed warmly in sweaters and nylon slickers, she led them outside. The rain was coming down hard, and it was going to get really bad really soon. She ushered them through the hedges that separated the property and into a secret passageway that Garrett had showed her, which led to the basement of the Reynolds Castle.
The kids were beside themselves with delight. Mara led them up through the basement. She cracked open the door to the kitchen. The coast was clear.
"C'mon," she said, and led the kids to one of the upstairs bathrooms where the linen closet held so many towels it was like a miniature Bed, Bath & Beyond. Mara began loading up on towels, passing them out to the kids to hold.
"What are you doing?" Garrett asked lightly, walking into the bathroom, holding a beer. He looked pasty in his white oxford shirt.
Mara looked at him. She remembered his cutting remarks, the way he'd immediately believed she had taken the earrings and dumped her without even bothering to listen to her side.
"You guys have too much of this stuff. You don't need all of it, so we're taking some," Mara replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"You can't do that," he said, still in a light, mocking tone.
"Okay, then I'll ask nicely. Can we have some? Please?"