“Apparently when my grandparents bought the place, the four of them came up here to celebrate and Nana thought it would be a good idea to put a private cabin out here. She came up with the name.”
“Starlight. I like that.”
Evie turned and looked at Zach. “I’ve been thinking a lot about how I feel like . . . like I’m sort of betraying them with this memory loss. Like I’m failing them because I can’t remember what they were like or any of the moments we spent together.”
“Hey, come on—”
“I know it’s silly. But that’s not all I was going to say. It makes me feel better, almost, that I know they were together at one point. Like the four of them had something special. Friendship, love. This amazing place. They must have had so muchfun.” Evie felt the tear sting the back of her eyes, but it didn’t stop her from smiling.
“I’m sure of it.”
Evie leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. She soaked in the warmth of his body as his arms wrapped around her and pulled her closer. She meant for the gesture to be something small, just a little reminder that she was happy to be with him now, in this moment. But it slowly melted into something more—like a declaration of love.
When Zach pulled away, Evie could see it in his dark brown eyes. He felt what she felt. The future was so uncertain, but Evie knew one thing: The more time she spent with Zach Pleasant, the more certain she was of the fact that she never wanted to let him go.
Chapter 22
Nicole knew what she was doing was crazy.
No, no it wasn’t. Under any other circumstances she would stop herself from following, practically stalking, someone through Midtown, but when she saw Chef Melanie Burns come out of the subway, something told her not to let the woman get away. She didn’t think about how bad an idea it was or how she was definitely going to be late meeting Jane and her sister.
Days had gone by, but finally Melanie’s agent, Larry, responded to Nicole with a simple “Thank you. We’ll handle it.” She had no idea how seriously Larry had taken the extreme way his client had popped up in Evie’s DMs, but something in her gut told her Larry wasn’t going to do what was right or necessary to stop it from happening again.
Maybe the stress finally got to her. Or a desperate need to find some concrete justice for her friend. Whatever it was, she found herself hurrying across the street, hot on Melanie’s tail. She followed her for two blocks, and right before she slipped into a Duane Reade, Nicole called out at the top of her lungs.
“Melanie. Melanie Burns. Chef Burns!”
When Melanie froze, Nicole froze. For a microsecond, regret filled her whole body. Nicole hadn’t been in a fight since third grade. She was tough, but she didn’t know if she was ready to fight another grown woman in the middle of a busy street. A teen boy pushing past her broke her out of her trance. Just as Melanie turned around, Nicole braced herself. If she had to fight another grown woman in the middle of the street, so be it.
“Melanie!” she repeated.
“Yeah?” Chef Burns stalked toward her, pushing her way through the throng of pedestrians making their way up the street. “Who are you?”
“You’re Melanie,” Nicole said when they were only a few feet apart.
“Uh, yeah. Who are you? What the fuck do you want?” Okay, yeah. Nicole could definitely see this woman shoving someone down some stairs. She felt herself scowl back at her and then she swallowed, as if it would give her more courage to face down a possible maniac.
“I’m a friend of Evie Buchanan’s,” she said.
Melanie let her head roll to the side and made a dramatic show of rolling her eyes. “Who isn’t a friend of Miss Delightful? In high places only, though, right?” She looked Nicole up and down, sneering at her Burberry coat. It was a gift, damn it.
“I wanted to talk to you aboutThe DishChristmas party and what happened to Evie that night.”
“Oh, you wanna talk? Jesus Christ. Pretty princess can’t even send someone after me for some real fucking revenge. You push a bitch down some stairs and she sends someone after you for a chat.”
“What?!” There was no way Nicole heard her correctly.
“God, that bitch is a joke. I can’t believe they gave her a show. Tell her I said Happy New Year and I hope she fucks right off.” Nicole was so in shock she stood there, blinking after Melanie as she turned and began to walk away. But Nicole reached out and yanked her back by the elbow. Harder than she’d intended. Melanie stumbled and caught herself before she fell off the curb.
“What the hell is your problem?”
“You admit it. You pushed her.”
“And she’s fine!”
Nicole couldn’t believe what she was hearing. All she could see was Evie lying in that dusty stairwell, nearly lifeless, blood pooled around her head. Everything she’d been through in the days that followed. The trauma, the confusion, her damn memory. Evie might never be the same again, and this evil woman was freely admitting her guilt.
Melanie stared back at her, tilting her head and cocking her shoulders like she was daring Nicole to take the first swing, knowing she wouldn’t. Then suddenly the look on Melanie’s face changed. Nicole watched her features reset to nearly neutral, and then creepiest smile slowly stretched out her cheeks.