“Continue. You were thinking . . .”

“That in our minds, we may be overblowing this. I think that as long as they don’t move off the island, the risk to the kids is probably nominal.”

“Leslie, let me ask you something. Would you like to live with someone who didn’t like you? Because that’s really the core problem here.”

“Well, maybe you can guide the boys to endear themselves to her.”

“I think they’d rather take a bullet,” I said. “Their suspicions of her and their distaste for her run deep.”

“No, really. I’m serious.”

“I’m thinking, and I cannot conceive of a single thing they could do. A craft? She’d probably laugh at it. I mean, I could give them flowers from my garden for her or something like that.”

The coffee was dripping, and it smelled so good, I decided I’d have a cup as well.

“That’s a good start,” Leslie said. “Everyone loves flowers.”

“It’s going to take a whole lot more than flowers to cement that relationship,” I said.

I left Leslie in the kitchen and I took my mug to the porch. The fading light of the afternoon was wrapping everything in rosy hues. The truth was that I didn’t want Archie’s marriage to Sharon to work. If I couldn’t stop it from happening, then I wanted it to end as quickly as possible.

Chapter 12: Roofie

Unique among all God’s creatures, only the honey bee improves the environment and preys not on any other species.

—Royden Brown, Author of The World’s Only Perfect Food: The Bee Pollen Bible

Chapter Twelve

Roofie

The next day, my cell phone rang, I answered it, and to my utter astonishment it was Sharon. She was not calling for her patient, my mother. She was calling for me. And I knew exactly why.

“Holly?” she said. “It’s Sharon.”

“Oh, hi, Sharon. What’s going on?”

“Well, Arch and I finally decided where we’d go for a honeymoon, and . . .”

Arch? When did he become Arch?

“Oh? Where are you going?”

“Bermuda. And we were wondering if we might . . .”

“How lovely. I’ve always wanted to go to Bermuda.”

She must be calling to ask me to keep the kids while she and Arch went away. Why else would she call? Because she was running a special on veneers? Or Invisalign? Gimme a break.

“Yes, well, you should go. It’s completely charming. Anyway, we were wondering if . . .”

“I’d be delighted to take care of the boys.” Forever, I thought.

“You would? Oh, that’s just great! Another detail to check off the list as done! Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome. How long will you be gone?”

“Oh, just a week. You know our calendars are insane and well, I really can’t be away for too long. Anyway, this time we want to compensate you. Arch insists.”