Lucy’s mind still deep in the idea she’d proposed to Emma and Maddie, running through all that needed to be done the next day, she did a double take when she entered the room and saw Eric sitting on Delia’s bed. “Uh, hey, Eric.”

“Eric?” Maddie said, twisting around Lucy. “Oh, right. Hey, Eric.”

“If we’re interrupting, we can go grab sushi,” Lucy said.

“Interrupting?” Delia swiveled her head, and a curl hit Lucy in the nose. “No, we’re not . . .”

“Lia, breathe,” Eric said.

Lucy raised an eyebrow at Maddie and mouthed, “Lia?”

“Okay, okay. I’ve just been waiting for you. I texted you both a bunch.”

“We had our ringers off because we were—”

“Doesn’t matter! Whatever you were doing doesn’t matter because we’re done.”

“Done?” Lucy’s eyes widened. “You cracked the code?”

“Oh no, we’re the ones who were cracked. Bye-bye, Natalie means bye-bye, hackers and hello, police. They’re probably coming for us right now.”

Eric stood. “She’s exaggerating. Probably.”

“Probably?” Delia said.

“We were only in the one time. And we covered our tracks, Lia. Even if they knew something was up, they wouldn’t know what or where it came from.”

“And if they do? If they find out? It’s all on our computers!”

Eric smoothed the front of his shirt. “Fortunately, orange is my color. And always been partial to jumpsuits.”

“This isn’t funny!” Delia cried.

But Maddie couldn’t hold in the laugh Lucy heard bubbling up. Lucy couldn’t join—as cute as Eric may be. Because everything hinged on this. She needed this. She didn’t realize how much until they’d started making plans with Emma.

“So that’s it?” Lucy asked. “We have no proof?”

Eric reached for Delia’s laptop. She tried to stop him, but he opened it anyway. “We do, actually. All thanks to Delia and her cow-benching muscles.”

“Cow-benching?” Maddie mouthed to Lucy.

She shrugged.

“I can trash everything,” Eric said. “Make sure there’s no trace of it. Or we can keep going. Take what Delia found and re-create what we think Pulse is doing—not on a grand scale, but enough to show what Ryan would be capable of. With all the other evidence you have, it’ll paint a pretty damning picture to get someone who can do something more interested. Your choice.”

“And what if my choice is for you to stay out of it?” Delia asked.

“Ooh, yeah, I’m sorry,” he said. “There are only two bubbles on this multiple choice.”

Delia’s grin was as wide as her hair. “You are amazing, Eric Shaw.” And then she flung herself around Eric’s neck and kissed him.

And all the strategizing whirling in Lucy’s brain ceased. Happiness for Delia overtook everything to come. She hugged her arms around her chest and sighed. “Well, how about that. Our Littlewood girl’s all grown up.”