She avoided my eyes when I got back from work and found her in the bathroom, wrapped in a silky red robe, her hair in a towel turban. It looked like she’d been crying. But before I could get a straight answer out of her about anything, she distracted me with makeup and samples of no-smudge, long-lasting red lipstick, then disappeared in a woosh of silver chiffon to Jean-Claude’s douche-canoe car, and here we are.

“All right?” Jamie asks.

Smiling up at him, I feel my heart swoop. A solitary wavy lock caresses his temple, and I smooth it back, knowing he wants to be his tidiest. His hazel eyes crinkle handsomely as he peers down at me and light kisses his sharp cheekbones, his long nose, the strong line of his jaw. He’s unbearably hot. “I’m okay,” I tell him. “It’s just that . . . I’d like to find Jules.”

He nods. “We will. I’m sorry Jean-Claude was an ass about driving separately.”

“Eh. Jules seemed excited enough to ride in the Porsche.”

Jamie tightens his grip around my waist, gently pulling me to his side, out of the way of a fast-moving waiter bearing hors d’oeuvres. “Not for the wide world would I let that man drive me. He’s a terror behind the wheel.”

I stop short. “Why didn’t you say something? I let my sister get in the car with him!”

He sighs, peering down at me as we walk. “He’s not actually reckless generally, and I doubt he’d be so careless with Juliet in the car. He just used to act reckless to mess with me because he knew I hated it.”

“Every time I learn something new about this man,” I mumble, “I like him less and less.”

“If he’d be cautious and restrained with anyone, it would be Juliet. And if not . . . your sister’s gone driving with him before. She knows who she’s with and how he acts.”

“Does she?” I glance out into the massive space, scouring the crowd for my sister. It’s an actual ballroom. Jamie has a ballroom in his house. Mansion. Whatever. “I’m not sure she does. Some people . . . they show you their good side first. That’s how they lure you in, and then gradually, they change—well, actually they don’t change, they show their true selves, who they always were. But by then, you don’t know what to think. What do you trust? Are you imagining things? Are they just having a rough week? Doesn’t loving someone mean putting up with their bad side?”

My throat thickens as shitty memories return. Memories of Tod that I’ve worked so hard to leave behind and move on from.

“Bea.” Jamie’s hand gently cups my cheek, turning me until our gazes meet. His eyes search mine. “That’s what he did to you? Your ex.”