“Can’t handle all of Max Sullivan at once, Chloe?” He laughed along with her at first, but when she kept laughing, his expression turned to insulted. “Hey.”
“Sorry. So now that we’re going steady—”
“Oh!” a woman gasped from close by. “It’s really you!”
Chloe jerked upright as a young blonde leaned into her personal space.
“You’re Chloe Turner!”
“Um…” The woman didn’t look like a reporter. She looked like a college student.
“Oh, my God, I love you so much. Can I take a picture of us together?”
Chloe met Max’s eyes, but he looked just as confused as she was.
“I can’t believe how much of an ass that Thomas turned out to be. Stealing from his own mama! What a loser. I’ll bet you’re glad he jumped out of that plane now, huh? Say cheese!”
Chloe smiled weakly as the girl held her camera at arm’s length and pressed her cheek to Chloe’s.
“Thank you! Y’all have a great night. Max, you’re so cute!”
“Er, thanks,” he said as she walked off.
“You are cute,” Chloe offered.
“Wait a minute, what was that about Thomas stealing from his mom?”
“The D.A.’s office must’ve sprung a leak.”
“That’s the embezzlement charge? Jenn wasn’t—”
“No.” Chloe watched the blonde slide back into her chair and show her phone to her squealing friends. “Jenn,” she murmured. “None of it’s really sunk in yet. I’m relieved it wasn’t Jenn. Anna is a friend, but she’s not like a sister.”
“Still.”
“Yeah, still. And Jenn…”
“She knew?”
Chloe started to nod, then shook her head. “How did you figure that out?”
Max shifted, glancing around the room as if he were hoping for another interruption. None seemed imminent and he was clearly disappointed as he faced her again. “Look, Jenn was a little upset that last night on the island. She and Elliott…talked.”
Chloe gasped. “He told you about that?”
He winced. “Yeah.”
“Oh, God. Poor Jenn!”
“‘Poor Jenn’? What about my poor brother?”
She waved a dismissive hand, confident that the Sullivan brothers could handle a good battering to their self-esteem. “So how did you know?”
“Elliott said she was pretty torn up about being a bad friend to you. About being a liar. That’s why she was crying.”
“She knew he was sleeping with Anna, and she was going to let me marry him. That’s what happened.”
“She knew before the crash?”