“What? Now? You just met him.”
“Girl, you have no idea how amazing he is.”
“In bed or out?”
“Both.” I allowed myself to laugh with her, then a thought entered my mind. The woman was like a bulldog, tenacious as hell. If I wanted answers, I couldn’t put all my eggs in one basket. “I need you to do me a favor while I’m gone.”
“O-kay.” Clarice narrowed her eyes.
“What’s wrong? I can tell you’re really bothered by this.”
She stiffened, closing her eyes briefly. “I know this sounds nuts, but I could have sworn I saw Tristen on my way to work. That’s one reason I had to find out if you were okay.”
“What did you just say?” An icy shiver slammed against my spine, frozen fingers clawing at my muscles.
“I know. Don’t say it. But I could have sworn I recognized him.”
“You met him once, remember?”
“Yeah, but he has… had that kind of face you can’t easily forget.” She swallowed visibly then plastered a smile on her face. “Just my imagination. I’m happy for you. Just be careful.”
She had no idea how truthful her warning was. I could lose everything to the stunning man standing only a few feet away.
Including your heart.
I shoved the unwanted thought aside, trying to keep my cool. “He’s dead.”
“I get it.”
“But everyone has a doppelganger.” I laughed, the sound hollow. A crazy thought had come to me only hours before. Now there was no doubt in my mind what Alessandro believed about my ex could be an ugly reality. Was it possible Tristen had tried to warn me?
“You’re right,” she said, trying to sound more cheerful. “What’s the favor?”
I threw a glance out the window before guiding her into my office. “Listen.Thisis going to sound nuts, but you need to trust me.”
“Okay, now you’re scaring me. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You didn’t upset me and there’s no need to worry, but can you go to my house and get something and keep it for a little while?”
“Why can’t you?”
“Alessandro is in a hurry.”
“Oh, la la. What do you need?”
“You always chastised me for keeping Tristen’s things. You were right.”
Huffing, she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, what few of them were left.”
“I think he was lying to me.”
“Whoa. Where is this coming from? Is this because of what I think I saw?”
“No. It’s just something I’ve been thinking about. There’s a box in my closet. Grab it for me and take it to your house.”
“I don’t understand.”
Oh, God. What was I doing? “Just trust me. There’s a book inside. I want you to look through it to see if there’s any weird passages marked. The rest you can toss.”