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Rose red-handed trying to jimmy the lock on my dad’s office door.”
    And they were just hearing about this now? “I would think you might have mentioned something as important as someone breaking into the CEO’s office,” Tony said.
    “She claimed there was a paper in there that she needed, something my dad’s secretary left for her. She said she forgot to grab it before my dad left and locked his office. She was afraid she would get into trouble if she didn’t take care of it. Then out of the blue she got a call saying she didn’t need to do it after all.”
    “Sounds like she always has an excuse.”
    “Carrie said she looked guilty.”
    “All the more reason to report it,” Nick said.
    “I didn’t want to get Rose in trouble if she hadn’t done anything wrong. I meant to look into it, then we found out that Carrie was pregnant, and I totally forgot to follow through.”
    “Understandable,” Nick said.
    “No kidding,” Tony mumbled, and Rob chuckled.
    “Do we even know for sure that Rose is Phyllis’s daughter?” Nick asked. “It’s not like we can ask Phyllis since she’s dead. Rose could be an impostor. She could be a spy going after company secrets. She could be an undercover reporter working on an exposé.”
    “An exposé about chocolate?” Tony couldn’t think of anything less interesting. “ Why? Or is there something else going on here that I don’t know about?”
    “If there is, I don’t know about it, either,” Rob said. “I only know that Meg is worried. And that has me worried.”
    “We could take it to our parents, tell them what we know,” Nick said.
    “Why don’t we do a little digging first?” Rob said. “I don’t want to get her in trouble if her only crime is being a little odd.”
    “It’s your call,” Tony told him.
    “Give me a week or two,” Rob said.
    Tony found himself hoping that Rob did discover some nefarious activity. With any luck it would take the focus off him for a while. At least until he figured out what to do. Lucy would marry him eventually, of that he was positive. It was just a matter of wearing her down and making her see reason.
    * * *
    The rich and salty scent of frying bacon woke Lucy from a deep sleep with a smile on her face. Tony almost always made her breakfast when she spent the night. Even if he only had time to toast bread or pour her a bowl of cereal before he left for work. He kept her favorite kind around for such occasions, which had been more frequent in the weeks before she left.
    Until just now, Lucy had never stopped to consider what a nice gesture that was. In fact, he did an awful lot of nice things for her. She couldn’t help feeling that she’d taken him for granted.
    She wouldn’t be making that mistake again.
    She pried her lids open and looked at the clock. She blinked several times, sure that her eyes were playing tricks on her. It couldn’t possibly be 11:30 a.m. That would mean that she’d slept for almost eighteen hours.
    On the bedside table her phone chirped, alerting her that she had new text message. She reached over and grabbed it.
    Ugh.
    There were half a dozen text messages. All from her mom.
    Lucy had taken the coward’s way out last night. Instead of calling, she’d messaged her mom to say that she wouldn’t need a lift from the airport after all, and she’d be staying in Chicago a little longer than expected.
    How long and with who? had been her mom’s immediate response.
    As tempting as it was to throw her mom’s words back at her— wouldn’t marry a woman like me, my ass —that sort of thing always seemed to blow up in her face. After careful consideration, Lucy decided that it wouldn’t be worth the temporary feeling of satisfaction. The less her mom knew at this point, the better.
    She texted back, A friend, not sure how long, no time to discuss it. If Lucy believed for a second her mom was concerned for her well-being, she would have answered. She knew better.
    She rolled out of