“I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for all of it.” I hold up my hands and try to get Holden to cool down. He’s in a tizzy about this news article. I understand why. I mean, it is a red flag that Audrey lied about her name. And her past. And where she’s from. And…

Yeah, so it looks bad.

But I’m sure she has her reasons. I just can’t let myself believe this is another Lila situation all over again. When Lila’s unannounced husband showed up on our ranch to collect her, it broke Holden’s heart, but not mine. I liked her all right, but I sure wasn’t in love. Lila was cute and fun, but she didn’t seem to have a genuine connection with us. Well, at least not with me.

Not like Audrey. If this girl turns out to be using us and the cops drag her outta here tomorrow, I’m not gonna lie, I might not get over it. When I look in her eyes, I see a genuine, good-hearted person who needs some help. I don’t see someone manipulating us and running away from something bad she’s done.

Then again, how many times do people get conned by those very types of people. I remember my nana once lost almost ten grand to a sweet woman who told her she was from the IRS. When we asked her how she ever got fooled, she said, “She looked so nice. And she had a card and showed up in a smart pantsuit. I just never expected someone who looked like her to be so rotten.”

Luckily we filed a complaint with the police and they caught the lady behind the scam. It turned out there were a bunch of people going around Texas and preying on the elderly that way. It took some time, but Nana got most of her money back.

Still, I like to believe the best of people. If you spend your whole life giving everyone a side-eye, you’ll live a damned lonely life. The way I see it, you can dwell on the few bad apples and let the barrel rot, or you can chuck those ones and enjoy the unspoiled harvest. I know Holden is more of a glass-half-empty kinda guy. He feels like being negative keeps his feelings protected. And maybe he feels like it makes him smarter than me.

The way I see it, though, is if you keep yourself too protected, you end up living in a bubble. Not only do you miss out on all the amazing things going on outside that sphere, but one day, when that bubble pops it destroys your whole world. When you just live your life and let the chips fall where they may, one disappointment or betrayal doesn’t wipe out everything.

“Look, you can sit up here all day stewing over this and scour the Internet about her, but that’s silly. You know half the shit you read on there is gossip and the other half is lies. Let’s just go downstairs and talk to her ourselves. Give the girl a chance to explain, will ya?”

Holden scowls at the computer screen, his shoulders hunched over and his jaw set. I can see he’s gonna sit here and sulk, but that’s not my way.

“Fine, have it your way, man. I’m gonna go see what Audrey has to say.” I turn and leave the room.

I start down the stairs when I hear Holden get up and follow me. He doesn’t see my smile or understand how happy it makes me that he’s not just going to sit behind that computer and make judgements without learning the full story. I’d never tell him this, but I’m proud of him.

We head back into the kitchen and Audrey has made a beautiful omelet. Her cooking has really come a ways since her bloody burger day.

“Hey, the table is all set and I’m ready to serve this up if you guys are good to go.” She grins. However, her smile fades when she reads the serious looks on our faces.

“Breakfast will have to wait a bit.” I motion for her to put the skillet back on the stove. “We need to talk.”

Audrey’s eyes open wide and she places the cast iron pan back down. “About what?” Her voice is barely a whisper.

“About your lies,” Holden seethes.

I hold up my hand like a crossing guard. “I got this, man. Just chill.” I turn my attention back to Audrey and try not to let her new, sexy hairstyle distract me from my thoughts. “Audrey, we know you’ve been telling us some stuff that ain’t true. Like your last name, for instance…”

“And why you’re here, and your SSN, and who you are. You know, just the minor stuff,” Holden spits his bitter words, ticking each point he’s making off on his fingers.

“Oh.” She stares down at her empty hands.

“Babe, what’s goin’ on? Are you in some kind of trouble?” I close the distance between us and gently lay my hand on her shoulder.

Audrey’s chin trembles and she blinks away the tears lining her eyes. “In trouble? No. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Pffft.” Holden sounds like a leaky tire.

“I didn’t!” she protests, jutting her chin out as she stares at him.

“Okay, I believe you. I just need to know what’s really going on. Can you tell us the truth, please?” I search her face and watch as she softens.

“Yes.” She nods. “I know it might look bad, with the missing person report and everything.”

“So you knew about all of that. And you’ve just been hiding it from us?” Holden shakes his head in disgust.

“I just found out yesterday. That’s the God’s honest truth. I lied to you guys about my name. My last name isn’t Lacey, it’s Lawrence. And I’m not from Seattle. I drove here from L.A. I was an actress in Hollywood and I took off even though I was all set to go with a role on a new movie.”

“Why?” I tilt my head and watch a million emotions cast over her face. Anger, sadness, fear. They’re all distinct and yet, all mixed together. Whatever is going on with her is taking a toll.

“Because I’ve been working in these stupid roles since I was a child. My father made me take these jobs or else I couldn’t see my mother. He had her locked up in an institution when I was young. The only real reason he did it is so he’d have something to hold over my head and keep me out there like some kind of laughing, singing, dancing clown that brought home paychecks for him to live off.” Tears fall down her cheeks and she sniffles as she flicks them away.

“He had your mother institutionalized?” The edge to Holden’s tone is smoothed out. He sounds as horrified as I feel.

“Yes,” she sobs. “He used to tell me I couldn’t visit her if I didn’t work. Sometimes, when I didn’t get a certain part, he’d go months without taking me to see her, just to punish me.” Her tears can’t be flicked away now. They stream down her face and drip off her chin.

“When I grew up a bit, I’d sneak out on buses to visit and eventually I got my own car. But he didn’t like that he had less control, so he started threatening to put her in a shitty home in another state. He’d always hold that over my head, just before every fucking audition.”

“‘I’d hate to see you fuck this one up, Aud’.” She lowers her voice and does an impression of her father. “‘It’d be so hard to keep paying for Mom’s care in California. It’s just so expensive here. I’d probably have to move her to the Midwest or somewhere cheaper. And I’m not sure how often we could drive all that way’.” She sighs so heavily. I can hear the weight she’s been carrying on her shoulders for all these years.

“So, you ran away?” Holden interrupts. “What about your mom?”

“She’s dead.” Audrey’s voice cracks and she breaks down.

Holden and I surround her and hold her up as tears pour out of her. It’s easy to see the pain is still fresh.

I smooth my hand over her hair. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too.” She nods. “She loved me so much, and my whole life Dad kept me away from her. I think it was a broken heart that killed her.” She wipes her tears and clears her throat.

“So, I packed up. He had nothing to keep me there anymore. I knew he wouldn’t go down without a fight, though. I’ve been bank-rolling his life since I was a baby. As if he wants to get off his useless ass and actually support himself now. That’s why I’ve been trying to lie low. I wanted a fresh start somewhere he couldn’t find me. Somewhere I could start over. Now that my mama is resting in peace, I wanted to find some peace too.”

“That makes sense.” I give her a squeeze. “Don’t it?” I give Holden a pointed stare.

“It does,” he agrees.

“I know he’s trying to do this missing person report thing to force me out so I’ll have to go back and fulfill my contract for the movie. But, if I can just hide out and stay put for a few more weeks, it’ll fall through. They’re not going to stop production over me. They’ll cast a new actress and cut their losses.”

“A few weeks? Is that all? I was hoping you’d want to stay with us longer than that.” I raise an eyebrow.

“Really?” She looks up at me.

“Uh, yeah. A lot longer.”

“What about you?” Audrey glances up at Holden timidly.

“Do I want you to stay longer than a few weeks?”

“Yeah.”

“I want you to stay for the rest of your life, if you’ll have us that long. But we can do the next few weeks and see how it goes.” He gives her a smirk.

“We’ll keep you safe, I promise.” I give her a kiss.

“Thank you.” She wraps her arms around us tight and finally a smile slides across those pretty pink lips again. “Thank you so much.” She kisses my cheek and then Holden’s.

“No need to thank us,” he answers gruffly. “Just promise you’ll come to us with this stuff from now on. No more secrets and no more lies,” he demands.

“I promise.” She places her hand over her heart and, maybe I’m a sucker, but I believe her.