For the first couple of hours Sunday morning, I float through my chores on endorphins. Our delicious before-dawn happy birthday lovemaking session made me completely forget about Franklin and my terrible dream.

While Rune goes off to his secret new office, which he promises I'll be able to visit later today, I put on my headphones and listen to cheerful Studio Ghibli cottagecore soundtrack music. The kids still won't be up for another hour or so. I know they want to help frost and decorate the Rune's cake, so I'll prepare the custard for the filling and bake the cake layers now.

It's a bright, clear morning outside the kitchen windows, with only a smattering of fluffy clouds. I'm in a good groove, eating homemade white bean hummus on toast, drinking my Earl Grey tea, and cooking. I'm looking forward to hosting Rune's party tonight.

Luna and her extended family will be here too, so we'll have quite a crowd. I've told Luna about our goal to take lots of lifestyle photos and videos tonight so we can start sharing our version of reality. She's volunteered to bring all kinds of flower arrangements to decorate the back deck. This is perfect. I love arranging flowers, but I'm delighted to defer to her expertise.

Once the custard's done and the cakes are in the oven, I slip into the office to wrap Rune's gift. I hid the special edition of Howl's Moving Castle from The Folio Society at the back of a drawer in the antique file cabinet. I stashed it away behind file folders, along with a beautiful navy blue and gold falling star wrapping paper I found at one of my favorite local gift shops along with his birthday card.

Rune might not be as bad as Syd at snooping for birthday and holiday gifts. But after he sneaked into my bucket list journal, I figured it was better to be safe than sorry. I'm wrapping the gift when I feel someone's eyes on me and turn to find Syd in the doorway with a stricken expression.

"What's happened?" I ask. The instant I pull off my headphones, the tsunami wave crests in my mind's eye, bigger than ever. Oh no.

"Jenna's given a video interview to a popular gossip site," she says tensely, sitting across from me, "someone's coached her Shells; she's attacking you personally. It's bad."

"Let me see it," I say, reaching for her cell.

"I don't think you should watch it," but Syd doesn't resist as I take the phone from her.

"Then you shouldn't have told me!" I snap.

I watch the video with my heart pounding as Jenna shames my world to bits. We only witnessed the tip of the iceberg of her wrath a few days ago. The interview isn't an interview so much as it's a rant. Gunnar's still tired-looking but beautifully made-up former fiancée describes me as a dangerous unhinged woman who's been obsessed with Rune my whole life.

"It's sad and pathetic, really," Jenna tells the interviewer, "Shelby Alpinieri has spun this grandiose narrative of she and Asher Dillion being soul mates by making art for a fake book cover featuring him. It played right into his oversized ego."

When the camera changes angles and pans back from the side, it shows Jenna sitting in a director's chair in an expansive well-tended garden with beautiful xeriscaping and lots of Mexican lavender. The house in the background is off-white stucco with an ornate, expensive, antique-looking window.

"Where do you think she is?" I ask Syd, "This isn't Orange County, is it?"

"No," Syd scoffs leaning in to look at the video again, "I'm pretty sure she's in Santa Barbara. I bet Pamela found one of Franklin's cronies to put her up at a vacation house."

Of course. I'm sure Jenna got back in touch with Pamela the minute she was sure Gunnar wouldn't catch her. She's also wearing her arm in a sling. I guess Jenna could have hurt her arm or shoulder when she stumbled backward down the stairs, but I doubt it. She landed on her skinny butt. I hit play and continue watching with my shoulders hunched almost as badly as Franklin's were in my dream.

"The sad truth is Shelby lucked out in this friendship with Asher only because they spent their summer vacations next door to each other as kids in Washington state."

Then Jenna starts to cry angry tears, which she wipes away daintily, showing off a perfect, bright red manicure, "I had to listen to Shelby talk about their golden summers together ad nauseam while I was putting my former fiancé's old farmhouse in some kind of livable order. You can't believe how rundown the Borstads let it get."

This is the kind of interview in which you don't hear the interviewer's questions but just see the text of them on screen. I've seen this done for movie junkets before, but not this kind of interview. A text line goes up asking about Lorelei.

"Oh," Jenna shakes her head emphatically, "There's absolutely no truth to Lorelei Borstad being Shelby and Rune's secret lovechild. Shelby's the one putting that out and about herself. But it is true that Nils Alpinieri is Gunnar Borstad's child with Sydney Alpinieri, her sister. I'm the victim here. I've been physically attacked by Shelby and lost my entire future to the machinations of the Alpinieri sisters."

The interview goes further into Jenna's woes, including flashing images of Sydney and Gunnar together at several parties and events I've never seen before and a still from their perfume ad where they're kissing on horseback. It makes it look like the two have been carrying on secretly behind everyone's back for years.

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"How did she have time to find out all this?" I ask, feeling completely numb but getting up because I hear the timer going off for the oven, "I never got a word in edgewise when talking to Jenna the few times I did. I never said a word about Rune to her. I never even discussed him or our past summers with Gunnar, either."

"It's not from Gunnar," Syd says firmly, "He doesn't gossip. It's got to be Pamela, from stuff mom told her, doesn't it? Or Christ, even Franklin and a lot of digging, which Pamela probably has minions find," Syd says as she follows me to the kitchen, "Let me do that," she instructs and physically moves me to sit at the kitchen bar while she checks on the cake.

While Syd takes the cake layers out to cool and makes me a glass of iced tea, I scroll through the list of new messages on my phone. Several of them are from reporters from gossip sites. One of them is from Vivienne and is asking me to call her. She's been trying to get ahold of me since last night. She's the only person outside of my family I can handle talking to right now.

"Hey, Viv," I say, trying to sound normal when she picks up, but I fail miserably.

"I can tell by your voice you've heard about this Jenna woman's interview," Vivienne says, her voice warm with concern.

"I just watched it," I confirm, my voice ragged. I take a small sip of tea for my suddenly parched throat, "Jenna makes it sound like I attacked her, and for no reason. Viv, she slammed my sister from behind so hard we had to take her to urgent care for stitches and it destroyed her laptop."

"No one who knows you well will believe a word of this crazy interview," Vivienne says soothingly, "But honey, I think you and your family need to tell your side of the story. I don't think Rune's strategy of keeping mostly silent is working. I think you need to rally the troops and let your family and friends help you."

"We were getting ready to do that, well, in a fun little, probably completely ineffective lifestyle way compared to this," I laugh wryly so I won't cry, "Oh God, this is so bad, Viv. I wish we were talking about your date with Tyler Paul instead. How did last night go?"

"It's a positive work in progress," Viv says mysteriously, "You'll hear all about it very soon, but let's stay focused, Shelby. Do you feel comfortable telling me what happened?"

Seeing me engaged in the conversation with Viv, Syd dashes out the front door, probably to find Rune, Gunnar, or both. I pace back and forth in the living room, filling Vivienne in on what's really going on.

"Viv, I'm not at liberty to talk about it; that's for Rune to share, but Franklin Haus did something terrible to him, criminally bad. This attack from Pamela and Franklin is because Rune will be part of the Narcissus podcast exposing Franklin at the end of next month."

"Shelby, I think you should have Rune call Myriam right away for media relations advice," Viv tells me.

"Rune says he can't afford her level of public relations," I sniff because the shock is starting to wear off, and the tears are starting slip down my face.

"Then Shelby have him call her daughter Naomi as a friend," Viv encourages, "I'm sure something can be worked out."

I catch sight of Rune through the front window, striding purposefully across the porch, "Will do. Thank you. I'll keep you updated," I tell Vivienne as he bursts through the door.

"Hey, Seashell," he says, taking me by the shoulders, "you know nothing she said is true, right?" I nod dumbly under the intensity of his green gaze, and then he moves me over gently to sit on the couch.

"Yes, I know it intellectually," I say as he hands me the box of tissues left behind by Kim with one hand and rubs my thigh comfortingly with the other, "But emotionally, it's such a gut punch. Pamela or Franklin must have fed her information. People will really think I attacked her, and for no reason."

"Oh, they're definitely taking advantage of this," Rune agrees darkly, getting his phone out of his pocket. I hope we won't view Jenna's interview again; I don't think I can handle it. Instead, he says, "Now we just need to find a way to hang them with it."

"At least it means I didn't actually kill Franklin," I mumble as Rune texts rapidly, "Viv thinks you should reach out to Naomi for some helpful advice," I tell him.

"Yes, that's next," he says quickly, which surprises me, "first I need to do something I should have thought of earlier."

"Oh?" I ask.

"I'm going to have someone keep an eye on Franklin's house," he tells me, "I have a hunch. I want to find out if it's true."

"Do you want to cancel your party?" I ask, hoping I'm not going to start crying again.

"Not a chance," Rune says, a hard, determined look on his handsome face.

**

I'm so glad I had so much prepped in advance for Rune's party and now have a lot of help. For the next several hours Rune and I talk on the phone. We speak with his father and his law firm, with Gunnar's lawyer, and even have a conversation with Raymond Santiago of the Narcissus podcast.

Raymond wanted to know what I remember about Rune meeting Franklin at our holiday party all those years ago. He thinks it might be valuable for the podcast. It's surreal to listen to his famous voice on Rune's cell as we chat with him in the office. He also said the conversation with my mom went really well, and if possible, he's going to have the podcast play sooner.

The only people we don't speak with are my parents. Syd and I received texts from Dad saying they'd seen Jenna's interview. He promised he'd be in touch as soon as possible and that Mom was able to speak with the police a day early, and they're focused on that. I have no idea if my mom is still not speaking to me, though.

When Naomi is finally free to speak, we take an online call with her upstairs in the bedroom and leave the others to carry on with the party prep.

"This woman is a real piece of work," Naomi confirms grimly.

She looks almost exactly like she did as the smart girl detective on the teen TV show Rune was in with her all those years ago, except that now her glasses and clothes are much more chic. Naomi asks us both a series of insightful questions, which leads to Rune confidentially telling her about the upcoming Narcissus podcast this fall and what Franklin has been up to.

"Rune, why in the world didn't you let me, and my mom know this was going on?" Naomi chides him, obviously aghast at what he's sharing.

"I don't know," Rune admits, "I was in such a bad place with my mother's death, and when I did speak to a lawyer about Franklin it just seemed like such a nightmare to deal with legally. He's so rich and powerful in comparison to me."

"Okay, I hear you," Naomi tells him, "But for the sake of your extended family, I think it would be wise to at least come out with a statement to refute this interview."