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My husband was still present and watching me. I tried to pretend he wasn’t.

He and Asha seemed to have worked out their beef, as they were talking with relative civility.

I sat down for my beautifying.

“What’s on her schedule for the day?” he was asking Asha.

“First there’s brunch with your mother. She needs to leave in one hour for that.”

He nodded like he was somehow involved. Why hadn’t he left yet? “And after that?” he asked her.

“She’s meeting with her financial team—your father’s sitting in—to discuss some potential investments and business ventures. She had a very promising offer to team up with a prominent brand to start her own clothing and shoe line. And there’s a fragrance campaign on the table. Your father wants her to strike while her brand has so much free publicity. He says that every time you two are seen together, it’s money in the bank.”

I watched his lips as they twisted bitterly. “Isn’t that the truth?” he mused. “When will that meeting end?”

“At five.”

“And…?”

“And then she’s going to your parents’ home for a family dinner. That’s her last engagement of the day. Ideally she’ll be in bed by nine. She has a very early morning tomorrow.” She sent me one of her looks. “Think you can manage not to oversleep for the third day in a row, or is that asking too much?” she said it in a snotty tone, but nothing too over the top, at least for her.

I wanted to stick my tongue out at her like a child. Instead I gave her nothing. I’d learned that was the best way to win with her.

“Watch yourself,” my husband said to her, voice low and mean. “You’re on your last warning with my wife. I won’t tell you again.”

Her pinched face pinched harder, but she only nodded. “Excuse me. I’ll be back when they’re,” she waved at my hair and makeup girls, “done with you.”

When she left the room most of the tension went with her. Jovie popped out of her room like she’d been waiting for the moment. She was humming a tune I thought I recognized. Something from the Wicked soundtrack.

Yep, she’d been waiting.

She beamed at me. “Did he make her disappear again?”

I nodded and laughed.

My husband caught my eye. Something happened to him when he saw me laugh. Something volatile and contradictory. He looked bitter and charmed all at once.

It was fascinating to watch.

I only stopped looking when I had to close my eyes for eyeliner. “What about you?” I asked him, just for the hell of it. “What are your plans for today?”

I could hear the grin in his voice. “What are you offering?”

I blushed. I couldn’t think of a single comeback for him.

“So are you like sticking around for a while?” Jovie asked him after an extremely awkward silence.

He didn’t have a single comeback for her.

I finally opened my eyes when my liner was done. I studied him.

He had the look of a man who badly wanted to leave but just couldn’t quite tear himself away.

Apparently he hadn’t gotten his fill of me just yet.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-TWO