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His second cousin nodded, as if considering the wisdom of that. “Could happen,” he mused.
“Not if I don’t know where the hell she is,” Alec said, temper spiking. He yanked out his phone and checked the screen again.
“You tried to call—”
“Both her and Jojo. No response. Not to texts, either.”
“I’m sure they’ll show up,” Kane said. “I can alert the front desk to let us know if they come through the lobby.”
“No. Jojo would hate that. And they will turn up. Lilly won’t leave her friend Audra for too long.”
“The bride-that-wasn’t.”
“Yeah.”
“I haven’t seen her around the grounds.”
This time it was Alec who grimaced. “I don’t think she’s left their bungalow once since arriving.”
“So much for our newfound reputation. We can only hope she’s not tarnishing the hotel’s glowing image as healer of broken hearts via her social media accounts.”
“Is that a real concern?”
“Hell, no, at least not to me. I’ve never liked that schmaltzy PR angle, even though we didn’t start it. Great-Great-Grandfather Hathaway wouldn’t approve either. Did you know he was married five times?”
“Sounds to me like he had more faith in romance than most men. You, for certain.”
Kane frowned. “I don’t think—”
Peals of laughter interrupted the rest of his sentence.
“The prodigal daughters have returned,” he said, turning toward two women traipsing into the lobby, arms entwined and looking as thick as thieves.
“Returned drunk,” Alec said, crossing his arms over his chest and giving the pair a critical eye.
“We are not drunk,” Jojo claimed as she approached, shaking a naughty finger at him. “We are giddy with…with new friendship.”
“How many toasts did the new friends make?”
They glanced at each other, shrugged. Lilly’s inky-blue gaze came back to his, her face betraying a becoming, though guilty, flush. “Um, we didn’t count.”
“And we didn’t drive either,” Jojo crowed. “We hired our own driver for the afternoon. Redondo.”
“Reynaldo,” Lilly corrected.
Wide-eyed, Jojo stared at her new buddy. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m good with names.”
Jojo’s mouth stretched into a goofy smile. “You are such a Becky,” she said, then directed her attention to Alec. “The girl’s a Becky! You should jump on it! Beckys are special!”
He winced at the volume of her voice. “Do I want to know what she’s talking about?” he said to Kane under his breath.
“I think I can translate,” the other man offered. “She fills up our text string with her collection of odd slang. A ‘Becky’ is the best kind of girlfriend a man could imagine. We’re all supposed to be on the lookout for a Becky.”
“Alec doesn’t want a girlfriend,” Lilly said to his sister. “Remember?”
“Oh, yeah. But men say shit like that all the time. My ex said he didn’t want a girlfriend because he already had a wife, but he had one on the side anyway.” She started laughing. “I called her Side Dish.”
“How original.” Alec grabbed his sister by the arm and pulled her closer. “Do I need to administer a field sobriety test before you go into the theater for Mom and Dad’s little lovefest on film?”
Jojo stilled. “Oh. Yeah.” She drew up her hand and breathed against her palm, then blinked, likely due to the heavy alcohol fumes bouncing back at her. “Uh-oh.”
Lilly sidled close to Alec and spoke just for his ears. “I think she’s a little on edge to be around so much happy family on the heels of her divorce.”
He grimaced. “I don’t think I can give her a pass on skipping it. Mom and Dad want us both to be there. Kane too.”
“I’ll get coffees from the cart in the lobby and bring them back.” Lilly’s “giddiness” seemed to be quickly evaporating. “Jojo will be sobering up in no time.”
“Would you do that?” Glancing at his wrist, his watch told him they should be hustling into the theater.
