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“That’s great, I’m happy for you, but in future, would you mind letting me know if you do a lucky dip on a bar and score?”
“I was a little distracted,” James retorts, looking out the corner of his eye at me, prompting everyone else to too. My face straightens.Kill the mood, why don’t you?
“I drove home like Miss Daisy,” Danny grumbles. “Saw a thousand cop cars and sweated a millionoh shits.”
“He really did,” Rose pipes up, walking toward the house.
“Where are you going?” Danny calls after her, making her lift the bags in her hands as if to show him, like he could have missed half the mall she’s carrying.
“I’m taking these to our room.”
“Watch the candle,” he yells, lighting another cigarette. “You two don’t mind if we join you?”
I smile, not minding at all. We’ll get our alone time when we’re home. It’s nice for us all to be together again,andall talking. “I don’t mind.”
“Good. There’s a lovely little Italian place I know.”
“Oh, where we’ll have murder for our main course?” I head for the car and slip into the back, but before I can pull the door closed, Danny’s there, leaning in.
“You two talk too much.”
“Stressful day?” I ask, nodding to the cigarette between his lips.
“A few unexpected surprises, yes.” He looks over the car. To James? And then I remember in the gym earlier.You never mentionedthatbit.
Said with such emphasis onthat.
What were they talking about?
“So you’re joining the ranks, eh?” Danny says, blowing smoke in my face, forcing me to waft it away.
“You need to quit.”
He laughs hysterically. “Beau, sweeth—” He thinks for a second. “Beau, if I don’t smoke, I’ll kill.”
“Maybe you need to learn to control your impulses,” I retort casually, brushing the creases out of my dress as Danny bares his teeth. I roll my eyes. “You don’t scare me, Black.” I reach for the door and pull it shut, nearly taking his nose off as Rose slips in beside me, dumping her cell and purse on the seat between us as she buckles up.
“Ready,” she breathes, joining our hands and resting them on the leather. Her phone dings, and I instinctively look down.
“Esther’s coming to Miami?” I ask, seeing a short preview of her message. “You’re not going back to St. Lucia now?”
Rose looks at me, putting her finger to her lips for me to hush.
Oh God.
I lean in closer. “He doesn’t know, does he?”
She peeks out the corner of her eye at me, that look saying it all. “I can’t go to Daniel without Danny, so Daniel must come to me. As my husband keeps pointing out when I’m feeling misplaced, I am a mother. That’s my job,” she whispers. “A hard job to do when one kid is in another country and the other’s not even born yet.”
“He’s going to go mad.”
“I’ll give him one last opportunity to stop being a stubborn dick. If not, I’ll take the matter into my own hands. He’ll get over it. We all know Otto is part of the reason Esther’s not here, and I’m not in St. Lucia with my son because—”
“You were worried about Danny.”
“True. But worrying is stressful, and as everyone keeps saying, I need to chill the fuck out. Besides, I thought I’d be gone a few days. Not weeks. And now Danny’s got a bee in his bonnet about Barney’s dad andthatis why he won’t let me go back to St. Lucia without him.”
“I’ll look forward to the fireworks.” There’s no way Danny’s agreeing to Daniel coming here or Rose going there. The doors open and the men slide in, and, of course, we both shut up, prompting both of them to turn around in their seats and eye us.
