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Bridget pushed me away so fast she gave me whiplash.
Mallory’s mouth dropped open.
Nothing was said for five seconds and then–
“What?”
“Marriedyou?”
“When?”
“Because of the cam room?”
I grabbed a red turkey feather and used it to wipe my cheeks. “It’s a long story.”
Mallory grabbed the box of wine again and topped us all off, mine to the very top. “We’ve got all night and forty-six more turkeys to cut out.”
52
SILAS
My talkwith Robert Hyport didn’t happen right away. No, like a child in trouble, I had to wait hours until he had a free moment for me. Which was late that night.
The deal was over. I knew it. He’d overheard the marriage was a fake. That we’d orchestrated it to close the deal. My father may have fucked Hyport’s assistant, but he never actuallymarriedsomeone to close a deal. The man may have been a womanizing asshole, but he was solid in business.
Me? I got involved in cam room shit during a meetingandfaked a marriage.
I dreaded the meeting, more because it was delayed than the topic of conversation. I texted Mav and warned him the deal was dead because he was wrong. I wasn’t like our father. I was worse.
I wanted to be scolded. Shamed. Told by Hyport I’d disappointed him. Then I wanted to be on a plane back to Denver to sulk in private.
Thankfully, once I sat across from him in his office, Hyport didn’t start with small talk. “Please explain what I overheard earlier between you and your wife, if that’s what she really is.”
53
EVE
“Holy sugar and spice,”Mallory said when I told them everything, minus the sex stuff. She made it a habit not to swear since she was a first-grade teacher. She knew if she started, she’d let all the f-bombs and friends drop in her classroom.
“Yeah, holy shit,” Bridget added.
“I can’t believe he told you to calm down.”
I had to laugh at Mallory, because out of everything I shared, from the confrontation with Cheney to the wedding in the police station to the contracts Silas wanted me to sign, that’s what she said first.
“Do you really think Silas wants Steaming Hotties?” Bridget asked.
“He had a contract for my coffee to be in the San Juan James Inn location.”
Mallory frowned. “What does that have to do with him taking over your shop?”
“He talked with the distributor in Costa Rica about a warehouse,” I added.
“It sounds like you’re going to need more beans if you’re going to be handling another inn.”
“At the dinner with the Hyports Silas kept sayingweand talking about all the things we’re going to do with the place.”
“That sounds like he’s behind you all the way.”
