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“My housekeeper’s sister works at the records office at city hall,” Meera Dewan said conversationally, pulling the chair on my right so close that I could smell the Tom Ford Soleil Blanc wafting off her. “She saw two hot dudes getting married the other day, and one was Dr. Brighton, the surgeon who took out her appendix. She said he was robbing the cradle. Would you know anything about that?”
“What?” I laughed uneasily. “No. That’s.Heh. I mean. Lots of people look like other people, Meera—”
“True.” Paul Norris, whose twins were Jacey’s age, parked himself beside Margot. “Which is why, when Meera mentioned it to me, I asked Roberta Allen if she’d heard anything. Roberta’s wife volunteers in the admin office at Mountbatten.” He lifted one eyebrow. “She said Grant’shusbandis listed as the girls’ second emergency contact.”
“I…” I felt my face going red.
“Holy shi… shiitake mushrooms,” Candace breathed with a guilty glance down at her toddler. “I knew it! I told Max at breakfast, and he was all, ‘No way. Grant Brighton’s straight. And even if he weren’t, he’d never fool around with hisnanny—’”
“Full-time childcare specialist,” I muttered. “And Max is right. Grant wouldn’t. He didn’t! It wasn’t like that. See, what happened was…” I trailed off.
Shit.
What happened was Grant and I were a pair of idiots who’d spent so much time congratulating ourselves on keeping a secret that we hadn’t come up with a plan for what to do if we got found out.
“You got married without inviting us,” Margot said unhappily. “We didn’t even get to give you a bachelor party. Or a shower. I throw thebestshowers.”
“It was a very quiet event,” I said desperately. “A small, spontaneous little…” I cleared my throat. “…marriage. Just me and Grant. We haven’t even told the girls yet. They’re dealing with so much already, changing schools, and we want to, you know, make sure things are as stable as possible for them—”
“Why in the world would you worry about that?” Meera demanded. “The girls love you. They’ll be thrilled. Besides, some of us have known for a while that Grant wasn’t straight.”
Candace nodded. “I told Max that, too.”
“Anyone witheyescould see the way you’ve looked at each other for years. Like he’s the sun you revolve around and you’re the stars that guide him, or so Javier tells me,” Paul said with an eye roll for his poetic husband. “It’snauseating,FYI,and sets the bar way too high for the rest of us.”
“No.” I shook my head frantically. “That’s not true.”
“Don’t bother denying it. There’s no way you’re going to keep this a secret. Roberta’s chatty,” Margot said with a disapproving look, as though she wasn’t the unofficial head of the neighborhood gossip network. “And this story is way too cute to keep quiet. Besides, it’s not like you committed a murder. You fell in love.”
“Yeah, I guess I did,” I sighed. I couldn’t bring myself to deny it. “But it’s complicated, okay. Grant and I—”
“Awww. You’re already talking like a couple! Are you going to be a Brighton now that you’re married?” Meera asked eagerly. “Grant and Brody Brighton sounds so adorab—Oh.”
Candace glanced up, and her gaze caught at something over my shoulder. Paul looked, too, and he winced. A sick feeling swelled in my gut even before a small voice from behind me said, “Brody?”
I turned around to find Jacey standing by my chair. “I came back for my goggles,” she whispered, darting a glance at the assembled adults that made it clear she’d overheard at least some part of the discussion.
“Oh, sweetheart.” I reached for her, but she took a step back. “Hang on. Let me explain.”
“Is it true? You and Dad… gotmarried?” Her face held a combination of hope and fear, but I wasn’t sure which outcome she hoped for and which she feared.
I hesitated… and that was all the answer she needed. She jerked out of my reach and bolted toward the ladies’ room.
Shit.
“Brody, we’re so sorry. We didn’t see her,” Margot began, but I didn’t stop to reassure her or explain.
“Watch the girls, please!” I yelled, and then I hurled myself off the side of the chaise, only pausing to grab my phone, and ran after Jacey, who was heading for the clubhouse.
When she disappeared inside the women’s changing room, I dialed Grant.
“Dr. Brighton,” he said in his clipped work tone.
Thank god.
“Everyone’s okay. We’re fine,” I reassured him first. I’d learned the hard way that a call from me in the middle of the day gave him an immediate surge of adrenaline because, as a trauma surgeon, he assumed the worst. “But there’s a problem with our, uh… secret.” I glanced around and lowered my voice further. “The neighborhood parents found out that we got married, and when they asked me about it, Jacey overheard and ran off. She seemed upset.”
“Fuck.”
