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“Let law enforcement do their jobs. It’s not worth your life to take down this one guy.”
“The guy that hasn’t even been convicted of the other rapes and beatings?”
“He’ll spend plenty of time behind bars for attacking your parents’ house and plotting to blow up the governor.”
I shook my head. “The pool house is where I make my stand.”
Leaning away from me, he stared into my face. “Why the hell aren’t you scared?” He stared at me, his eyebrows drawn together.
“Not sure. I am, actually. But when Josh had me tied up, I didn’t panic.” Not much anyway.
“Facing Keith Miller will be a hell of a lot harder than your ex-husband. You’ll get hurt.”
I blew out my breath. “Can we get back to our vacation now?”
His lips pinched together, and his eyes shut. “Are you trying to drive me crazy?”
“Only in bed.” I bent forward and kissed his neck.
“Sally…”
I grabbed the back of his head and pulled him to my mouth. We made out as the Ferris wheel whooshed us up for another turn in the sky.
For the rest of the afternoon, we held hands or wrapped our arms around each other’s backs. I convinced him to enter a Texas hold ’em tournament with me, which we bothlost, but he made it to the final four and it put a pep in his step.
For dinner, he begged to go back to the buffet and, I have to admit, the dinner spread was impressive. Hank ate with such joyfulness and satisfaction, burning his fingers and mouth on food he couldn’t wait to try. I tried to imagine Hank in later life, perhaps a bit potbellied and balding. He’d still have the best smile.
We met up with Amber and Mario at a table in The Purple Zebra bar, out in the hot sunset air with a view of the closed pools. Misters cooled us down a bit, but the water evaporated almost as soon as it touched our skin. Each couple sat close together with knees bumping under the table and slightly exhausted smiles on our faces.
“How was the party?” I asked Amber and Mario after we had our drinks in hand.
“Really nice,” Amber said, smiling at Mario. “It was at a country club. It’s been a while since I’ve met that many people in one afternoon. Mario forgot to tell me he has about two hundred cousins.”
“More like twenty. Thank you for not flirting with Miguel—that man is a thorn in my side.”
“He told me I should make you jealous.”
“See? Then he was all ‘Where’s the party, guys?’ Damn meathead.”
“My favorite part was when Mario’s dad made everyone get up and dance for life. That man is overflowing with positive energy.”
Mario rolled his eyes. “Probably why I’m so cynical.”
“How did you dance for life?” I asked.
“Oh.” Amber finished taking a sip of her mojito and then set it down. “We put our arms up in the air—”
“And ululated,” said Mario.
Amber demonstrated a shoulder rolling dance move with her arms up. “Then we stomped around in a circle and clapped our hands. It made a really big sound.” She twinkled at Mario. “You even made it sexy.”
He grinned, slyly. “When in Rome…”
Amber dragged her eyes away from him. “What’s y’all been up to?”
“Sally was back in the pool this morning, waiting when they opened.” Hank squinted at me. “I had to drag her out of there to go eat at the buffet.”
“He saw a whole roasted pig and his eyes glazed over with happiness,” I said. “It almost made me go vegetarian.”
