“The mansion landline and your office phone have been ringing off the hook since Big Mouth Cindy posted the picture. Fred and Willicott apparently finished the handicap ramp. Oh, and Lily fed Burt a bowl of spaghetti.”
“Let’s just stay here and drink for the rest of the day. When we’re done, we’ll call a Lyft, throw our phones in the river, go to the airport, and fly to Costa Rica.”
“You have never been more attractive than you are right now,” Riley decided.
“It’s the shoes,” he said.
Her phone rang again, and with an eye-roll, Riley answered. “Hi, Mom.”
“Sweetie, I hate to do this, but I have an emergency. I need you to come over as soon as you can.”
“Is everything okay? Did Grandma give Dad a heart attack?”
“Your father is fine.”
“No, I’m not!” Roger bellowed in the background. “You Thorn women are driving me batty!”
“Don’t listen to him. We just have a situation with your grandmother.”
“An emergency situation?” Riley clarified. “As in first responders are on their way?”
“No. Don’t be silly. No one’s bleeding or turning blue.”
“So then it’s just a regular situation?”
“Just get over here as soon as possible,” Blossom begged. “Please, Riley. I don’t ask for much.”
“Yes, you do. You ask for stuff all the time.”
“For the love of Goddess, do not make me use your middle name!”
“Nick and I will be there in fifteen minutes,” Riley said and hung up. He looked at her expectantly. “Costa Rica will have to wait.”
“Who did your grandmother kill?”
“No one yet. But my mother seems to think we’re needed at the house immediately. She almost broke out my middle name, which means it might not be a severed limb, but it is serious.”
“When are you going to tell me your middle name?” he asked.
“Only when it’s absolutely necessary.”
Nick stuffed the rest of his burger in his mouth and made the universal check sign to the server across the deck.
Riley was in mid-guzzle of the remainder of her beer when a very pretty server with long black hair and pink tips sauntered up to the table.
“Nicky Santiago,” she purred.
Nick jumped out of his chair so fast it tipped over backwards. “Ah, God. Okay. Riley, this is Twyla. Twyla and I dated very briefly,” he said, wrestling his wallet out of his pocket.
“Verybriefly. As soon as he heard I was ready to settle down, get married, have kids, this one was out the door,” Twyla said with a laugh, jerking her thumb affectionately in his direction.
Riley noted she had a wedding band on her left hand and a picture of a kid in her order notebook. “It’s nice to meet you,” she told Twyla.
“Yeah. Nice to see you again. This is my girlfriend, Riley. We’d stay and chat, but we’re leaving the country,” Nick said, dragging Riley to her feet.
“Bye, Twyla.”
22
