“Hannah,” I tried to tell her, finding my bag and grabbing the handle.
“Charlotte! If you dare try and drag that out of here I’ll kick your ass,” Hannah threatened, and I wanted to laugh. Even the idea that she could lift her leg that high right now was comical. She was seven months pregnant and all belly. She’d been complaining that she hadn’t been able to see her feet in months.
“Here,” Mason said, handing me a tumbler. “You look like you need this before she interrogates you.” It was scary how well Mason knew his wife.
“Thanks.” I accepted it and tossed it back in one large gulp. Tequila. Ugh. Usually, it was my drink of choice, but tonight it burned like a bitch and made my empty stomach lurch. Maybe I should’ve eaten more than a fun-size bag of pretzels on the plane.
Hannah took the glass from my hand and set it down before leading me over to the couch. “Right, wanna tell me what’s going on?” Hannah invited.
I looked over to where Mason was hovering within eavesdropping distance. When he shrugged at me, I didn’t bother hiding or asking him to leave. Hannah would tell him everything anyway, so what was the point?
“So I got home from the conference …”
“Ooo. How was it? Did you meet anyone exciting? I bet it was amazing. It was amazing, wasn’t it?”
“Hannah.” Mason’s voice was firm yet gentle and when he handed her a glass of water, she gazed up at him with so much love in her eyes that jealousy hit me like a freight train. That, right there, that’s what I wanted to come home to.
“Todd’s cheating on me,” I blurted out.
Hannah was so shocked her head nearly swiveled right off her neck. “No!”
“Yeah. I walked in on him and his slut when I got home.”
“No!”
“I’ll just put this in the spare room,” Mason offered, picking up my suitcase and carrying it up the stairs. He’s a good guy that one. Shame there wasn’t more like him out there.
“No. Not Todd. I’m sure there’s a good explanation,” Hannah offered.
“Doubt it. His dick was in his hand, and she was wearing my wedding dress,” I said bluntly, painting a very ugly picture.
“No!”
“Oh, yeah. He was sitting there, jerkin’ the gherkin while she pranced around in my wedding dress.”
The disbelief on Hannah’s face morphed into anger as she struggled to get out of the chair.
“Where are you going?” Mason asked, coming back down the stairs as Hannah swung her purse over her shoulder.
“To cut Todd’s dick off. Are you driving or am I?”
I snickered. I couldn’t help it. Hannah was nothing if not fiercely loyal.
2
LUKE
“This looks shit.”
“Isla! You know we don’t say that word in this house,” I scolded my potty-mouthed six-year-old daughter who wasn’t exactly wrong. It looked shit. I was so bad at this.
“Sorry, Dad,” she apologized, dropping her gaze.
My hand was wrapped around her hair while I tried to wrangle the elastic into place. When I finally got it in place, ignoring all the faces and wincing Isla was pulling, I met her eye in the mirror. She was a cute kid. With bright blue eyes, a button nose, and a wonky as fuck ponytail that did in fact, look shit.
“Did you know Katie’s mom braids her hair?”
“Does she?”
