“It’s Roxie,” Knox said, opening a hand her way.“She’s all attitude.”
“Jane misses you too.”Thena went to her child to accept his kiss on her cheek.“Your reunion will reward the break.”
“I don’t need a break to know I want to be near my wife.”
“You’re worried about your brother and frustrated you didn’t see this coming.”
“I could never have foreseen this.”
“No, you couldn’t.”Thena clasped his cheek.“As always, you take too much on yourself.”
“Oh, poo, poo,” Mimi interjected.“This isn’t a funeral, it’s a good thing.An excellent thing.This is the frog kiss, the last petal on the rose, the waking after years of slumber…”
And that meant…?
“Exactly,” Roxie said, a hand on her husband’s chest as he backed off to go to her bottles.“It’s what we’ve been waiting for.”
“If either of you want to start making sense soon…”
Good, Cam didn’t get it either.At least she wasn’t the only one.
“Ariella breaks the curse.”Tripp apparently followed completely.“Cam was waiting for his princess, now he’s found her.Ariella is the end of his story.”
“Okay, don’t say it like that,” Roxie said, hopping off the counter.“You’ll scare her.”
Was disbelief written all over her face?
“I’m not scared,” Ariella said honestly.“But Cam and I have only known each other a month.”And spent many of those waking hours together.Some sleeping ones too, after last night.“I won’t be the one to break his streak for the sake of it.I won’t force him or tempt him or whatever you want to call it.We’re still figuring this out.”
How long had she known Spence before believing he was The One?That wasn’t fair.Given her differing ages, one situation couldn’t be compared to the other.
“Why’d you think they haven’t done it yet?”
Tripp said that with a lot of authority, had Cam said something?
“It’s complicated.”Could she pull off diplomacy?“And given your family business—”
“Anyone tries to creep up on you,” Mimi declared, “you send them to me, Ari, girl.”
“Who would creep up on a Collier?”Roxie pondered.“Someone who hates themselves, maybe?Someone suicidal, professionally, at least?They want to ruin the lives of their family and everyone they ever met?That’s a possibility.”
“There is a lot to discuss,” Thena said, bypassing the speculation.“And Ariella needs the right platform.”
Did she like the sound of that?Probably not.Definitely not.Like he sensed it, Cam squeezed the back of her neck.
“There are options.”Roxie was suddenly more somber.“Different avenues.”
“There are.”The mother of the boys seemed certain on one.“Mimi and I have dinner plans with Conway Sear.”
Mimi huffed.“Blowhard.”
“Yes, he is.”Thena was so composed, so elegant.It was possible she gawked at the perfection.“And Bram will follow in those footsteps.But we will have dinner with the Sears, so we can have drinks later with Julius McAlm.”
“Mm.”That perked Mimi up.“I could go for that.”
“You’ve been going for that for decades,” Tripp said.“Think I never noticed?”
“Will Brogan join us?”
