Taryn pursed her lips. “Cooper’s not hard up for dates.”
“Well, sure. But…there hasn’t been anyone serious. I mean, he said something cryptic when we spoke last night, but I didn’t entirely understand, and when I pressed, he rambled on about how Ruby wants to have another baby.”
“Two rambunctious boys and one prima donna girl isn’t enough?”
She said the words teasingly. My niece had taken one look at her younger brothers and determined she was going to be a princess forever. Except she really liked tow trucks. She didn’t see the potential contradiction, and we weren’t going to point it out. Eventually she’d realize she couldn’t wear a ball gown while working a winch.
“I think Ruby wants another girl.” I scrunched my nose. “Cooper’s got something on his mind. He was…distracted.”
“Well, he’s picking us up at the airport, right?”
“Yep.”
“Maybe we’ll get some inkling at that point.” She ran her finger down my cheek. “I don’t want to go back to work tomorrow.”
“Yes, you do.” I poked her. “You’ve missed your friends.” She’d taken so many photographs and shared them with her buddies. Oh, and Lachlan as well. He’d never been far from her mind as she’d commented, more than once, how distracted he’d been. “Do you think Cooper and Lachlan will ever figure out how to get along? How to coexist in our world?”
She laughed. “Coexist? It’s not like they’re cohabitating. Lachlan’s halfway across the country.” Her laughter died. “I miss him. I know he’s been gone twenty years, but I just wish he’d come home, you know?”
“No big fancy law firms in Mission City…”
“Well, sure. But he could start his own. God knows, he’s smart enough.”
“Not too many show biz people who need representing in Mission City.”
She glared. “You’re not helping.”
“Oh, hon. I’m just being realistic. Lachlan loves his job. He’s damn good at it. And he’s surrounded by some of the most successful people in the Canadian entertainment industry.”
“Well, there’re plenty of people in Vancouver. He could set up shop there. Oh, even better…” She pursed her lips—this cutelittle thing she did when she was thinking really hard. “He could live in Mission City and commute to Vancouver on the West Coast Express commuter train. Or, I suppose, drive into the city when he needs a car. That would suck, but whatever.”
The seatbelt light flashed on, and the pilot announced we were making our descent into Vancouver International. We’d flown with our seatbelts on, of course. We took care of ourselves—and we took care of each other.
I couldn’t believe we had the rest of our lives to look forward to.
As we stood in line to deal with customs, I was a little less sanguine as I wanted the rest of our lives to startright now. Not some bureaucratic rigmarole.
“Smile, sweetheart. They’re just doing their job. Would you want to deal with grumpy people all day?”
“I am not grumpy.” To prove my point, I put on a fake smile. Which morphed into a real one when I acknowledged how happy I truly was.
So I beamed at the customs officer—an attractive tan-skinned man with a genuine smile whose grin grew when we told him we’d been on our honeymoon. “Welcome back to Canada, and may your marriage be blessed.”
Taryn radiated happiness. “Thank you. I think we needed to hear that.”
“You always will from me.” He handed my passport to me.
We headed to snag our luggage. Since we’d traveled light, we were able to make our way to Cooper quickly.
Hugs, laughter, comments about the lack of tans despite being in Australia—with us reminding him it was technically wintertime there—greeted us.
I insisted Taryn take the front seat so she could regale Cooper about the trip. She could be a bit of a dark horse, my wife. She often tried to come off as distant—but she was one of thewarmest people I knew. One just had to break through the tough exterior. She couldn’t show fear or back down in her job. And she’d dealt with some pretty big assholes in her time. But then they’d realize they’d have to wait hours for areal tow truckdriver to be available, and the vast majority backed down.
We were barely over the bridge when Taryn’s phone rang.
“Hello, Lachlan. Yes, before you ask, we’ve landed safely.” She paused. “Yes, Cooper’s driving us.”
Cooper swerved into the next lane, then overcorrected, and damn nearly slammed us against the barricade.
