But then she had to go and ruin it by talking. “Don’t tell me you’re in the dog house with America’s Darlingagain.”
“Fine. I won’t tell you.”
Karin gave him a look, like he was just such a chucklehead. “Put yourself out of your misery. Go say you’re sorry.”
“Drop it.”
“Stennie, it’s time you learned to love again.” She said it so sweetly.
And that made it hurt even more—enough that he opened his big mouth and said, “Yeah, well, it’s time you started taking your own advice.” The words got out before he made himself stop them.
And Karin knew exactly what he meant by them—or at least, she suspected. She took a long pull off her ginger beer and then asked, “What are you getting at?”
He tried to backpedal. “It’s not my business. Sorry.”
“Just say it. Please.”
And then he turned and looked at her and, well, he never had liked lying much. “Last night, when you got home...” He explained about hearing voices, and that he and Madison had gone outside to see what was up. “We saw you with Liam Bravo.”
“Ugh.” She drank more fake beer. “It’s complicated.”
Now that he’d gone and put his foot in it, he at least had to offer, “You want to talk about it?”
“Um, no.”
He felt relief that she wasn’t going to unburden herself to him, which probably made him a terrible brother. “Well, I’m ready to listen if you ever do.”
“Thanks—but like I said, no. Liam did tell me, though, the real reason Madison’s here in town.” She leaned her head back and watched the wisps of clouds high above, like smoke trails in the dark sky. “She looks like the Bravos. I probably should have guessed—and don’t worry. I won’t say anything to anyone. I haven’t forgotten that she’s trying not to let the world know she’s here—and anyway, who would I tell?”
They gazed out at the ocean together until he asked, “So where’s my quote from Scarlett O’Hara?”
“Sorry.” She set her half-empty bottle on the little table between them and gathered her legs up onto the chair. “Scarlett’s got nothing worthwhile to say tonight.”
* * *
The next day, Madison stewed a little over whether or not to call Sten and ask him for a ride to Daniel’s house.
Somehow, she kept herself from doing that. Really, she’d been using him as a car service and that just wasn’t right. Plus, they were now on the outs and she had no desire whatsoever to ask him for anything at the moment, anyway.
She put on her dark wig, sunglasses and a big hat and called a cab to take her to the DNA party, making a stop at a drugstore downtown along the way. An unnecessary stop, probably.
But so what? It was her life and her body and if she ever spoke to Sten again, she intended to be ready for anything that might happen.
Was that wonky reasoning? Absolutely.
She stopped at the drugstore anyway.
No one in the store recognized her. She could have been invisible for all the attention the clerk and the few other customers gave her. And the cabbie? He never looked twice at her.
All of which had her thinking she needed to get over herself.
If somebody found her out, so what? She would just ask the person to please respect her privacy—and if they didn’t and a few paparazzi showed up in town, well, so be it. She’d been hounded by relentless photojournalists before and lived to tell about it.
At Daniel’s, she stuffed her silly disguise in her giant tote and visited with her newfound family. She played Old MacDonald Lotto with the twins and kissed a really unsanitary-looking stuffed animal when Jake stuck the thing in her face. Keely let her hold the baby. Little Marie cooed and waved her tiny hands. She smelled like milk and clean cotton sheets dried in the sun—well, until she dumped a big load in her diaper, anyway.
Keely laughed. “She’s so cute until she poops.”
Madison handed the little girl to her mother and spent a few minutes getting to know the youngest of her new siblings, Grace. Everyone’s phones got a workout as they took a bunch of group shots.
