“She and Brenna are still having issues?” Miguel’s forehead’s all scrunched up. “I should have picked up on that.”
“I mean, Riley’s working through some stuff in therapy.” Dane claps a hand over his mouth. “Sorry—that wasn’t mine to share.”
“It’s okay. Riley already told me about that,” Miguel says, sighing. “It sounds like the right thing for her. So…” His gaze shifts from Dane to Miriam and back.
“I was a little surprised myself, but whatevs. I waswaymore surprised when a certain stunning sister made a move on me,” he says, side-eyeing Miriam.
Miguel has pulled his head back and appears to be fighting his gag reflex.
“Don’t be dramatic, Miguelito,” says Miriam. “And Dane, we both know you made all the moves.”
“Sure did. And for once, they worked!”
“I can’t believe you two were getting it on in my house, of all places,” mutters Miguel.
“My apartment’s too trashed right now, though I’m totally going to fix that when I get home,” says Dane, crossing his arms and leaning against the hallway wall. “But if you’re upset because you were going to invite your lady friend back over, Miriam and I can skedaddle to give you some privacy.”
“Woman,Dane,” Miriam says, but she’s smiling. “ ‘Lady’ makes her sound old. Which makes me sound old, because I’m pretty sure Fiona and I are about the same age.”
“Roger that,” he says, planting a kiss on the top of her head. “I will no longer use ye olde L-word. Unless we’re talking about love, of course.”
She giggles and loops her arm around his waist.
“Dane…” Miguel begins.
“I’m about to show myself out, chief—just gotta grab my shirt,” says Dane. He lowers his voice and says to Miriam, “If you’re still up for it, I’ll seeyoutomorrow morning before you head to Ann Arbor.”
“Maybe,” she says, but then she kisses him on the lips.
“I’m going to need something much stronger to discuss this with you,” Miguel says to her as Dane retrieves his shirt from the guest room and saunters down the stairs.
“Pour me one, too,” says Miriam, who’s just wrapped herself in the silky patterned robe Dane handed her on his way out. “I don’t have to take off until ten tomorrow.”
Downstairs, Miguel grabs a bottle from the bar cart in the corner of the dining room and serves them both a dark liquid that smells flammable. Then they sit on opposite sides of the sofa, legs stretched out, regarding each other like a couple of cats that haven’t decided whether to cuddle or claw at each other.
“You first,” says Miguel.
“Bueno.I’m a little concerned about Fiona.”
“Wait a second—I thought we were going to discuss Dane.”
“What’s to discuss? He’s a lovely distraction.”
“The ‘lovely’ part is highly debatable. Are you sure you want to get involved with him? After all, you yourself said you have a bad picker.”
Miriam sighs so heavily that her whole torso heaves. “For today? Maybe tomorrow, or even when I get back from Ann Arbor? Sure. Beyond that, I don’t know that I want to be involved with anyone. But giving a nice guy a chance instead of waiting for some self-centered prick to give me the time of day—well, I’m sure my therapist would call that progress.”
“Define ‘nice.’ ”
She lifts her glass to him momentarily before taking a sip. “He pursued me. He complimented me more in three hours than that jerk from Caguas I dated did in two years.Te prometo,you don’t want to hear the details beyond that,” she says, and now he pretends to barf into his drink. “I’m much more concerned about you getting caught up with Fiona.”
“Fiona? Why? You told me you wanted me to be happy.”
“Ido.You know that. And she seems great.”
“But…”
“But as you yourself have pointed out, she lives in Chicago, and you live here. She has a kid with the same name as Amelia, which is probably not helping you on the guilt front. And frankly, I get the impression she’s holding something back.”
