“So am I,” she said, already planning to extend her stay. She had a few obligations lined up in the next year, but there was no reason she couldn’t make Mystery Lake her home base. She loved Paris, and would keep her apartment there, but she had no interest in being an absentee auntie.
“And thank you for saving Lovell’s life,” Callie said, releasing her.
Daphne snorted as she opened the car door and began gathering her things. She’d borrow something to sleep in from Callie, and she could wash her shirt and underwear overnight. She’d pick up the rest of her stuff from her rental tomorrow.
“Did Gabe tell you their theory?” she asked.
“About Daisy? Yeah. You don’t buy it?”
Daphne tossed the last of her personal items, a small makeup kit she always traveled with, into her tote. She rarely wore much more than mascara and a little lip gloss these days, but old habits died hard.
She shrugged. “From what little Lovell told me about the situation, this attack seems too impersonal for someone like Daisy.” She shut her door and faced her sister. Callie had her lower lip caught between her teeth. Something she did when thinking or unsettled. Being pregnant didn’t make her an invalid, but Daphne wasnotgoing to cause her any worry.
“But what do I know,” she added.
“A lot more than people give you credit for,” Callie replied, looping her arm back through hers. The door to the clubhouse opened, and Gabe stepped out. He scanned the parking lot, then smiled when he saw them.
“You ready?” he called.
“Give me a minute to warm the car up, and we’ll follow you,” Callie replied.
Gabe nodded. “I’ll call in a pizza order on the way and have it delivered. It should arrive shortly after we do.”
“You are a prince among men, Gabe,” Daphne said.
“He does snore, though,” Callie said.
“Says the woman who gets up six times a night to pee,” he shot back, affection laced through his words.
“Do not tease these two about the need to pee,” she said, gesturing to Callie’s belly but keeping her voice low. No one was outside with them, but she wouldn’t take any chances.
Gabe’s grin spread into a wide smile before he tugged Callie into his arms. “They can be up a dozen times if that’s what keeps them comfortable,” he said, kissing her temple.
Callie groaned. “It was four times last night, and that was more than enough, thank you very much.”
“Well, you haven’t been to the toilet since you walked into the clubhouse. Let’s get home before anything becomes urgent,” Daphne said, tugging her sister back to her side. “Want me to drive? You look a little tired.”
“I’m fine. I am looking forward to a nice warm fire, though. And pizza.”
“Then let’s hop to, ladies,” Gabe said, opening Callie’s car door.
Daphne circled the front and climbed into the passenger side, setting her bag on the back seat. Gabe watched as they started the car. When the heat kicked in, Callie gave him the thumbs-up, and he headed to his truck.
Daphne had both driven and walked through downtown Mystery Lake, but everything took on a different flavor with Callie pointing things out. Where she and her friends met for cocktails, before her pregnancy, of course. The shop Mantis’s fiancée and her twin owned. The hospital where she’d have the baby in just over six months. The Dirty Boom, the bar and burger joint where Callie and Gabe ate their first meal after airing all the dirty laundry that had festered for decades. And yes, she mixed her metaphors because sometimes, life required it.
The conversation continued over dinner. The casual warmth of Callie and Gabe’s home, and the knowledge that they weren’t constrained to phone calls any longer, pulled them into discussions about everything from how Gabe’s brothers got their handles to the neighbor’s dog that stopped by every morning to say hi.
The horrors of the day subsided as they talked; the memory of the gunshot echoing through the forest faded. In their place, the sense of rightness she felt flowing between Callie and Gabe filled the space around them, wrapping her—them—in a protective little cocoon. It wouldn’t last, not with someone out to harm Lovell, but for now, she’d take in every shred of information about her sister’s life the two were willing to share.
When Callie started yawning, Gabe offered to tidy up, and Daphne followed her to the couple’s room. After snagging a set of pajamas, she lay on the bed while Callie washed her face and did all the little things she did before sleeping. And when she finally slipped under the covers, Daphne stayed stretched out beside her. Their conversation drew out, the silence between each comment stretching longer and longer until Callie drifted off to sleep.
Rising quietly, Daphne let her gaze rest on her sister. They’d lived too far apart for too long. It shouldn’t have taken a baby for her to realize that. Then again, even if she’d moved to DC, where Callie had lived before moving to Mystery Lake, they wouldn’t have seen much of each other. Callie had been an inveterate workaholic.
She pushed aside the regret and acknowledged that maybe it hadn’t happened before because it wasn’t meant to. But it was now. She felt it to her bones.
With another backward glance at her sleeping sister, she exited the bedroom, shutting the door softly behind her.
She needed to change into her pajamas and start a load of laundry, but she wanted to talk to Gabe first. And judging by the way he sat at the table reading on his phone, he wanted to talk with her, too.
