Mywife.
Who was currently looking around with wide eyes and saying something about the energy of the East Coast being different from the West Coast, more historical, more grounded, more—
“Julien?”
I turned.
And there, standing by the pickup area, was my sister.
Vivian.
Chapter Eleven
Athena
Oh.
Oh.
The woman standing by the silver sedan had the most incredible energy I’d ever felt. Like a lightning storm contained in human form, all crackling electricity and barely restrained power. She was tall, maybe five-nine, with dark hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail and eyes that were the exact same shade of gray as Julien’s. Sharp cheekbones, elegant posture, wearing black slacks and a burgundy blouse that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe.
She looked like Julien, if Julien were a woman and slightly less likely to have a stress-induced aneurysm.
Also, she lookedfurious.
But underneath the fury, and this was the interesting part, the part the universe wanted me to notice, there was love. So much love. The kind of love that made you want to commit violence against anyone who hurt your sibling, even if that sibling was an idiot who’d gotten drunk-married in Las Vegas.
I liked her immediately.
“Vivian—” Julien started.
“Yourwhat?” she said, staring at me.
I kept smiling and extended my hand. “Hi! I’m Athena. It’s so wonderful to meet you. Julien told me absolutely nothing about you, but I can already tell you’re amazing. Your aura isincredible. Very protective, very fierce. Are you a Leo? You feel like a Leo. Or maybe a Scorpio? Definitely a fire sign, though, or possibly water, but intense water, like—”
“Fritz said—” She stopped. Looked at Julien. Looked at me. Looked at my still-extended hand. “Fritz said you gotmarriedin Vegas. I told him he was full of shit. I told him there was no way, absolutely nopossibleway, that my brother, Julien Darcy, Mr. Color-Coded-Calendar, Mr. I-Plan-My-Meals-Three-Weeks-In-Advance, would get drunk and marry a stranger.”
“Well—” Julien started.
“I TOLD HIM,” Vivian continued, her voice rising, “that he was pranking me. That this was some elaborate joke. That you probably just met someone at the conference and he was exaggerating because that’s what Fritzdoes.”
“Oh, we did meet at the conference!” I said brightly. “Well, technically, I met him at the conference. The universe arranged it. I walked into his presentation and I justknew.”
“Because my brother,” Vivian said, her voice now at a pitch that was making other travelers turn and stare, “mybrilliant neurosurgeon brother, would never—”
She stopped.
Looked at Julien’s left hand.
At the ring.
The wedding ring that wouldn’t come off.
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Oh myGod. Fritz was telling the truth.”
“Vivian—”
“FRITZ WAS TELLING THE TRUTH.”
