Page 29 of Cloud Nine Love

One in a billion?

No, it had to be one in a trillion.

When I saw him, my first thought was that he’d come to find me. Even though that would have been stalker behavior, I had to admit, I’d had an inner swoon. But that thought was quickly dispelled when I saw the sheer shock on his face at seeing me again.

That shock tripled when he learned who I was, which was how I knew he had been as clueless as I was about our true identities. From everything I’d heard about Remi, he was the epitome of a stand-up guy; he always did the right thing…actually, now that I thought about it, what I knew about Remi tracked with everything I knew about Kyle, too. But that being said, if Remi had known who I was, he would have never crossed that line with me. I was the mother of his childhood best friend’s daughter.

“Are you okay, Mommy?” Harper asked.

I glanced down at her and saw worry brimming in her eyes.

“Of course, Peanut. I’m great!” I rushed to assure her.

“Then why are you squeezing my hand so tight, and why are we walking so fast?”

“Oh, sorry!” I immediately loosened my He-Man grip and slowed my pace. “I just missed you so much and am so excited to get home.”

Both statements were true; they just didn’t happen to be the catalyst for my behavior.

I could hear Kyle/Remi’s heavy footsteps behind me. Or maybe that was just in my imagination, since there were dozens of other people walking around us. But I felt like it was him, like I could hear him specifically above everyone else. From the first time I looked into his eyes, I felt in tune with him in ways I’d never experienced before. It was as if we were operating on a frequency all our own. That phenomenon had been highly unnerving before his Scooby Doo mask had been taken off and I’d found out his true identity; now it was even more so.

On our way to baggage claim, Harper filled me in on everything that was going on in Mrs. Garcia’s first-grade class. I had never been more grateful for my little Chatty Cathy; her nonstop talking gave me time to try and compose myself and come up with a game plan, something I desperately needed.

When Ruby introduced us, I panicked. The last thing I wanted was for her or Kane to start asking questions about how we knew each other. If I hadn’t interrupted him, Remi would have told them that we met before, that we knew each other. He may not have revealed that it was in the biblical sense, but I couldn’t take that chance. My greatest fear was that one look in my eyes and Kane would know something happened between us—between me and his best friend. Between me and his fiancée’s brother.

That could not happen. What happened between me and Remi needed to fall under the what-happens-in-Vegas-stays-in-Vegas law, except in our case, it would be what-happens-in-Chicago-stays-in-Chicago.

When we reached the luggage carousel, my internal panic attack was still in full force. I stopped and tried to regulate my breathing and listen to Harper, who was still talking a mile a minute. Behind me, I could hear Ruby asking her brother questions, and I couldn’t help but eavesdrop.

“Do you have any luggage?”

“Nope. Just my carry-on.”

It was so strange to hear his very deep—very familiar voice—and know that it belonged to Remi, not Kyle. My brain was having a difficult time reconciling that distinction.

“So, are you okay…about Misty?” Ruby asked. “I mean, you don’t have to talk about it, but I just?—”

“I’m great, actually. I haven’t really thought about it much because, um, well, I met someone.”

Oh no. Please, please, please, do not do this, I begged internally.

“Oh, so you were seeing someone else?” Ruby sounded totally shocked at the thought that her brother would cheat.

“No. I met her right after Misty broke things off.”

“When did Misty break things off?’

“Last night,” Remi explained calmly.

How was he so blasé about this conversation? Each word he spoke made me feel like I was going to crawl out of my skin.

“Last night?” Ruby repeated slowly.

“Yep.”

“Where?”

“At the bar in the airport.”

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