Page 147 of Bitter Secrets

“I wish you wouldn’t.”

“Why?”

“You know I’m not.”

“You can’t change what you are.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of their entrées. Her plate of pasta and oysters made her mouth water, but Roth’s fish drizzled with sauce made her reconsider her choice. She slipped off his lap and dug in. Aleixo and Johnny insisted she try their dishes and sampled hers. She forgot her manners and actually stole a piece from Roth’s plate without thinking. It wasn’t until she swallowed that she realized what she’d done. She glanced at Roth to see how he was taking her faux pas, but he didn’t notice, since he was talking to Mo, who was crouched beside his chair.

When she couldn’t eat anymore, she sat back and listened to Johnny and Lyle talk. They had many mutual acquaintances and Lyle was very familiar with Johnny’s family. The look on Johnny’s face when Lyle told him about two nieces he didn’t know about broke her heart. Why was family so cruel? She shouldn’t be surprised. She, out of all people, knew blood could be your worst enemy.

Lyle tried to lighten the mood. “I just had a daughter.”

Johnny covered up his pain by clapping. “Pictures!”

“This is the first time I’ve been away from her,” Lyle said as he reached into his jacket and pulled out his phone. “I’m going to cut back on traveling and send someone else in the future.” He handed the phone over. “She has her mother’s eyes.”

Jasmine hovered behind Johnny’s chair as he swiped through photos of Polara. Colette sent her a steady stream of photos, but she had never seen these. The sight of Lyle doing selfies with his daughter sleeping on his shoulder was priceless. There were quite a few candid shots of Colette and Polara. Her sister would freak if she knew Lyle was showing these to people. She looked up, grinning, and saw Lyle watching her with a speculative look on his face. She severed their eye contact and retook her seat. The most difficult part about being part of her nieces’ and nephews’ lives was dealing with their parents.

“Desserts?” Johnny asked.

Even though they all declined, he beckoned their server and ordered one of everything.

She was mid-yawn when Roth grasped her hand. She glanced at him and saw he was on the phone.

“What’s the combination for the safe?” he asked.

She jolted. “What? Why?”

“Sarai’s packing your things.”

“We’re leaving?”

“Yes. Tonight. What’s the combination?”

“I…” Her heart began to speed up as she remembered the numbers she’d chosen. Would he recognize the significance of them? She didn’t want to find out. She held out her hand for the phone. “I can tell her.”

“Tell me.”

She stared at him for ten seconds before she realized he wasn’t going to relent. She rapped out the numbers quickly, hoping he wouldn’t put two and two together, but the long pause before he relayed the numbers to Sarai told her he recognized them. He didn’t miss a damn thing. She tugged on her hand, but he didn’t release her.

“Yes,” he said into the phone. “We’ll meet you there.”

He hung up and focused on her.

“I’m not ready to leave,” she said hastily.

“We’ll come back.”

“Soon?”

He nodded.

“Can we stay longer next time?”

“You used the date we met as the combination.”

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