Page 90 of Where There's Smoke

I held up my hand. “Of course.”

“Good.” He gave a quiet sniff. “Don’t need to give the media anything to comment on.”

“I know.” I held up my left hand. “Caught my…um…caught my finger in something. Swelled up a bit, so…” I waved the same hand. “Maybe next time I should just put it in a cast so no one has any reason to speculate.”

“Then they’ll just speculate about what you did to your hand.”

“Damn it.”

“Well, just remember you have to keep an eye out for these things,” Roger said. “The public is watching your every move. You take off your ring, they’ll notice.”

“So I’ve gathered,” I said through my teeth. I loved and admired my uncle, but Jesus Christ, the man could be condescending. Before he could give me any more shit about my ring, I changed the subject. “Have you seen Simone?”

He nodded toward the other end of the lobby.

“I need to go talk to her.” I took a step back. “I’ll catch up with you this evening.”

“Certainly,” he said with a nod, and I turned to go.

I made my way across the lobby, and Simone offered a slight smile as I neared her.

“Morning,” I said.

“Morning, sunshine.”

“Ready for another day of chaos and craziness?”

“Oh yeah. Can’t wait.” One eyebrow arched playfully, but her eyes looked worried. “So what happened to your ring yesterday?”

I cleared my throat. “Just, you know, fucked up my hand. Couldn’t put on my ring.”

“Mm-hmm.” Simone laughed halfheartedly. Speaking softly so only I could hear her, she said, “The press and the public might buy that line, but you know I won’t.”

I avoided her eyes.

She laughed again with more effort and less enthusiasm. “That’s what I thought.” Then she put her hand on my arm, and when I looked at her, she said, “What’s going on… It’s okay. Really.”

I dropped my gaze. I didn’t bother asking if she was sure, because I knew she’d tell me she was. This conversation had happened enough times already, and my conscience couldn’t take many more repetitions.

“Okay,” I finally said. “But…I’m sorry about the ring thing. Drawing attention to everything, I mean.”

“It happens.” Her cheeks darkened. “Isn’t like they didn’t notice mine being off too.”

“True. Oh, that reminds me.” I lowered my voice and filled her in on Anthony’s plan for explaining the absence of her ring.

“Smart man,” she said with a nod. “I’ll take it by Marley’s next time I’m home. This Saturday, probably.”

“Good,” I said. “Hopefully that’ll shut everyone up.”

She looked at me and gave a watery smile. “We can hope. Well, it looks like people are waiting for you. ” She gestured past me.

I turned around, and Ranya held up her car keys, which I’d long ago learned was her way of sayinglet’s roll. To Simone, I said, “Yeah, better go. I’ll see you at dinner tonight?”

“Of course.”

I put a hand on her waist and kissed her lightly. Then we both exchanged uneasy, uncertain looks that I hoped no cameras picked up on.

After Simone and I parted ways, I joined Ranya, who gave me an odd look. Half scowl, half inquisitive.

---