Page 126 of Married with Mayhem

“Yeah, she flew out the other day and she’s staying with Daisy. She’s worried like crazy, Monte. She was making plans to fly out there to find out what the hell is going on.”

“Don’t let her. I’m coming home to her. Tell her that right away.”

“I will,” he promises, then pauses. “I take it you can’t talk right now?”

“Not really.” I look at Fort and can’t tell if he’s listening or not. “Nico, please tell her that I love her.”

“Will do.”

“I’ll see you soon.”

“Be careful, big brother.”

Fort says nothing when I hand his phone back. He simply pushes it into his pocket and continues his chores.

“Can I help you with the horses?” I ask because I’ve got nothing else to do and quite a few hours to kill.

“Sure,” he says and finally looks directly at me. “Grab a brush.”

28

MONTE

Julian accompanies me on the early morning helicopter ride to Laramie, where I’ll take a short flight to Denver and then on to New York.

I can feel him glancing at me every few minutes. If he’s got something to say, I don’t especially want to hear it so I won’t be the one to encourage him to open his mouth.

The scenery out the window is glorious and I’m sure I’d appreciate it if I was in a better mood. My only thought is that tonight I’ll be holding my girl again. I’ll get to tell her all the words I should have said before I left her behind. If she wants to see me grovel, I’ll grovel. I’ll do anything she wants. I meant it when I said that I need her with me.

As we’re landing at the Laramie airport, I rethink the conversation with my brother and realize I never told him I’d be flying back today. He probably assumes I’ll be driving. That’s a big can of worms to open up right now and anyway, I don’t have access to a phone to give him an update. He’ll find out soon enough.

Julian follows me from the chopper and into the terminal building. My flight will be taking off in thirty minutes so I don’t have time for any Tempesta drama.

“Monte,” he says.

I’m tempted to just keep walking but I sling my duffel bag over my shoulder and turn around.

Julian steps up with a hangdog look on his face that’s totally out of character. We’re the same height and he scores a tiny bit of credit for daring to look me in the eye after all the shit he and his brothers pulled.

There’s an object in his hand and he holds it out. “Getty didn’t really throw it in the creek.”

I snatch my phone from him, noting that the battery is dead but it looks otherwise undamaged. With a hiss of annoyance, I walk away from him.

“I’ll see you,” he calls.

“No, you won’t.” I raise my right hand and flip him off.

He laughs anyway.

When the plane takes off, I exhale with relief. Finally, I’m on my way to Sabrina. We fly over the Tempestas’ parked helicopter and Julian is standing on the tarmac and watching the sky. He waves at the sight of my plane. I’d flip him off again but what’s the point? He can’t see me.

It’s only now, as I’m high above the ground, that I take a panicked look at my left hand and remember how I left my wedding ring in the glove compartment of the Impala when I arrived at Storm’s Eye. I try to tell myself it doesn’t matter, that the vows Sabrina and I exchanged weren’t done in good faith anyway.

We’re in love. We don’t need rings for this to be real.

Yet I still regret losing mine.

After barely making my connecting flight in Denver and searching unsuccessfully for an outlet to plug my phone chargerinto, I land at JFK in the late afternoon. The city sparkles beneath the summer sky and has never looked better.

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