Page 105 of Eclipse Bay

“I know that now.”

Hannah exhaled slowly. “Well, if nothing else good comes from this situation, it sounds like you and he are working out some sort of long overdue reconciliation. That’s worth something.”

Rafe gave her a laconic, sidelong look. “Why do you care whether or not Mitchell and I patch up our differences?”

“I live to bring joy and happiness to those around me.”

“Try again.”

She made a face. “Don’t pin me down.”

“Right.” He took another swallow of the liqueur.

She gave him a few seconds. When he did not volunteer anything further in the way of conversation, she tried another tack.

“I promised myself I wasn’t going to ask what happened between you and Mitchell outside on the porch a while ago, but my curiosity has gotten the better of me.”

“No surprise there.”

She ignored that. “Look, you just told me that you’re no longer worried that Mitchell might be harboring some deep, dark suspicions about what happened on the night of Kaitlin’s death. And the two of you have decided that you’ll work together on our little investigation. Heck, you’re even having your grandfather over for dinner these days. Obviously your relationship is improving rapidly. So what went wrong out there on the porch?”

“Nothing went wrong.”

“Don’t give me that baffled, befuddled male stare. I’m not buying it.”

He sank deeper into his lounger and wrapped his long-fingered hands around the balloon glass. “I thought I was pretty good at doing baffled and befuddled.”

“Not funny, Madison. When you went outside you were in a reasonably good mood. You came back in a lousy mood. You can’t blame me for wondering what transpired on the front porch.”

For a moment she thought he would not answer. Then he tilted his head against the back of the lounger and closed his eyes. “Mitchell made it clear that he didn’t like the fact that you and I are, and here I quote,shacking uptogether.”

“Shacking up?”Hannah sucked in an outraged breath. “He actually used that term?”

“He did, yes.”

“Ridiculous. No one uses that phrase anymore.”

“I mentioned that.”

“It’s old-fashioned. Downright archaic. It implies an outdated value system that demeans and insults two rational, intelligent adults who choose to make their own decisions in an extremely private area of life.”

“Damn right.”

“It’s a stupid phrase implying low morals and a complete disregard for societal norms.”

“You can say that again—I think.”

“It takes absolutely no allowance for alternative lifestyles, freedom of association, and the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

“Well, Mitchell never was what anyone would call politically correct, even on his good days.”

“Besides,” Hannah concluded, “it’s not even true.”

“Sort of hard to explain the facts to Mitchell.”

“We arenotshacking up.” She batted at the air with one hand while she fumbled for words. “We’re not even sharing the same floor here at Dreamscape, let alone the same bedroom.”

“Believe me, I am well aware of that.”

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