Page 111 of Better Late Than Never

ALEX

“How was Morocco?” I lounged in my bed, phone in hand as I FaceTimed with Connor. “Did your kids like it?”

“We all had a blast. You were right about that guide. He was awesome!”

“He’s great. I think I tipped him like a hundred euro last time.”

“Okay, so I don’t feel so ridiculous for tipping him that much.”

“He’s worth every penny.”

We talked for a while about everything he and his kids had done in Tangier. I’d been to most of the same places, including the shop where they’d bought rugs. It was fun, listening to him talk excitedly about places I’d also been.

But it was also really, really hard not to blurt out,“We should go there together sometime.”

No. We shouldn’t. For a lot of very non-negotiable reasons.

I knew that, but the desire to say fuck it and go anyway was strong. Probably because in the days since his kids had been here, I’d missed him more than I wanted to think about and definitely more than I wanted to admit out loud.

Unaware of me spinning out over a ridiculous fantasy of him wanting to go to Morocco with me, Connor said, “We also did Gibraltar after we came back. That was a fun trip.”

“Oh, yeah? Did you do one of the Rock tours?”

“Of course. Especially once Savannah heard about the monkeys. There was no way she was missing that.”

I chuckled. “That’s the best part. Especially if you go on a day when there’s not a lot of people, so the monkeys just sort of chill. I was there once when it was crowded as hell, and the monkeys were running around and stealing shit. I think some of them were scared, too.”

Connor grimaced. “Yeah, I think we got lucky. Our guide said we picked a day when there were no cruise ships in port, so everything was pretty deserted.” He laughed. “The guy told Savannah to stand over by one of the railings where there was a monkey so Quinn could take a picture of her. He said, ‘Don’t worry, it won’t jump on you!’”

“Let me guess—it jumped on her.”

“Yep. Fortunately, she’s pretty chill with animals. It startled her, and it knocked her a little off-balance because it must’ve weighed like thirty pounds, but she just stood there quietly while it played with her hair.”

“That must’ve made for some great photos. She wasn’t scared, was she?”

He shrugged. “A little nervous, but I think that’s expected when a wild animal decides to hitch a ride on you. Quinn got scared, though. He kind of froze up, but fortunately, my younger son took a video and I got some pictures.”

“Eh, I can’t blame him.” I shifted a little on the bed, trying to get comfortable. “Good on her for being calm and him being quiet even though it scared him. One of smaller ones jumped on a lady last time I was there, and she started shrieking and flailing.” I rolled my eyes. “Like, do youwantto get bitten? Because that’s how you get bitten.”

“I know, right?” He shook his head. “Savannah looked at me at one point and very, very quietly asked, ‘You can fix me up if it bites me, right?’”

I snorted. “Did she think it would?”

“No, but she knew it would freak Quinn out. Which it did.” Connor laughed again. “Those two are forever trolling each other, so it didn’t surprise me.”

“What did he think of it?”

“Well, once the monkey lost interest and went somewhere else, he was like, ‘Really, Savannah? Really?’ And she just…” He made an innocent face and batted his eyelashes.

I burst out laughing. “Oh God. Did it work on him?”

“Absolutely not, because he knows her.” He smiled. “Anyway, that was the closest thing to a mishap we had. Well, aside from Landon falling off a camel.”

My jaw dropped. “He actually fell off?”

“Yeah, while it was lying down at the end of the ride. He didn’t have a scratch on him, and he deserved it for trolling his brother for almost falling off while the camel got up.”

“Wow.” I laughed again. “Never a dull moment with all of you, is there?”

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