Page 58 of A Way Out
“But I’d love to see it again,” he assured her, and Riley immediately brightened, dragging him all the way into Maria’s bedroom.
Maria could hear her phone ringing, so she headed over to pluck it off the desk while Riley opened the closet and pointed at her plastic-covered dress, Oz making all the appropriate ooh and ahh noises.
As cute as that scene was, Maria frowned when she glanced down at her phone and saw Vic’s name. He hadn’t called since they left Washington last weekend.
“Hello?”
“Maria? Where are you? No one has seen you in town all week.”
She sighed. “I’m not in Roma, Vic. I’m at Holly’s wedding.”
“Holly?”
“My sister.” It never ceased to amaze her how easily Vic and her mother could pretend her younger sister didn’t even exist.
“She’s getting married? Is it to one of those rockers at your grandmother’s funeral? And you’re there? With our daughter?”
She supposed she ought to appreciate that he was even calling. “Did you want to talk to Riley?”
“I want to know where the two of you are.”
She glanced over at Oz, who was now helping Riley into her dress and doing a marvelous job of not ruining her hairdo. He zipped her up, then twined the bow, and Lord, Maria might just swoon if he kept this up.
“Are you there?” Vic demanded.
“Yes, sorry. What did you ask?”
“Where are you, Maria? Where have you taken our child to?”
She frowned at the phone. Vic was choosing now to suddenly be concerned over her and Riley’s whereabouts?
“We’re in Missouri. Holly’s fiancé grew up here. It’s a small, private ceremony.” Why she was telling Vic these details, she didn’t know.
“Missouri? You drove all the way to Missouri by yourself? With my child in the car?”
Now Riley was “his child”?
“I drove to LA and then flew to Missouri, and what is your point, Vic?” When she’d come upstairs, she’d had plenty of time to prepare for the wedding, but between the impromptu bathroom sex and now this call, she was getting down to the wire. She still had to change into her dress and add jewelry and powder her nose and freshen her lipstick.
She really needed to get off the phone.
“I’m ready for you to come home.”
She didn’t hide her sigh. In fact, she made it nice and loud and breathed directly into the phone’s speaker. “I’m kind of busy at the moment.”
Oz had finished helping Riley dress and was now watching Maria. She turned toward the sliding glass door, like somehow that would keep him from hearing her side of the conversation.
"When can you come home?”
That place isn’t my home. Not anymore. “The wedding is in less than an hour?—”
“Tomorrow then?”
“Vic, I have other things going on. I cannot just hop on a plane when you’ve decided you’re ready to play nice.”
“I was never not playing nice, Maria. For God’s sake, we’d just gotten divorced. I think I had a right to need some space.”
She rubbed at her forehead. He was right, darn it.
