Page 49 of No Place Like Home
“Okay, let’s not go there,” Darlene said as she tried to rein in her laughter. “I didn’t say a word.”
“Me either,” said Diane. “It was all Ruth.”
“Me?” Ruth said. “Tonya made a comment, and I agreed.” She brushed her hands together, grabbed her wine, and sat down. “That’s it.”
“And from what I witnessed Friday, it’s the truth,” Tonya said as she walked toward Kora and the dark-haired girl, a smile on her face. “But it doesn’t matter. You must be Susie.”
“I am.”
Tonya wrapped her arms around her. “Welcome to Orlinda Valley. Was your flight okay?”
“It was, thank you. A little long, but fine.”
“Well, good. Come and meet everyone. These two are Darlene and Summer, Kora’s best friends.”
Darlene hugged her and I gave her a small, slightly awkward hug also. “Nice to meet you,” I said.
Susie’s eyes were as silver as Kai’s, her skin a perfect ivory. She was adorable.
“Well,” Kaye chimed in, “aren’t you a spitting image of your brother. Are you sure you two aren’t twins?”
“We hear that all the time,” Susie said with a shy smile. “Honestly, my twin, Sebastian, looks more like Kai than I do.”
“It’s too bad he wasn’t able to make it to the wedding,” Ruth said as she gave Susie a hug and introduced herself.
“We would have loved to have met him,” Diane agreed.
“Yeah, but he’ll hopefully be able to visit soon,” Kai replied. “Come on, Susie. Let’s get you settled and leave these women to finish up.”
Susie gestured to the yard. “Maybe I should help.”
“No,” Darlene said as she shooed them toward the house. “Go get settled and we’ll let you help later.”
Kora straightened a tablecloth and looked around the yard. “Looks great, everyone. Thank you so much for doing all this.” She put her hands on her hips. “Now, what did I miss?” Her eyes landed on me, and she lifted her brow in question.
I shook my head. No way in hell was I going to bring this up.
“Kora, dear, it was nothing,” Tonya replied, waving her hands in the air dismissively.
Of course I don’t have to say a thing, I thought as I rolled my eyes toward the sky.Not with all these nosy-ass women around.
“I just voiced my observation that something weird was going on between Rowan and Summer yesterday, and if I didn’t know better, I’d’ve thought they were having a post-coital temper tantrum.”
“What?” Kora’s eyes were wide, and she tried to hide a laugh, but failed miserably.
My heart slammed against my chest. “Y’all,” I said, my voice rising with irritation. I didn’t want to have this discussion.
“Summer, relax,” Tonya said.
“Relax?” I asked her, my composure cracking. “Just so you know, I haven’t seen your son since he dropped us off at the house yesterday.” I turned toward Kora with venom dripping from my words. “So, unless he starts talking to me again, nothing matters.” I spun back toward Tonya. “And, we weren’t having a ‘post-coital temper tantrum’,” I shouted as I stomped my foot. “Who the hell says that anymore, anyway?”
“Ummm, what did we miss?” Rowan’s voice cut through air
FuckI said under my breath as my heart did this annoying leap thing. I turned around. Rowan, Bryson, and Lance were standing in the yard with boxes and metal containers.
He glanced at me, then his mom, then the rest of the women. My stomach flipped at the sight of him in jeans and a T-shirt, looking fine.
“We come bearing food?” Bryson said, his tone raising in question.
