Page 123 of The Mistakes I've Made
“Hi.”
She gave her husband a death stare, her eyes going wide and her head tilting at an odd angle. Dean seemed to grumble a little deep in his throat before finally turning back toward me.
“I wanted to tell you that the all clear has been given,” he said.
“Oh,” I said, nodding. “Uh, thanks.”
Cora cleared her throat again.
“And,” he said, his throat working overtime, “I wanted to apologize for being an”—he looked over to Cora once again—“overbearing asshole.”
A rumble of a laugh escaped my lips.
I waited for him to go on, but then I felt my own woman slide up behind me, and I knew my upper hand was gone.
Especially since I hadn’t told him about the hotel yet.
“It’s cool,” I said. “Really. And honestly, you were right. I needed to work through some things.”
“Yeah?” he said, sounding pleased with himself.
“Yeah,” I answered, hoping to postpone the hotel discussion until later. Like maybe next year. “But we’ll talk more later.”
“So, you’re not going to tell me how you bought a hotel without consulting me?”
Busted.
My eyes widened as I heard Cora laugh outside in the hallway.
“How’d you—”
“Public record, dipshit,” he growled.
“Oh, right.”
His eyes narrowed as I waited for the shit-storm I knew I deserved.
“Just don’t screw it up,” he said before walking away.
“That’s it?” I hollered down the hall.
“I want a discount,” he hollered back. “A big one. And free babysitting forever.”
Laughing, I turned toward Lani, feeling like a giant weight had been lifted off my shoulders. “Are you ready to go home?” I asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said, her nervousness bleeding through.
“Whatever we find, we’ll deal with it together,” I said.
“Together,” she confirmed.
We drove back to town in a tight group, a caravan of strength.
I held on to Lani’s hand as we passed the Welcome sign before cars began to disperse, each in different directions toward home.
Who knows what they would find?
Lani and I headed for the marina first.
