CHAPTER 43

I stretched out on my side of the hot tub, spreading my toes under the water and watching the distorted movement of my feet. Beside me, Grant clipped a cigar and tossed the end toward the bushes that lined the pool area. I watched where it landed. I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight until I fished it out of the azaleas and threw it in the trash.

He placed the cutter on the side and picked up the lighter, running the flame carefully over the end. Sophie shrieked as she ran along the side of the pool, Jordan just behind her. Our daughter dived into the deep end, and her friend kept going, up the stone steps and out of sight as she climbed onto the top of the grotto.

"They're going to sleep well tonight," Grant remarked.

"They should already be in bed." I reached for my glass of wine, which I'd set on the hot tub's ledge. "I told Jordan's mom I wouldn't let them stay up too late."

"Oh, let them have fun." He twisted to the right, finding our daughter in the lit turquoise pool, her red suit shimmering under the water like a pool of blood. "Where is she?"

"Top of the grotto. She's probably coming down the slide."

As if on cue, Jordan's dark form traveled down the curve, her arms crossed over her chest, hand clamped over her nose. Sophie splashed toward her as she hit the water.

Grant's eyes met mine, and I knew what he was going to say.

"Don't," I warned, and took a big sip of the wine.

"She's one of Sophie's best friends," he began.

"I don't care," I said. "Two friends is enough. She's not planning an orgy."

"Sophie doesn't understand why she can't invite her." He hung his arms on either side of the tub's edge, the pose accentuating his shoulders and chest muscles. "Neither do I. It's her birthday. The house is certainly big enough. Let her invite a hundred kids if she wants to."

"Sophie doesn't need to understand. She's eleven. And you aren't the one doing all of the work, Grant. I am. I don't put my foot down on many things. This is one."

He let out an incredulous laugh. "You don't put your foot down on many things? Oh, that's funny."

I smiled despite myself and hid the gesture behind a sip of wine. I put the glass down and swam over to him, then grabbed his shoulders, straddling him in the water. He immediately reacted, pulling me to him with one hand while he held the cigar out of harm's way with the other. I gave him that look—the one he could never say no to—and he sighed, and I knew right then that I had won.

"Ewww, Mom!" Sophie stood beside us on the pavers, dripping wet, her blonde hair plastered to her head. "You guys are so gross!"

Grant detached from me, pushing me away, and if I could have drowned my daughter right then, I would have.