Chapter 26

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

ROSIE

I forgot my keys this morning, but a kind and much-too trusting soul lets us into the building. When I knock on the apartment door, Joy calls out, “Just a minute!” But it’s at least three, maybe even five, before she opens the door. The reason is apparent as soon as we step in. My elderly friend must have risked a fall and a rap to the hip to hang mistletoe on the ceiling directly in front of the door.

“Oh, look, there’s mistletoe,” she says, as if an elf snuck in there and hung it. Anthony gives her a strained smile but leans in and kisses me. Softly. Gently. Like he loves me.

I still feel the ache of him inside of me and the confusion and worry in my gut.

Anthony rests his forehead against mine for a second before pulling away. “Please text me when you get to your brother’s place.”

“I will.” I nod.

He smiles at Joy, who taps her cheek. “I’m under the mistletoe too, you handsome devil.”

His smile stretches wider, and he stoops to kiss her on the cheek before leaving. Joy and I both watch him go, and she shuts the door behind him and turns to me.

I tap my cheek, raising my eyebrows, and she laughs and pecks me on the cheek, then swats my bottom. She’s practically humming with excitement, and even though worry is still writhing around inside of me, I can’t help but catch some of her joy. “You’re in love, Rosie. I’m going to make us a pot of tea to celebrate.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m in love ,” I tell her, laughing, but there’s a hollowness to the words, because I know I’m sliding into love. I’m on a precipice that’s full of pebbled rocks, and all it would take is a single slip. “You know, you shouldn’t have risked hanging the mistletoe,” I add. “If you fell…”

“Mortimer wouldn’t let me fall,” she insists, already bustling off to the kitchen. “I feel his presence very strongly today. All of that love energy you’re putting out is pulling him in.”

I put a hand around my throat as if I could stop the energy from pulsing through me and addling my mind. Then I follow her to watch as she puts together a tea blend.

“Do you think his presence could follow you to my brother’s house?”

She glances up. “Of course, Rosie. He’s a spirit. He doesn’t have to stay attached to one place like a piece of mistletoe.”

“The mistletoe in this place doesn’t like to stick around either,” I mutter.

I explain Anthony’s concerns about our safety as she finishes preparing the pot of tea, adding none of her “fun touches,” thank God. My mind is screwed up enough without the help.

“Only a man who loves you would care that much,” she insists in a self-satisfied tone.

A knock lands on the door as she’s pouring tea into our cups, and we exchange wide-eyed looks before she picks up her cast iron pan and heads toward the door.

Realizing I’m letting my seventy- or eighty-plus roommate lead the way, I push my way in front of her and look through the peephole.

It’s Damien, dressed in a dark overcoat and jeans.

“No friendly fire,” I tell Joy over my shoulder before opening the door.

He steps inside, and Joy sets the cast iron aside on an end table and says, “Let the mistletoe do its work.”

“I’m starting to think you only put that there so you can kiss every attractive man who comes into this apartment.”

She smiles at me as Damien gamely stoops to kiss her cheek. “Let me have my fun.”

“Joy, you dog, did you just kiss my husband?” a disembodied voice shouts from Damien’s coat.

Smirking, Damien shuts the door and pulls his phone out of his coat pocket. On his screen, Nicole points at Joy before shifting her attention to me. “I’m here in PA. I may never leave. I spent half the day at Hershey Park, terrorizing your ex-boyfriend. It’s been one of the highlights of my life. I never realized there were so many ways you could make a man’s life miserable at a theme park. I paid this clown to pull him out of the audience and use him in his show, and he got, like, fifteen cream pies—”

“I don’t care about him,” I snap, surprised by how much I mean it. But Nicole drove all the way to Pennsylvania to try to unfuck my life, so I owe her more courtesy. “I mean, thank you, obviously. I appreciate that you’re over there fighting the good fight, but what about my fingerprints?”

Damien nods toward the couch, indicating this will be a longer conversation, which is not a great sign. He, Joy, and I all pile onto the couch. Damien’s in the middle, holding the phone facing toward us so Nicole can see everyone.

“So, the good news is that I managed to get the file, no problem. It’s gone. Poof. But there’s the slight problem of all this shit being archived.”

My hands start shaking, so I wrap them together, one finger finding my bare ring finger. “So you can’t do it.”

Nicole’s already shaking her head. “Oh, ye of little faith. Of course we can do it. We have a hacker friend of a friend who was born to do it. But it’s also Christmas, and he has a family, and all of that shit. So I’m guessing it’ll be a few days. No problem, though, this will all be sorted out soon.”

Fresh worry coils inside of me. I need to tell Anthony about this, because it has graduated from a former problem to an ongoing problem.

“You are marrying the hot rich guy, right? My pep talk wasn’t for naught?”

My face feels hot. I haven’t talked to anyone else about this. My brothers don’t know. Claire doesn’t know. Lainey doesn’t know. Jake doesn’t know either, unless Anthony told him. But I nod slowly. “I told him I’d marry him.”

“Hell, yes, you did!” Nicole hoots from the phone while her husband smiles at her like she’s the alpha and omega.

“I knew we had reason to celebrate,” Joy puts in. “Mortimer told me.”

If Damien, who presumably doesn't know who Mortimer is, is fazed by this, he doesn’t let it show.

“Anthony doesn’t know about any of this though,” I add, my gaze on Nicole. My heart is thumping almost painfully. Because this really could put an end to us. “I need to tell him. He has to be the one to decide if he feels comfortable with moving forward.”

“It’s almost twelve million dollars,” Nicole tells me, not unkindly. “He’d probably marry an inanimate object if they’d let him. Much better to marry a hot blond with a few legal problems.”

“It needs to be his choice,” I repeat, maybe because I feel like I already took it from him. If he chooses to bring someone else to that altar, there’ll be problems for him, and that’ll be my fault.

“Sure, sure. Are you going to tell the rest of the crew, or is this, like, a New Year’s surprise? Maybe it should be. We can see how many people will object at the altar. It’s too bad your brothers are going to be in New York City.”

She seems excited by the prospect.

“Honestly, I’d prefer for no one to object.”

“Ah,” Damien says, “but at least one person is likely to object. That website’s still up and running.”

“Any updates?”

He glances my way. “I just spoke with Anthony on the phone before heading over here. It looks like someone’s trying to push through a rival housing project, which could have given someone motive to mess with Anthony’s plans.”

“What about Nina?” I ask. Then I tell them about “running into them” this morning and the paintball sesh that end with Wilson’s balls getting creamed.

“Oh, shit, we made an enemy.” Nicole whistles.

“Do you think it’s her?”

“It fits,” Damien answers with a shrug.

“But it feels too easy,” Nicole adds. “Things that feel too easy usually are too easy.”

Damien nods his agreement. “I’ve spoken to Anthony’s second-in-command at Smith Investments. He could be making a play to take over, sure, but no one wants to be the new captain of the Titanic. They need the cash infusion, and he doesn’t strike me as someone who’s interested in risking his own money. He has some tangled history with Mrs. Rosings, but then again, everyone in Marshall seems to have a tangled history with her.”

“On the plus side,” Nicole says, “Damien and I got you a five-pound chocolate kiss from Hershey Park. You’re welcome. And, yes, I may have eaten part of it, but I used a butter knife, so it’s completely sanitary. And I may carve a little more off on the way home, but that’s only because chocolate has sugar and caffeine in it. It’s a safety thing.”

“Good. Drive save, Nic,” Damien says.

“I’ll see you later.” She winks at him, and he responds by clicking his teeth at the screen.

Damien pockets the phone again, then shifts slightly, his gaze catching mine. “It’ll work out fine, Rosie. It’s our job to make this okay for all of you, and we’re very good at what we do.”

I believe him, but feel like I’m on the Titanic, and in the back of my head, I can hear the orchestra begin to play one final tune.

Still, I’ve never been a quitter, and I won’t stop now.

“I’ll escort you to your brother’s house,” Damien says.

I don’t ask how he knows. He just spoke with Anthony. My brother doesn’t know we’re coming, but he’s asked enough times that it will probably be viewed as a delightful surprise. And as far as everything else goes…

I’ll tell Declan about the wedding after I make sure there’s going to be a wedding. Like I said, it’ll be Anthony’s choice, once he knows everything.

“Yes,” I tell Damien. “Joy will enjoy that very much. Make sure you don’t let her hide the mistletoe on her person. But we’re going to make a detour. I need to do some Christmas shopping. And then I have to go ask a friend for a favor.”

“Splendid,” Joy says, clapping her hands. “I’ll make all of us travel cups of tea.”

“Yes, nothing I enjoy more than last-minute shopping the day before Christmas Eve,” Damien says with a bemused smile. “Should we do some caroling while we’re at it?”

Joy pats his cheek and then stands. “Excellent idea, young man.”