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Eli shivered too.

A current arced between them, and when their lips touched again, he knew there was no way he and Beth were leaving the house today, let alone this room.

“Happy birthday,” he told her. “In case you don’t remember me saying it last night.”

“It was,” she replied. “I mean it is. Happy. This birthday is very happy.”

Chapter 20

“Why does it sound like you’re in a pool?” Delaney asked.

Beth repositioned herself, and the water sloshed again. “Sorry. I’m in the bathtub, and I knew if I didn’t answer, you’d be worried.”

Silence rang out for a beat. Then… “At…the guesthouse?” She didn’t miss the insinuation in her sister’s tone.

Because she was a terrible liar, when Beth didn’t offer a prompt enough reply, her sister gasped.

“You’re in Eli’s bathtub? Are you alone? Oh god, tell me you’re alone and that I didn’t just interrupt my baby sister having bathtub sex!”

“Shhhh!” Beth cried, though she was ninety-nine percent sure Eli still wasn’t home. Just in case, though, she didn’t want her…her what? She waved off her own thought, remembering that she and Eli never put a label on this other than whatever, and this wasn’t the time to start thinking about what whatever meant.

“Oh my god!” Delaney whisper-shouted. “You’re not alone!”

“I am,” Beth insisted at regular volume this time. “Eli got a phone call about work and had to run out for a bit. But he drew me a bath first. With bubbles.”

“Put me on video so you can see my jaw on the floor. Eli Murphy just has bubble bath lying around the house? A house that you’re in and I’ve never been in, by the way.”

Beth laughed, made sure she was covered in bubbles up to her neck, and switched the call from audio to video. As promised, Delaney’s camera turned on to reveal a slack-jawed stare…and something orange caked on her cheek.

“Do you have food on your face?” Beth asked.

Her sister sighed. “You’re living it up in a bubble bath while I’m over here with a toddler who thinks feeding Mommy a bit of her lunch means smearing it all over Mommy’s face.” She rubbed the dried mush on her cheek. “Guess I missed a spot.”

Beth raised her brows. “Living it up? Did you delete last night from your brain? I’m nursing the world’s worst hangover and a swollen ankle only one day after getting my cast off. Not that it’s a pain Olympics. I know you work hard, mama bear. I just feel like I took two steps back when I should be moving forward.”

She wiggled her toes beneath the water, wincing when pain pinched the back of her ankle and shot up her calf.

“You overdid it on the dance floor, didn’t you?”

Beth nodded. “And riding earlier that day. But, Lanes…” A smile spread across her lips. “Riding Midnight with both feet in the stirrups, like riding her for real? I don’t know how to describe it. The only thing I can remember that might compare is…I don’t know…maybe putting on my first pair of tap shoes and dancing around the tile entry of the motel lobby while Mom and Dad played the Radio City Christmas Spectacular on the TV.”

Delaney laughed. “Weren’t you, like, four? I don’t remember anything about being four, let alone how something at that age made me feel.”

Beth shrugged. “Do you remember when you fell in love with animals? Or Sam? Or what it felt like to see Nolan after she was born?”

Delaney sighed. “Okay, okay. I get it. Important moments stick.”

“Exactly,” Beth replied. “And it was an important day for Midnight too, you know? Her previous owners were ready to euthanize her, and there she was, galloping off the property and through the woods like a pro! I’m so proud of her!”

A big smile spread across Delaney’s face, and the hairs on the back of Beth’s neck stood on end.

“What?” Beth asked.

“What do you mean, what?” her sister countered.

A small pile of bubbles loosed itself from her protective armor and tickled the bottom of her chin. She swatted it away with her free hand, careful not to splash water onto her phone.

“I mean you look like you’re scheming, and I already know your schemes tend to uproot my life without my full consent.”