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“Okay, I think that’s enough.” Ari stole the phone back and pressed it against her stomach to block Sloane’s view.

Mindful that nothing was behind her except for the couch, Ari dared to flip the phone over.

Sloane, dressed in a tank top and hair still wet from a shower, was sitting on her bed looking painfully beautiful.

“Your parents are so cute—”

“And still in the room,” she warned, shooting a glance at her parents, who looked entirely delighted with themselves.

“I’ll call you back later, okay?”

Sloane grinned. “Okay, Tater Tot,” she replied before ending the call.

Embarrassment soured Ari’s stomach as she fought the urge to cringe. Thanks, Dad. When the hell did you call me that?

“She’s lovely,” Ari’s mom decided before sitting next to her and giving her a hug. “I can’t wait to meet her in person.”

“Way to go, Kiddo,” her dad said when he sat on her other side. “She seems so sweet.”

At the center of a group hug, Ari indulged in the tingle prickling her skin. She’d never heard anyone call Sloane sweet. Maybe she really was great with parents. After a deep breath, Ari relaxed and squeezed them back.

“Thanks, guys,” she said. “I don’t tell you enough, but you’re pretty awesome.”

Her dad grinned like he was in a toothpaste commercial.

“Oh, we know.” He wiggled his bushy eyebrows. “But only because we raised one heck of a girl, so how could we not be awesome

.”

Ari laughed as emotion filled her chest to bursting. “Okay, okay. Come on, let’s watch this train wreck.” She pointed to the TV.

As she sat nestled between her parents, Ari imagined Sloane piled in with them. Would she share popcorn with her dad or complain about loud commercials with her mom?

The thought comforted her until it was time to drive home. She managed to wait five whole minutes before calling Sloane.

CHAPTER 38

DESPITE HER BEST EFFORTS, Sloane failed to get out of the o ce early. Instead of sneaking out at three like she’d planned, she’d gotten stuck with a pile of status hearings.

Unsurprisingly, Dave hadn’t been motivated to cover for her. Not even after she called him Spiderman in open court.

He called it a pity compliment and left her knee-deep in the weeds.

Not only was Sloane not two hours ahead like she expected, but she was also an hour behind and sitting in gridlock tra c. As she tried to keep the road rage at bay, she went over the to-do list in her mind.

The dinner reservations were at eight o’clock. That left almost two hours to get home, shower and change, go by the hotel to check in and drop stu o after making sure the room was perfect, and then pick Arwyn up on the way to the restaurant.

With her hands gripping the steering wheel and her eyes constantly darting at the clock, Sloane willed herself to remain calm. She focused on the evening ahead. A gorgeous dinner at a riverside seafood restaurant with the absolute

best oysters on the Eastern Seaboard. After that, it was a short ride to the Four Seasons where she’d booked a suite overlooking the bay. After a night spent together, they had breakfast in bed and in-room massages to look forward to. It was more romance than Sloane had ever planned for anybody, and she couldn’t wait to see the expression on Arwyn’s face.

As time slipped away, Sloane started cutting things out of her to-do list while her blood pressure climbed. By the time she made it onto Key Biscayne, she was down to just enough time to shower and meet Arwyn at the restaurant instead of picking her up. She could throw the bags she’d packed in the trunk and take her chances that everything would go smoothly at the hotel. It wouldn’t be the surprise she envisioned, but it might still have the desired e ect.

“Hello,” she responded to the phone call over the Bluetooth in her car.

“Sloane,” Flor, her mother’s daytime aid, sounded panicked, turning Sloane’s blood to ice. “I’m so sorry to rush you, dear, but I’ve been waiting for the relief aid and she hasn’t arrived.”

For a brief, delusional moment, Sloane prayed that she’d misunderstood. After several minutes on the phone with Flor, her plans were shoved into a co n and lowered into sputtering magma.