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“I’ve neversaidthat,” Fiona is telling Knox. “I’ve just neverdidn’tsay that.”
Ruby comes to stand next to me and says quietly, “She’s messing with him, right?”
I look at her in surprise. “You already figured that out?”
She laughs. “The more outraged he gets, the more outrageous she gets.”
Of course, Ruby has figured them out. She sees people. I fucking love her so much.
“Fiona will still be doing that to Knox when he’s ninety,” I say. “And he’ll still be falling for it.”
“I’m not going to live to be ninety,” Knox says with a sigh, overhearing. Apparently, he just figured out his wife was only trying to provoke him. “She’s going to drive me to an early grave.” He’s watching his wife with a mixture of love and exasperation that I’ve seen a million times, but I never fully understood until Ruby came into my life.
“You’re catching on to her faster than you used to,” I tell him with a chuckle. “That’s progress.”
“He’s just so easy to rile,” Fiona says, sliding her arms around her husband’s waist to hug him. She’s so petite, and he’s so tall that she only comes up to his chest.
“Does this mean you’re going to tell the inspector to back off?” he asks, wrapping his arms around her and kissing the top of her head.
“Oh no,” Fiona says. “I love how flustered you get when she flirts, and you have to figure out a way to turn her down without resorting to being your usual grumpy fuck-off self.”
I’d love to be a spectator for that, but before I can get details about when the inspector will be here, my phone rings.
I pull it out and see that it’s Cian. I show the screen to Ruby, then lift it to my ear.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” he greets. “So, don’t be mad and don’t freak out.”
I frown. “We’ve talked about you starting conversations that way,” I tell him. I turn and walk to the edge of the pen. “What’s going on?”
“Everyone is fine,” he says.
“Okay.”
“I want you to repeat that back to me so I know it sunk in.”
“What the fuck is going on?” I demand.
Ruby notices and comes over. “What’s wrong?” she asks.
“I’m not sure yet.”
“Everyone is fine,” Cian says. “Repeat it.”
“Everyone is fine,” I say shortly. “What happened?”
“Scarlett, Mariah, and I are on our way back to Emerald.”
“I thought you were going to New York for another community opening first.”
“We were. But…” He trails off.
I brace myself.
“There was a car accident.”
“What?”