Page 37

Beside him, Zoe’s brown complexion with dark gold undertones beamed good health and her naturally loose, thick waves were in a cute and casual ponytail.

Nails, check, pedicure, check. The olive sleeveless jumpsuit with the gold belt that further defined her already snatched waist, the tall cork wedged sandals, and the cross-body gold purse and gold bamboo doorknocker earrings…

everything in between those pampered hands and feet oozed expensive nouveau-80s chic.

The dazzling rock on her finger eclipsed the late afternoon sunshine.

They even seemed to fucking walk in slow motion, the faint breeze blowing Zoe’s bangs like the entire city was their red carpet and nature was their personal wind machine.

The King and Queen had arrived. Montreal was not ready. And neither was she.

Suddenly, although they’d been holding hands for days at that point, Vanessa wasn’t sure if Santino’s and her intertwined fingers would send the wrong message.

They still weren’t a real couple; their marriage was no longer bona fide compared to the pair now moving toward them with smiles slowly disappearing and being replaced by shocked dismay.

Zoe usually fake smiled at people she didn’t care for.

This displeasure? She wasn’t even pretending to hide it.

With twisted lips, as though she’d tasted something off in her milk, she ripped Santino up and down with her stare, then favored Vanessa with a head shake and a smirk.

Before she could open her mouth, Bobby did the honors and got the ball rolling.

“Him? This is who you were with?” Bobby asked Vanessa, staring at Santino.

“It’s good to see you again, Bobby,” Santino said, his voice serious yet pleasant. He held out his hand for a shake, which her brother glanced at without touching.

“I wish I could say the feeling was mutual.” Bobby swung his gaze back to her. “You haven’t answered me. What is he doing here?”

“Okay,” she said, with a quick exhale. “You’re going to have to take the ‘big brother' tone back down a notch to ‘little brother’ where it belongs. He’s here for the concert.”

“Here for the concert? Since when is he a Panthro fan?” Bobby inquired, folding his arms with his stance wide.

“Since forever,” Santino said with a shrug, his face tightening.

“Can you name one song?” Zoe chimed in, clearly relishing her husband’s hostility.

“Can you?” Vanessa snapped back. “You invited yourself on this trip. Right now, he’s my guest, so you both need to ease up. Either we’re going to the show together and being cool, or we’ll have to split up. I’m fine with either. I’m here to have a good time.”

Zoe laughed with a shocked expression. “Fine, whatever, if you’re willing to manage him. I only wish I’d known this was going to be a white party,” she remarked with a biting smile, gesturing to their clothes.

Santino’s face tightened again, but he didn’t respond.

When she and Santino had first met, Bobby and Zoe were engaged and only weeks away from their huge all-frills wedding.

He’d given Zoe every chance, but she’d been rude to his face since Day One, joking with Vanessa in her passive-aggressive way if she really didn’t mind how he spoke, that he hadn’t gone to college, that he seemed to “lack ambition.”

He’d still given Zoe chances until their third date, which happened to be Zoe and Bobby’s wedding.

A drunken Zoe had made some slurry remark to the other bridesmaids that there might be hope for Vanessa to get married after all if she was willing to wait until her groom was out of diapers.

He’d refrained from cursing her out then and there because Vanessa had begged him not to, but he’d washed his hands of Zoe after that, only speaking to her directly if it couldn’t be avoided.

Bobby listened to the exchange with his almond-shaped eyes narrowing even further. “Hold up. How did he get a ticket to the concert? It’s been sold out for months. Was this the plan all along and someone forgot to let us in on it?”

“I’ve got a friend in town who hooked me up,” Santino answered.

From his pocket, he produced four tickets which she gawked at, not having seen them before.

“VIP box seats and access to a private lounge before the show. And afterward, my buddy is having a party at his place. Panthro’s been invited, and now, so are you. ”

Next to the excitement Vanessa felt to hear she’d possibly get to meet her favorite artist was the joy of seeing the fresh shock on Zoe’s face at the news.

But again, instead of Bobby giving them his usual grin, his frown deepened. He gestured with his head to a space on the sidewalk with less foot traffic. “Van, can we speak alone for a minute?”

Sighing, she went to walk with him. Santino stayed put, but Zoe charged on after them. Bobby turned to cast a glance down at her with a lifted eyebrow.

“I said I wanted to talk to my sister alone,” he said coolly.

“She’s my sister, too. Whatever you say to her, you can say in front of me,” she insisted.

Classic Zoe, never knowing when to fall the fuck back.

Before she could tell Zoe they were not, in fact, sisters simply because of the marriage, Bobby cut in. “I said I want to talk to her in private.”

When Zoe stomped back over to Santino with a pout, like a kid, Vanessa was the one whose eyebrow rose. Bobby usually let Zoe run roughshod over everyone else in the small household with the exception of Nadine, whom she made a great show of worshipping. For Bobby to finally clap back was new.

Appearing to try and keep his cool, Bobby glared over at Santino before he spoke. “You said the guy you were seeing canceled out on the trip because of work. Was this reunion the real reason?” He shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Not the way you think. Scott broke it off because he thought we were still together despite the separation. And Santino took it upon himself to come up here after me.”

“So, he’s been stalking you? The guy who openly cheated on you but won’t give you a divorce?”

Vanessa’s eyes popped open at his reinterpretation of what she’d said. “Stalking? No! He…”

How to explain the catfishing on the app? Dani had admitted to telling Santino about the Montreal trip when she was drunk and loose-lipped, but how had he known about Scott before that?

She redirected. “Okay, I know this is shocking and out of the blue. He came up here to ask me for one last shot at the marriage, and I said ‘yes.’ He promised to sign the papers and let me move on if we’re not good by Saturday.”

Bobby’s laughter was short and sardonic.

“Right, so you guys are going to frolic through fields of daisies and roses, and everything will be wonderful up until Saturday. All the fights and the immaturity and the disrespectful ex-girlfriend are…” He balled his talented hands together then opened his fingers like a magician doing a trick. “Poof! Just disappeared into the wind.”

“I know my marriage was far from perfect,” she remarked softly.

“You were one of the few people I could turn to when I was going through it, so no, I don’t expect you to forget what happened.

But we had our good moments too. This is our goodbye.

I want it to end in a way I can look back on and feel at peace with. Does that make sense?”

Wow. That almost sounded legit when in reality, all she’d done this week so far was allow a new craving for Santino to seep in through her weak spots and take hold. But Bobby would keep her honest. He’d hold her to her pledge to finish it. Slowly, he stroked his goatee, then nodded finally.

“Alright, if that’s what you’re really doing. Just be careful, okay? I don’t want to see you like that again. You were devastated. If he hurts you, I hurt him.”

Bobby was staring at Santino when he said that, who was looking at them steadily in return. Zoe was glaring at them with her heart-shaped face screwed up in an angry pout. When Bobby walked back over, she gripped his lean-muscled bicep with both hands as if relieved to have recaptured him.

“Okay, champion,” Bobby said to Santino, putting on a Jamaican accent. “We’ll go to the show together and to your friend’s after-party. Who is he?”

“Virgil Li. He’ll be at the show.”

“Virgil Li as in the Li Conglomerate?” Bobby’s face went still. He appeared to be speechless as he looked away, then nodded. “It’s nice to have friends in high places. Looks like you’re good for something.”

Vanessa quirked her lips at the remark but said nothing.

She knew Bobby had loved Santino like the brother he’d never had, and that had included harsh teasing like Santino endured from his own brothers.

But there was still anger there, resentment that still smoldered under the surface.

Just if and when it might come roaring out was left to be seen.