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“Eh. I thought it should have ended sooner,” Zoe opined with a sour expression.

“Are you kidding? You don’t think that was amazing?” Virgil asked.

“I’m not a fan.” Zoe smiled at him, but Virgil looked at her askance, like he was now wondering what she was doing there.

Vanessa had to wonder if Zoe was drunk after those careless remarks.

Santino’s nostrils flared, and he pursed his full lips into a thin line.

He seemed to share Vanessa’s embarrassment at the off-putting response to Virgil’s gift of awesome seats and drink service when he’d never met her and had no reason to be so generous.

“She means ‘thank you,’” Bobby interjected as if he’d been thinking the same.

Ling’s eyes shifted between him and his wife.

Vanessa and Santino glanced at each other with raised eyebrows as Zoe turned a glare upon her husband for publicly reminding her of the social graces she’d clearly forgotten.

It made Vanessa recall, suddenly, how Santino had said she’d done the same to him and how it made him feel.

Ouch.

Seeing it from the outside looking in, it really wasn’t a good look for either party. She’d apologized for doing that, but now she truly felt the regret.

“Well!” Virgil said, clapping and rubbing his hands together after the awkward silence.

“Please don’t mention that when you meet him, if he shows tonight.

Santino, you’ve got my address. See you at my place.

Everything’s been set up, so if I’m not there to greet you, don’t worry.

Just get in there and enjoy yourselves. See you there, Bobby. ”

“Will do. And thank you, again, this was fantastic,” Bobby said, giving Virgil dap, who returned it before taking off with Ling without saying anything further to Zoe.

When Bobby looked at his wife, Vanessa saw a dull spark of anger in his eyes. After eight years together, was he finally noticing how rude she could be, drunk or sober?

Hiding her own smirk, Vanessa entwined her fingers with Santino’s. “Let’s hit the restrooms and then the road.”

Of course, Zoe went to the ladies’ room with her.

Vanessa escaped into a stall as quickly as possible, but afterward, at the row of sinks, Zoe sidled up to her while she was washing her hands and checking out her makeup for smudges.

She seemed pretty steady on her feet, so the “I had too much to drink” excuse for her rudeness to Virgil probably wasn’t in play.

“So, you and Man-baby are at it again, huh?” she joked with a mean grin.

Vanessa winced. Had she called Santino that when they’d broken up? Unfortunately, yes, she had, when she was in the thick of hurting and hating him. She hadn’t learned by then that other people held onto things you said in anger long after you’d moved on.

“Till the end of the week. I’d like it if we didn’t call him names in the meantime,” Vanessa said civilly.

“What’s changed? A few VIP seats and a party with a billionaire and suddenly he didn’t fall into his ex-girlfriend’s pussy on a beach in Aruba? The same place where you got married? Don’t you still find that upsetting? Remember, those who don’t learn from history…”

That was one of Nadine’s favorite “your grandmother used to say” sayings. It wasn’t enough that Vanessa had to hear shit like this from her mother, now it was coming from Little Nadine, too?

Vanessa calmly turned off the tap and went to snatch a paper towel from the metal container on the wall. “Zoe, I never confided in you personally about what happened back then, and I’m not going to start now. Please drop it.”

“Fine, but this was supposed to be our trip. He clearly doesn’t like me. He and that friend of his had an attitude with me all night. You better tell him –”

Vanessa made a noise of frustration. “I don’t have to tell him anything. Also, I don’t know why I keep having to say this, Zoe, but for the hundredth time, this was my trip. You invited yourselves.”

“We needed a break. If you had kids, you’d understand how stressful it can be,” Zoe responded plaintively. “Regardless of who invited whom, he shouldn’t be here. He broke your heart. Doesn’t anyone remember that? I feel like you and Bobby suddenly have amnesia." She threw her hands up in the air.

Like Vanessa needed reminding of what she didn’t have and what she’d been through. Before the argument could take a dive into something deeper than the issue at hand, Vanessa closed her eyes for a beat of mindfulness, then opened them.

“I know you and Santino never got along, and I don’t expect you to now. You don’t have to fake it, but this trip is supposed to be about having fun and relaxing. So that’s what we should do. You finally got some time away for you and Bobby without the baby. Just enjoy it, okay?”

Zoe huffed. “Fine, whatever, fun fun fun! Just know that Mom’s not going to want to see him again, ever, after what he pulled. He’s not welcome in our home. I just hope this ‘fun’ ends when we get back to New York and you get some sense back into you instead of more used dick.”

Vanessa’s fingers tightened into a fist at that last shot. She couldn’t think of a response that didn’t contain the words “fuck” and “you,” so she exited the bathroom and let the door swing shut in Zoe’s face on the way out.