Page 24 of The Body in the Backyard

“What these yahoos here are trying to say is you royally screwed the pooch these last few weeks,” Mrs. Penny said.

On cue, Burt’s massive head appeared above the table. He had a crumb mustache and part of a hoagie roll hanging out of his mouth like a cigar.

“We’re here to help you prove to Riley you’re serious about being a better man before she dumps you,” Lily explained, looking at him pityingly.

The food lodged in his throat, requiring him to steal Mrs. Penny’s water glass. He drank deeply, then choked again. “This is straight gin.”

“Gotta stay hydrated,” she said.

Nick mopped his face with a napkin. “I already said I was sorry,” he said in defense.

“And now you have to show it,” Fred said.

Nick dropped the pie plate on the table. “Seriously?”

Mr. Willicott grunted his agreement and then stole Fred’s pie.

“I am in agreement,” Gabe said. “You have made many embarrassing missteps in your brief relationship.”

“You’re still new at this whole relationship thing,” Lily said, tucking a paper towel into his shirt like a bib. “If you’re serious about Riley—which we all hope you are, because she deserves better than Griffin Buttface Gentry—you have to show her how sorry you are.”

“That dude sucks,” Fred agreed.

Mr. Willicott nodded vehemently.

“His check doesn’t suck,” Mrs. Penny reminded them. “But the rest of him does.”

“I’m better than Gentry in every single way. Riley already knows this,” Nick argued.

“I am new to relationships, but it seems to me that there is a possibility your abandonment of Riley in pursuit of your own needs triggered old wounds, reminding her that she has yet to be in a relationship where she comes first for her partner,” Gabe said, steepling his fingers in what Nick considered to be annoying superior piety.

Nick pointed a surly finger at Gabe. “I’ll have you know I make sure she comes first every time.”

“Listen to the wise, muscly hottie Gabe,” Mrs. Penny advised. “I don’t want you fucking this up and then us having to spend every other weekend with you in some filthy bachelor pad.”

“First of all, I’m not getting custody of any of you,” Nick began. But the truth behind her words had already caught up with him.

After his obsessive search for Kellen Weber’s long-missing sister the past few months, Riley had every right to give him the boot rather than graciously accepting his apology. Was it possible she was still harboring a grudge? He certainly would have.

He rubbed at the throbbing behind his temples. “So an apology isn’t enough?”

“Anybody can apologize. According to Blossom, Griffin used to apologize all the time. But he never changed,” Fred explained.

Nick wasnotliking this conversation. “Okay. So what the hell am I supposed to do?”

Lily shrugged.

Fred frowned.

Gabe looked at the ceiling.

Mrs. Penny burped.

Mr. Willicott raised a red Solo cup with the nameStevewritten on it. “Feliz Navidad.”

“Baby, we gotta go,”Nick called from where he was pacing in front of the staircase in a damn tuxedo with a damn tie that felt like it was damn near strangling him. He tugged on his collar and looked at his watch again.

He’d showered and changed in Gabe’s bathroom because Riley had barricaded herself in theirs.