No sooner did I greet everyone than Hunter arrived with flowers, the promised apple pie, and panna cotta—my favorite.
I noticed his frown before he headed to the kitchen to Amelia. He’d been in a great mood when he’d dropped me off. What had changed since then?
Time to find out.
Chapter Two
Hunter
I first stopped in the kitchen, where a wisp of a woman with gray hair pulled back in a severe bun was checking on the roast beef. Amelia smiled at me when I handed her a bouquet of flowers and dessert.
“Thank you.” Just as I bent to kiss her cheek, Amelia’s radar kicked in, and she asked, “What’s wrong with you, my boy? You seem preoccupied.”
She was right. I’d checked my mail for the first time in a week before leaving my apartment this afternoon and had discovered a very troubling letter. But I didn’t intend to ruin her or anyone else’s mood today.
“The usual pressure at work,” I said vaguely, hoping that assuaged her interest for now.
“You’d better forget about it today. I’ll have none of that at my table, Hunter Caldwell.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I was determined to leave the issue at the doorstep. I’d fix this, just as I usually obliterated any inconvenience in my path. I’d built my company when the odds had been stacked against me. I’d find a solution for this too, but it wouldn’t be tonight.
I just had to focus on my family, and with some luck, no one would guess anything. I headed to the living room, where my cousins and Josie were gathered.
“Hunter, did you come to a consensus at the brunch?” Cole asked. He was my business partner, but we’d agreed that only I would attend the brunch today, otherwise we’d look too eager to close the deal.
Skye, who stood right between us, shook her head, pointing from Cole to me.
“Boys, a word of advice: don’t get on Mom’s bad side by discussing business right now. You know her rule: family celebrations are no place to talk shop.”
“Skye’s right. I’ll update you later.”
We chitchatted about the upcoming fireworks show. My mind wasn’t on the brunch or the client, anyway. I had bigger worries on my mind. I thought I did a good job of hiding that—until Josie pulled me aside.
“Spill it. What’s wrong?” she asked. My best friend never missed anything. I should have known there was no way I’d fool her. I could try to deflect, but experience had taught me it would lead me nowhere. So instead, I tilted my head in the direction of the library.
“That bad? Let’s go,” she said.
In the general mayhem, no one noticed us slip away.
“Want a drink?” I said once I’d closed the door behind us. Amelia kept a small bar in the library.
Josie scrutinized me but nodded. I handed her a glass of red wine, then opened up to her.
“Found a letter from immigration services in my mail. They’re not renewing my E2 visa.”
I’d lived in the United States for twenty-eight years, but I still had a British passport. After finishing my studies, I’d applied for a work visa and then an entrepreneurial visa. I’d always meant to apply for residency or citizenship, but I kept putting that on the back burner. I’d just never had time to deal with everything. It hadn’t been a priority, because my visa had been renewed periodically. Until now. I’d lived here, in New York, since I was four years old. My father had been one of the most successful businessmen in the city until he went bankrupt. Shortly afterward, he passed away from a heart attack, when I was fourteen.
Mom moved back to their native London. I’d chosen to stay in the US because I’d gotten a scholarship at a local private school, which also offered a boarding option. It was a tumultuous time in the family. Mom and Amelia are sisters. Her then-husband had worked with Dad, managing the Boston office. After the bankruptcy, he left Amelia and my cousins for a younger woman. Amelia had been a homemaker until then. Getting a job and raising a family on her own was something she was not prepared for. Mom had been good friends with my school’s principal, and she pulled some strings to secure a teaching position for her sister. Amelia moved her family to New York and became my legal guardian.
I visited Mom a few times a year in the UK, but my business was here. My life was here. New York was my home.
“Do you have a digital copy of your current visa?” Josie asked.
“No, it’s all at home.”
“Take a picture of it and send it to me as soon as you get home, okay? I’ll start looking into it tonight.”
“Thanks, Josie, but this isn’t your area of expertise.”
Josie was a brilliant lawyer, but she specialized in corporate law.
“I’ve dealt with the immigration services in a few cases. I know my way around those laws. I can’t believe it has come to this. We’ll fix it, don’t you worry.”
I was worrying, because there was a real risk I’d have to leave the United States. Even if only temporarily—I couldn’t do that. I had zero connection to the UK except a British passport. I didn’t even have an accent.
Josie closed her eyes briefly, taking a huge gulp of her wine.
“Easy there, tiger, or Amelia will have my ass for getting you drunk before we eat.”
She flashed me a gorgeous smile. “All these years later, and she’s still on your case for getting me into trouble?”
“You can set her straight anytime you feel like it. Anytime,” I said.
“I quite like her thinking I was the innocent one all those times. Who knows what she’d do if I fess up? Maybe she’ll stop inviting me over for the Fourth of July dinner.”
“Doubt anything would make her stop inviting you. I don’t want to tell them anything. They’ll just worry for no reason.”
“Ok.”
I put my hand on her lower back, guiding her toward the door.
“Let’s go back before they get suspicious,” I said. I was close enough to notice a few freckles on her shoulders and the exposed part of her back. She only got them after being in the sun. Her skin looked so smooth that I barely stopped myself from touching her. Jesus, I had to stop that line of thinking.
Josie grinned. “I’m sure Tess already noticed we’ve disappeared. You just wait.”
My cousin Tess had noticed everything even as a kid, and that hadn’t changed. She pointed a finger at us the second we returned to the living room.
“So... what’s with the secret escape?” she asked.
Josie laughed, giving me an I-told-you-so look. “Hunter and I can keep our secrets, can’t we?”
***
Josie
I was on pins and needles for the rest of the dinner. The second I arrived at home, I kicked off my shoes, grabbed my laptop, and dove headfirst into my research.
Deported.
The word sent a cold shiver all over me. I wouldn’t let that happen. I knew he had the best lawyers on hand, but I couldn’t just do nothing. I was a lawyer too, and a very good one at that, and I was determined to help out my best friend.
Hunter was a powerful man. If he had a problem, he fixed it. If he set a goal, he reached it, no matter how many people told him it was far-fetched.