CHAPTER 1
I CHECKED MY phone for the tenth time in as many minutes, willing it to ring. A hostage negotiation, a shoot-out, a sting operation, a last-minute assassination… Anything would have been better than what Bradley had planned for me today.
Speak of the devil. He appeared in my bedroom doorway, bouncing on his toes.
“Are you ready? Why aren’t you ready?” He put his hands on his hips. “Emmy, you’re still in your pyjamas.”
“Technically, these aren’t pyjamas.”
I always slept in a pair of boxer shorts and an oversized T-shirt, borrowed from my husband’s closet. In my world, comfort came before style.
“Stop being facetious and hurry up. Everyone else is ready and raring to go.”
Really? When I got into the hallway—now dressed under protest—Ana was sitting on one couch and Dan, Mack, and Carmen were on the other, all looking as if they were waiting to head to the gas chamber rather than take a fun-packed trip to Virginia’s newest family attraction. Honestly, I’d seen more enthusiasm amongst prisoners of war, and I couldn’t blame the girls. SciPark was billed as “education meets entertainment,” but to me, it felt like the fine line between purgatory and full-on hell. Hellgatory. Was that a thing? Only the kids seemed excited—Trick, Vine, Race, Josh, and Tabby—although I suspected Tabby would have been just as happy if Ana had taken her out the back and taught her how to shoot a crossbow. The kid was only three years old, and though I’d never admit it to my sister, Tabby made me very nervous.
“I still don’t understand why I have to go,” Mack said, clutching her laptop bag like a shield. “None of these children are mine.”
Bradley gave an overly theatrical sigh. “You want to be a mother, don’t you?”
“Someday.”
“Well, think of this as practice.”
I raised my hand. “I don’t want to be a mother, ever, so can I be excused?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Somebody needs to stop Ana from murdering Bradley,” Dan muttered. “And that somebody is you.”
“Remember what happened when he made us go to the spa?” Carmen asked. “We had to dig a grave. I’m not digging another grave, not even Bradley’s.”
“Fine, I’ll come. But I’m not going on any of the bloody rides.”
Ana leaned in close. “Why do you let him boss you around like this? You pay his salary, don’t you?”
Good question. With an equally excellent answer.
“Because he’s watched FernGully fifty times in the last fortnight, and he wants to plant a replica rainforest in the backyard.”
“A rainforest? How can he? We’re in Virginia. It’s too cold.”
“He also wants to build a giant greenhouse to go over the top. I caught him researching habitats for marmosets, and there’s no way we’re getting monkeys. No bloody way. The parakeets around the swimming pool were bad enough, and don’t even get me started on the swans. Anyhow, SciPark’s got a living rainforest, and I’m hoping that if he realises how badly the humidity will frizz his hair, he’ll have a rethink.”
“Why don’t we all chip in and send him on a trip to Borneo instead?”
“Hmm… That’s actually not a bad idea. Guys—”
“Hurry! Hurry!” Bradley clapped his hands together. “If you don’t get a move on, there’s no point in us going at all.”
“I’m not seeing a problem with that.”
“Of course, staying here would give me more time to work on my biosphere plans…”
“Okay, okay, I’m hurrying.”
Finally, we got everyone loaded into three cars. Three cars because if we only took two, then Mack would have had to ride with Dan and she didn’t have a death wish. So Dan took Race—her newly adopted son—plus his two buddies, I got Ana and Tabby, and Mack brought up the rear with Carmen and Josh. And Bradley, after he ran back inside to fetch his sunscreen and then again for his sun visor and yet again because his new shoes were rubbing. So much for leaving quickly.
While we were waiting, Ana glanced at her watch and sighed as Carmen tried to work out where to stuff Bradley’s enormous purse.
“I could have gone climbing after all. Sam will be back before we get out of the gates.”
Sam Quinn, Ana’s significant other, had taken a trip to Seneca Rocks with a group of his CIA buddies. A last-minute invite, so he said, and funnily enough, one that had only materialised after Bradley invited him to join us today. Ditto for Carmen’s husband and his sudden desire to audit the camera system at the California office of Blackwood Security, the company he and I co-owned along with my husband and Nick Goldman.
“I’m surprised you agreed to come in the first place,” I said.
Ana wasn’t a fan of crowds, not unless she was using them as a cover for something nefarious. Then she’d suck it up and deal.
“Bradley plays dirty. He showed Tabby a video of the big wheel, and now she wants to ride on it.” Another sigh. “I suppose it’ll be educational.”
“Let’s hope there’s a bar.”
“You’re driving.”
“Maybe I’ll make Bradley drive back.”
“You can’t. Sam and I have dinner reservations tomorrow, and if Bradley plays chauffeur, we’ll still be somewhere around Fredericksburg.”
“Fine, then I’ll have to settle for coffee.”
Bradley ran out of the house once more, and this time he was wearing sparkly pink hi-tops and matching sunglasses. I was half-surprised he hadn’t changed his hair colour as well, but that was still turquoise.
“Can we go now?” I yelled out of the Porsche’s window. I’d borrowed my husband’s Cayenne. He didn’t need it today because when Bradley suggested he might like to tag along, he’d helicoptered to the airfield and flown to Barcelona. Coward. Now the Porsche had a custom-made hot-pink leather baby seat installed in the back—courtesy of Bradley, of course—and I had a good mind to leave it there as a punishment.
“Yes, but if you’re going to be snippy, then I’ll ride with Mack.”
Ana settled back in her seat and adjusted her aviators. “Good. Snippiness rules.”
In the rear-view mirror, Tabby mimicked her mother with her own Babiators, and I suppressed a shudder. I loved my niece, don’t get me wrong, but…yeah. She wasn’t a normal child. Kids scared me, I freely admitted that, but Tabby was a weird cross between a mini mercenary and a toddler, and I was never quite sure how to handle her.
Half of my little group of friends had kids now. I had a feeling Mack would soon join the club as well. That would leave me and Sofia as the only two non-moms, but Sofia had just connected with her long-lost brother, and he lived overseas, so she was travelling quite a bit. Which left me a little…not lonely, exactly, but I felt as if people were moving on without me. We’d always be there for each other, of that I was certain, and of course I was happy that they were happy, but still… Perhaps that was the real reason I was going today. I didn’t want to get left behind while their lives changed for good.