“Why are you talking to him?” I angrily ask.
She rises and grabs her bag. “Don’t start.”
I put my hand on her biceps. “Please don’t tell me you’re considering going back to him?”
“I don’t want to talk about this right now.” She turns to Steven. “Can your driver take me to Chase’s, or should I call his?”
“Sure.” Steven texts Ted.
“Hope has been asleep for an hour.”
“Thank you for watching her,” I say.
She slings her bag over her shoulder. “Anytime. I’ll see you later.” She hurries past me.
When she gets to Steven, he stops her. “Anna, don’t get back with him. You don’t deserve to be his punching bag or cheated on or any of the other bullshit he’s doing to you.”
She stares at him and wipes her face. “I have to go. Please don’t tell Chase you heard me talking to him. I don’t need to listen to it all night.” She brushes past him and leaves.
“Anna!” I call out, but she doesn’t come back. “Great.”
Steven pours a glass of cabernet for me and a glass of Scotch for himself. He removes his tux coat and bow tie, unbuttons a few buttons of his shirt, and sits on the couch.
“What is it with women wanting dickheads in their life?”
I shrug and wince. “Love?” I sit next to him.
His face reddens. “You call beating and cheating on a woman love?”
“No. Of course not. But she loves Mitch. Your mom loves Maximillion. I don’t know why, but they do. It’s the only thing that makes sense about why they would allow themselves to be treated so poorly.”
“So, love gives guys the go-ahead to do whatever they want?”
“No.”
“Sounds to me you’re saying that.” He takes a long drink.
“Then I’d still be married.”
“How long after you found out he cheated on you did you leave him?”
“Almost immediately. Once I knew it was true.”
“But you suspected for a while?”
I take a sip, and the flavor of black cherries and plum bursts on my tongue. “No. I was a clueless moron for our entire marriage. My girlfriend sent me a video of him in Hooters, getting handsy with the waitress. I hired a private investigator, and he gave me the proof. Then I confronted him and told him I wanted a divorce. The next day he cleaned out the accounts.”
“But you were still in love with him when you told him you wanted a divorce?”
“Yes.”
“Then it can’t be love. If love keeps my mom or Anna with those assholes, but it didn’t keep you with yours, then it’s not that.”
“Everyone’s heart is different. What we’re willing to put up with or not isn’t the same.”
“Maybe I just have higher standards than most people,” he mumbles and taps his glass.
I fling my shoes off and put my feet on his lap. “You are slumming it with me this week,” I tease.
“Ha ha.” He kneads the arch of my foot. His phone rings.
He groans and looks at it. His shoulders tense, and he hits a button on his phone and puts it next to his ear. “That was the lowest move you’ve made.”
I sit up and move closer to him.
“Listen to me closely. Whatever you have my mother involved in, I’m going to find out. And I will never work on your campaign.”
He scrunches his face and shuts his eyes.
“Stop talking to Dudmeyer. You’re both stepping over the line.” He rises and walks to the window with his hand in his hair.
“Enough. I’m not reporting anywhere. Don’t call me again.” He hangs up and puts a palm on his forehead.
I reach up and rub his shoulders. “Take your shirt off so I can de-stress you.”
He sighs. “Nothing you do is going to make any of this better.”
I dig into a knot. “No. But I think you forgot something.”
He spins. “What did I forget?”
I crook my finger, and he leans down. I murmur in his ear, “I thought you wanted me hot.” I lick his lobe. “Wet. Begging you all night? Hmm?” I tilt my head and raise an eyebrow.
His stressed-out expression becomes cocky.
Hope wails, and I jump. “I’ll get her.”
“No. You go wait in the bedroom.” His eyes scan my body, and heat flushes my face. “Don’t remove any of your clothes.”
Hope screams louder, and he spins and goes to attend to her.
I go into the bedroom, and Steven rushes in with Hope.
“What’s wrong?”
“I think Hope has a fever.”
“What? Oh no!” I put my hand on her forehead. She’s burning up and continues to cry.
Steven puts her on his chest, but she pushes off and screams.
“Let me take her. Call Anna and see if she was acting ill tonight.”
“I don’t have her number. Where’s your phone?”
“In my clutch.”
He pulls it out, and I tell him my code. “The thermometer is in the bathroom cabinet in Hope’s room. Can you get it?”
“On it.” He steps toward the door. “Anna, it’s Steven...”
I sit on the bed with Hope. “Sweet girl, what’s going on? Is it your teeth?” I slide my finger in her mouth, and she screams. I feel the edge of a tooth. “Shhh.” I pull her up to my chest and try to rock her.
Steven comes back into the room with the thermometer. “Thanks. Bye.” He hangs up the phone. “Anna said she was fine all night.”
“I think it’s from her tooth coming in. I felt the edge of it.”
He turns the thermometer on and points it toward her forehead. His eyes widen. “Ninety-nine point eight. Do we need to take her to the hospital?”
Hope wails again and pushes against my chest.
“No. It’s not over one hundred point four.”
“How do you know that number?”
“I have other nieces and nephews.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Get changed, then you can hold her while I get out of this dress.”
He goes into the closet and comes back out in shorts and a T-shirt.
I hand him Hope and stand. “Can you unzip me?”
He quickly does it, and I put on pajama shorts and a tank top.
“So what do we do?” He frets.
I grab a baby blanket and put it on the bed. “Let’s get her out of her jammies and give her a lukewarm bath. Can you fill the tub?”
“Sure.” He kisses Hope’s head again. His face is full of worry.
I grab his arm. “Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“She’ll be okay.”
He lets out a big breath and nods. “I’ll start the bath.”
I undress her, and she continues to cry while chewing on her finger.
“Steven?”
He comes running out.
“Can you grab a teether from her dresser? There’s a canvas box. Actually, just bring the entire box.”
He obeys and sets the pink box on the bed. I grab one and give it to Hope, but she screams again and throws it at Steven.
“Hey, now, sweet girl. Put it in your mouth this time,” I coo while handing her another but holding it to her mouth.