The penthouse phone rings, which means Ronan has arrived and is being escorted up.
With a heavy sigh, Henry moves for the bar.
“You worked in the Wolf Hotel in Alaska too?” Violet tucks strands of hair behind her ear. She abandoned her school project to curl up in an armchair as soon as Ronan arrived.
The fireplace casts a warm glow throughout the vast double-story living room. Coupled with strategically placed table lamps and heavy knit blankets I found in a linen closet upstairs, there’s an ease to this grand space I haven’t felt before. Outside, freezing drizzle pelts the wall of windows. This morning’s sunshine is long gone, but that seems fitting, given the dark turn of events.
“I did.” Ronan swallows a gulp of scotch—a pricy bottle, not that Henry has anything cheap to pour him instead. “With Red for a while.” He nudges my arm with his elbow.
“Was that before or after you were Henry’s assistant?” She’s trying to piece together our summer, but is it pure curiosity or is she wondering how much of today’s shocking article could be true?
“After,” Henry answers for me, sipping his drink as his free hand rubs my foot where it rests on his lap. I’ve stretched out along the sectional and have no plans of getting up again.
“Henry left Alaska after the grand opening.” She doesn’t need to know the disastrous reason why. “And I moved to what they call the Outdoor Crew, which is groundskeeping.”
“So you were his executive assistant and then you … cut grass?”
I laugh. “I mostly maintained the gardens because the guys were terrible at it. It was very different but also great. I love working with my hands and being outside.”
“Abbi was the only woman in a group of degenerates,” Henry adds.
“They were fun.” I nudge Henry’s thigh with my heel. “And when Henry was trapped in that mine, Ronan and Connor—that’s another one of the guys—went in to find him. They helped save Henry’s life.” Something I will be eternally grateful for.
“That’s … pretty cool.” Violet’s blue eyes meet Ronan’s for a moment, long enough for her cheeks to pink, and then she abruptly announces, “Too much Coke!” And scurries off to the nearby bathroom. It’s not hard for anyone to see that the almost sixteen-year-old might have a little crush on the gorgeous man sitting beside me.
“You even fucking blink at her in a way I don’t like and I will end you,” Henry warns as soon as the door shuts.
“Come on. She’s a kid,” Ronan snaps. “And she looks like you.”
Henry turns his scowl on me. “You told him?”
“Of course, I did. How would I explain her here tonight? Besides, you should know by now Ronan can be trusted to keep quiet.” He’s kept plenty of juicy secrets, ones that would sell a lot more magazines. “I’d be more worried about who Preston’s telling.”
“Those guys won’t say a word. They know how to be discreet.” Henry returns to his foot ministrations.
“And she doesn’t look completely like Henry. She showed me pictures of her and her mother. There’s a good mix there.” Her heart-shaped face and wide smile are, without doubt, Audrey’s.
“Still, the more people see you two together, the more questions they’re gonna ask. Eventually someone in the media will notice. You think they’ve been brutal with you, Red?” Ronan’s eyebrows arch. “Wait until they get hold of this story.”
My stomach churns with the thought. “She’s only fifteen. They can’t do that to her.”
“And yet they will,” he says through another sip.
“What happened today was because a conniving bitch couldn’t take rejection and wants to play hardball.” Henry adds quietly, “He’s not wrong, though.”
“What are we going to do, then? Violet’s in your life, Henry. She’s not going anywhere.” If the past two days have taught me anything, it’s that despite whatever Violet said early on, she wants to be here.
“I’ve already warned her about keeping this quiet. Seeing today’s mess unfold will make her think twice about saying anything to anyone.”
“People will still ask.” Annie asked. It was an innocent question.
“Yeah, I know.” Henry rubs the back of his neck. “What if we tell people that Audrey and my dad had a brief relationship, and she’s my half-sister who I just discovered?”