Page 103 of The Au Pair Affair

“Chlo,” Sig said, hitting Burgess with some truly ominous eye contact. “How is Tallulah doing?”

“Stop,” Burgess managed, his chest already on the verge of cracking open like an egg.

“Umm.” Chloe paused long enough that Burgess felt the threads of his sanity thinning, fraying, nearly snapping. “She’s just okay.”

“What does that mean?” Burgess shouted.

“It means, she’s... going to class and staying busy with her outings, but not really... present, I guess. She’s pretty checked out.”

Pretty checked out. Put those words on his grave, because they were going to bury him. He could already smell the freshly turned earth. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Why are you doing this tome?” Wells raked a hand down his face. “I’m getting flashbacks.”

Sig clucked his tongue. “Because you need a reason to get out of this bed. What would you do if someoneelsehurt Tallulah like this?”

Burgess’s hands turned to fists. “Slaughter them.”

“Yeah, butafterthat.”

“I’d . . . go make her feel better.”

“Exactly. You’d do everything you could to fix what’s broken.”

“Lying here isn’t going to do that,” Corrigan pointed out.

“Do you think they still have banana pudding?” whispered Mailer to his friend.

“I’ll concede that inviting them here was a bad idea,” Sig said.

Burgess hoisted a brow. “You think?”

“Burgess,” Chloe said. “I managed to get her out shopping yesterday, so we could both buy some bathing suits and sandals for Costa Rica. Not easy to find in Boston during the winter, but prevail we did! Anyway—”

Sig almost dropped the phone. “What do you mean youbothhad to buy bathing suits? You’re not going to Costa Rica.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Yes, she is,” Wells interjected. “I hired her to play the harp during the wedding ceremony. On Burgess’s recommendation.”

“Was anyone going to tell me?” Sig sputtered.

“I was a little busy wrecking my back.”

“Hedidsuggest we add you to the guest list, too,” Wells continued. “And we did. Although, I’m sorry to relay the news that you’re sitting with Josephine’s uncle Herb. Aptly named because he smokes a lot of medicinal herb. Glaucoma.”

“We should have brought you shopping with us, Sig!” Chloe lamented. “You always know what colors look best on me.”

“That’s easy. Every color looks—” Sig broke off, took a centering breath. “Back on track, Chlo. What did you tell me about that guy giving Tallulah his phone number?”

Burgess’s chin snapped up so fast, his neck popped. Jealousy went through his chest like a bull in a china shop, smashing plates and teacups as it went.“What?”

“Yup!” Chloe sang brightly. “A professor, actually. But he teaches undergrad, so it’s cool. She’s not sure whether or not she’s going to call him, but I told her to go for it. He’s yummy.”

Burgess and Sig were staring at the phone, like they wanted to bite it in half.

“I told her she should invite him to the wedding, too. She gets a plus one!”

“No, the hell she doesn’t.” Burgess ignored the sting in his back as he sat up slightly, pointing a stern finger at the golfer masquerading as his friend. “Wells. Take back the plus one. Now.”

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