Page 201 of Push

Romeo’s arms folded across his bulky chest. “My instructions are that you will talk to Signora Sullivan over my dead body.”

Kayleigh’s chin jutted out more stubbornly than ever. “Iwillmake a scene,” she warned.

“Isn’t she already making a scene?” Marnie muttered.

She wasn’t wrong. Every set of eyes in the café pretended not to be interested in the chaos Kayleigh was wreaking on Wednesday brunch. Romeo shot a helpless look in my direction. I sighed. So much for a quiet coffee and debrief with Marnie.

I nodded at him to let Kayleigh through. Arms still folded, not budging an inch, he nodded at the guy in the suit, who stepped forward to pat down Kayleigh’s sides.

She squealed and slapped at his hands. “Is this necessary?”

“Precaution,” the man grunted.

“Precaution! Jesus Christ,” Kayleigh hissed. “People don’t carry weapons to cafés in Mosman!”

Smirking, Romeo inched open his suit jacket, and whatever Kayleigh saw hidden inside made her eyes bulge out of her head. She stood rigid, glaring straight ahead until the pat-down finished. Her confidence taken down a notch or two, she wobbled on her heels the rest of the way to the table.

Marnie turned to me, eyebrow up. She questioned if I was going to entertain this bullshit conversation. I was. I cocked my head, watching Kayleigh sit down, cross her legs, and smooth her satin pants over her knees. She was getting comfortable—not a quick chat, then.

“Thank you for seeing me,” she said primly.

“It didn’t seem like I had much of a choice.” I dug my fork into the pancakes and popped a wedge into my mouth. I kept her sweating while I took my sweet time washing it down with a sip of coffee. “What do you want, Kayleigh?”

“I want you to stop.”

I waved my fork for her to keep talking. “I’m going to need more than that.”

“Stop humiliating yourself. Stop lying. Stop faking the messages.”

I thought over each of her accusations, and tapping my finger to the beat, I said, “Not. Not. Not.” I shot her a flat look. “Will that be all?”

“No, that willnotbe all. When will you just give up this pathetic charade and realize Toby is mine?”

“I’ll have to respectfully disagree with you there. See these rings?” I held up my hand and wriggled my fingers so the sapphires and diamonds glinted under the café lights. “Engagement. Wedding. Oh.” My other hand wriggled in her face to show off the slim gold band with the tiny gold heart. “First kiss.”

Kayleigh’s entire face fell. “He…he gave you a ring…to celebrate your first kiss?”

I smiled. “Toby’s kind of adorable like that. Now, what’s this about fake messages?” I scooped another bite from mypancakes, only glancing for a second at my phone. Three dots flashed under Wayne’s name.

Wayne

The cavalry’s on its way.

Kayleigh hid her complete devastation about the ring by squaring her shoulders and hiking up a defiant chin. “The messagesyou’vebeen sending.”

“To…?”

“Toby.”

“The last message I sent to Toby was a picture of our son.” I held up my phone. “Want to see—”

She smacked my phone out of her face. “I don’t want to see a picture of your ugly baby!” Her nose scrunched.

Shrugging, I put my phone down. “Most people think he’s pretty cute.” I turned to Marnie, who watched the spectacle with a smirk of amusement dancing on her lips. “Mar, do you think Noah’s cute?”

“That little chonk is simply adorabubble,” she replied.

Kayleigh’s eyes narrowed on my best friend. “As if anyone cares aboutyouropinion.” She shrunk in her chair when fancy Italian loafers padded closer, and Romeo’s shadow loomed over the table. “Relax, Old Money,” she said to him before flashing a fake smile of apology. “We’re all friends here.”

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