Page 48 of Sing with Me

The two of them were poring over the menu together, with Dad pointing out his favorite desserts.

“I heard that Skye did, together with Meg Zimmerman,” Mom said. “You remember Meg? She works for Brooks Renovations.”

Wait a minute.“Did you say Skye? As in Skye Langston?”

“Uh-huh. She’s part owner of this restaurant. She bought out her brother’s shares back when he had a tiff with his business partner, who happened to be his ex-fiancée, Talia. You remember Talia?”

“I had no idea Sebastian sold his share to Skye. When was this?”

“About a year ago.”

Diehl wouldn’t have paid attention to the outside world at that time. He had been busy transporting Isobel’s ashes from Italy to Hawaii, making funeral arrangements, dealing with Isobel’s will and estate, sending his children to grief counseling, and all the other things involved in the death of a spouse.

“What happened to Talia?” Diehl tried to recall what happened between Sebastian Langston and Talia. Talia was something else. She would flirt with every guy in sight—the wealthier, the better. Whether they were married or not was a minor detail.

“As far as I know, Talia still owns fifty-one percent of Saffron. She lives in London now, you know, raising a child on her own.”

“Is she?” Talia with a baby. Diehl didn’t ask whose baby. It was none of his business.

“Jared Urquhart’s baby, if you want to know.” Mom put down her menu. Somehow she had been able to chat with him while reading the menu.

“Jared’s in London too?” Truth be told, Diehl hadn’t kept up with the Urquharts either. They were also in the real estate investment business, but the primary thing he recalled was how Jared wanted Brinley badly.

No, he didn’t get the girl.

“Jared’s here,” Dad finally said. “He’s Talia’s proxy and he likes to hang out some nights at this restaurant. You might see him tonight.”

“I don’t care,” Diehl replied.

Famous last words.

The servers came to take their orders, and when they left, out of the corner of Diehl’s eyes, he saw something that made him suddenly care.

There, by the bar, Jared Urquhart stood next to a tall woman in a paisley dress that reached all the way down to her ankle. She did not look too familiar to him, except that she was as tall as…

The woman turned her face, her long and shimmering wavy hair swept her shoulders, and Diehl nearly fell off his chair.

Skye Langston.

Diehl had never seen her hair down. He had no idea it was that shiny or wavy. She had put on very light makeup. But the lipstick made her lips look…

Kissable.

Was this the other side of Skye? Diehl didn’t know she was now running her brother’s restaurant. Correction: her restaurant.

Diehl resisted the urge to walk up to the two of them to see what they could be talking about. Jared didn’t own a part of this restaurant, did he?

The idea that Skye and Jared could be business partners bothered Diehl when their lobster and filet mignon dinner arrived.

Diehl cringed at the memory that Jared had also tried to romance his sister Brinley a few years ago.

Call him old fashioned, but Diehl thought that if Jared had any decency, he would marry the mother of his child—just as Diehl had.

On the other hand, Diehl had been trapped in a loveless marriage for ten years, although in their last year together, he thought they had turned a corner.

Only, it had ended their marriage forever.

Diehl prayed, as much as he could muster the words, that God would protect Skye from Jared and his ilk.

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