Page 41 of Kiss Me, Darling

“Is Erik coming too?” Erik was Zoe’s fiancé and Chris’s teammate.

“Yes actually.” London set a bowl in front of me. “His brother is coming over from Miami for the day.”

Erik’s brother, Jack, was the coach of the Miami Pythons and London’s ex-brother-in-law. “How awkward is it?”

“Jack?” London shrugged. “He’s always been family to me. So the awkward part is remembering Berlin hates his guts. I’m excited to see him.”

I caught the look of mischief in her eyes. “Excited to see him, huh?”

“Yep.” More mischief.

“Berlin isn’t visiting any time soon is she?”

Ben snorted from the kitchen. “She got in an hour ago. Staying in her room at Paris and Harrison’s.”

As someone who enjoyed playing and writing complicated people, I started taking notes in my mind. “So your sister just so happens to be in town the same day her ex happens to be stopping by?”

“Crazy, right?” She took her seat and shoved a triangle of grilled cheese in her mouth.

Lucy frowned. “What am I missing?”

I played translator. “The second baseman for the Mantas is Erik Cassidy. He’s marrying Zoe. Erik’s brother is Jack, who used to be married to London’s sister, Berlin. They had an explosive divorce after he put his career before their marriage. Berlin is...I believe a casting sheet would call herfeisty.Anyway, London believes they are still madly in love with each other, just way too passionate to be in the same room without getting in a fight. She also believes getting divorced hit Jack like a speeding train and he realized where he went wrong and wants to find a way to get back together. Is that right?” I turned to London for confirmation.

“You left out Ryker, but yes,” she said between bites.

Lucy’s gaze swung between us. “Ryker is the new boyfriend?”

“Fiancé. Berlin moved on. Jack hasn’t.”

She nodded slowly. “You’re taking notes, aren’t you?”

“You better believe it!” Damn it felt good to be on the same wavelength with Lucy again.

London’s eyes rounded. “You’re going to put Jack and Berlin into one of your movies?”

“Not exactly.” I dipped my spoon into the red liquid and sipped. Flavor burst over my tongue and I hummed a little in approval before finishing my answer. “Conflict like this is gold but it can be hard to make believable, so when I find real life examples, I take notes.”

London leaned a little closer. “Like,giant alpha male former hockey star gets his heart broken and continues to pine for his ex?”

“Exactly. That, plus Berlin is intense. I can see her really putting the screws to Jack. Normally I’d never root for a couple to get back together, but you all clearly see potential in it, so I want to figure out why and why it works.”

“They’re still in love,” London said simply.

“But they broke up. Clearly there’s some incompatibility there.”

She nodded slowly as she devoured two spoonfuls of soup. “Berlin loves her career. The island and her work are in her blood. Jack...he never gave her space to be herself. He was too fixated on his own career. He’s every bit as career focused as Berlin. Hockey and Jack are synonymous. That’s why they need each other. Jack just couldn’t see the forest from the trees. Hockey was everything...until Berlin left and he realized hockeyisn’tactually everything.” She shrugged again. “It’s not like he cheated on her or something. Unless you count hockey.”

Lucy joined in. “That’s why we take notes on real life couples. Script writers will try to infuse more drama. They’ll add the cheating or an addiction, and a lot of the time it’s just too much. But if you don’t add all the extra stuff in, what does it look like? How does it play?”

London grinned. “I’ll let you know in a few weeks.”

10

It all started with an Iguana named Charlie

Lucy

Ireached for the glass jar, completely shocked by what I saw. “Is this a seahorse?”

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