Page 43 of Kiss Me, Darling

Zoe laughed. “Not at all. I have some advice and notes, but your writing is strong, the plot is well paced, and the characters are all interesting. I can tell this story means a lot to you.”

London poured her grief over Grams passing into this story, so I could only imagine it was lush with details and emotions.

“Thank you so much. I’ll take all the notes and advice!”

“Only if you let me read the rest. I won’t be able to get it out of my head if I don’t know how it ends,” Zoe said.

London nodded furiously. “Absolutely. I’m almost done. You’ll get a first look.”

They chatted about the book while I ate. Some of it I understood, some of it I didn’t. When conversation veered back toward craft I was able to jump into the conversation here and there. In between I wondered how far Scott had gotten on his vampire story and whether I could stand to finish reading Lily’s new script before Scott and I were alone again.

The answer was probably no.

If I got that hot and bothered from the opening scene then there was a very real possibility I would get that hot again. The script could wait until we were nice and alone.

Then Berlin arrived. There was a little crackling between Zoe and Berlin, which made sense. She was about to marry Jack’s brother and Berlin was the ex-wife. There was probably some feelings from that side of the family, too. I tried to memorize everything to relay to Scott later.

“How’s Erik?” Berlin asked, looking genuinely interested.

“He’s great. I mean, they just won a World Series, so he’s kind of living the dream.”

“True.” Berlin looked down at her toes.

It was amazing how much she looked like London. They had some obvious differences. Berlin was more rugged where London was more refined. London’s makeup was perfect while Berlin wore the barest amount. London’s nails were all done to perfection. Berlin had no paint on her nails and a little dirt under them. Which made sense for an archaeologist.

“I don’t want there to be problems between us. If you need to say something, please do,” Berlin said.

Zoe chewed on her lip as she studied the woman in front of her. “I honestly don’t know what to say. I feel very protective of Jack. You broke his heart. I understand why and I think I would have done the same thing, but it doesn’t stop me from feeling a little mad that you two can barely speak to each other.”

I felt weird being in the room for this conversation. Like a cop on the other side of a two-way mirror observing a suspect.

Berlin nodded, twisting her lips off to the side. “Okay. That makes sense. If it helps, I think one day we’ll be able to be in the same room again. I’m not sure when, but one day.”

“Just...just don’t hurt him any more. He punishes himself enough, he doesn’t need any help.”

Berlin nodded some more. “Okay. That makes sense. So we’re good?”

Zoe nodded, too. “I believe so.”

“Great. Who wants to crash a poker game? I want to see Erik!”

* * *

It tookus five minutes to load into a blacked out SUV and drive over to Olivia’s house. Berlin and Erik hugged for about five solid minutes (at least it felt that way) while everyone else got snacks.

Then we broke into two tables and everyone had fun playing poker together. I was a terrible poker player, but I always had fun while I lasted. I just didn’t have it in me to bluff. I played the cards in my hand straight every time.

Except this time.

I had nothing. Not even a measly pair of twos. And for some reason I couldn’t fathom, I was betting like I had a royal flush. It scared off London and Erik, leaving me to face Scott.

The one person who could read me like a book. His eye twitched as he studied me. Several long, painful moments passed before he threw in his cards.

“Fold. Too rich for my blood.”

I squealed with delight as I raked in the chips. I’d never done that before and I couldn’t believe it worked.

“What did you have?” he asked, eyes narrowed like he didn’t quite believe what just happened.

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