Page 41 of Whispers in the Dark
“No. No.” She shoos me away. “I got this. I’m just looking for the… Ah! Death by chocolate. My favorite.” She retrieves a quart of ice cream and hugs it against her chest.
“I got the wine!” Scarlett announces, walking out of the pantry in her satin pink pajama set. She approaches me and loops her arm with mine. “I’m so happy you came.”
“Me too.”
“And now that we all live here, we can do this all of the time!”
“We’re so overdue for a girls’ night,” Madeleine says, while concentrating on scooping ice cream.
“I guess you’re right,” I start. “Especially since the last time the three of us hung out, it was with a psycho bitch who secretly wanted to kill Madeleine.”
Madeleine rolls her eyes. “God, don’t remind me.”
Scarlett laughs. “Come on.” She tugs on my arm. “Let’s get this night started.”
Thirty minutes later, with a glass of wine in my belly and half a bowl of ice cream eaten, the inevitable question comes my way.
“So, you got married… Just like that?” Madeleine shoves her spoon into the quart of ice cream on her lap.
“Yeah.” I shrug, tossing a maraschino cherry in the air and catching it in my mouth. “It just kind of happened.” I peer down at my bowl of ice cream, avoiding eye contact. One wrong move and she’ll sniff out my lie and never forgive me for using her brother.
She arches a perfectly shaped brow. “Binge-watching an entire season of a TV show just happens. Dropping ten thousand on a pair of gorgeous shoes just happens. But marrying my brother…” She points her spoon directly at me, narrowing her eyes. “I’m not buying it.”
“Oh, leave her alone.” Scarlett plops herself on the cushioned footstool, throwing some bites of chocolate candies into her mouth. “They’re in love and can do whatever the hell they want. And if I recall correctly, someone else in this room also snuck off to marry at the town hall in secret…”
“Yeah. Yeah.” Madeleine waves her spoon dismissively, causing a drop of chocolate ice cream to land on her gold satin top. “Shit, that’s going to stain.” She lifts the fabric and licks it off, but it’s too late. The damage is done. “I’ll call Alex. He’ll know how to get this out.” She swipes her phone from the arm of the couch.
“So…” Scarlett refills her glass of wine and then turns her attention on me. “How’s married life going?” She scoots closer as she wraps a soft blue throw blanket around herself.
I trace my spoon over the hill of melting ice cream in the center of my bowl. “We’re…good.”
“Good?”
“Yeah.” I swirl the chocolate sauce into the ice cream. “I mean, it’s great. Really. It’s everything I hoped for.” I smile, viewing her, but I see it. The look on her face that says she doesn’t believe me. Not a single damn word.
“You moved in today, right?”
“Yup. Just finished unpacking before Madeleine called.”
“That’s got to be an adjustment for Mauro. That man loves his alone time.”
I let out a short, defeated laugh. “That he does.”
“Alex, I know you’re busy, but this is important!” Madeleine says loudly, panicked. “I just need to know how to clean—” She pauses, a smile blooming across her face. “Amazing! Thank you!” She tosses her phone to the other side of the couch and jumps up, racing toward the hallway. “I’ll be right back. Start the movie without me!” she yells over her shoulder as she disappears into her laundry room.
Scarlett laughs, shaking her head. “I don’t know what she would do without her brothers.” She gets up from her seat and then sits on the other side of me, placing the blanket over both our laps. “What movie should we watch tonight?”
I glance at her, suddenly feeling the weight of my life. I can’t tell her the exact truth, but maybe I could tell her a tiny version of it. “Scarlett, I—”
She stops me, placing her hand over mine. “It’s okay, Alina.” She smiles softly. “Your story with Mauro isn’t anyone else’s business. I just want to make sure you’re happy, that’s all.”
“I am,” I answer, swallowing the ball of emotions clogging my throat.
“Good.” She removes her hand and picks up the remote. “Mauro will do anything to make you happy. I’ve always seen it from the way he looks at you.”
My brows cinch. “You have?”
“Hey, I just remembered your birthday is coming up,” Madeleine starts as she enters the room in a black pajama top. She plops herself on the space beside me and tugs on the blanket, draping it over her legs. “We should totally do a fancy night out to dinner with the husbands. I can make reservations at that new place in the Hamptons where they make the food right at your table and coat everything in gold leaf.”
