Page 249 of A Lick and A Promise
I took in his grin.
He walked away and I kept my eyes on him.
He seemed okay.
He told me he’d mourned his family a long time ago.
But last night was extreme.
He said it was closure.
But, worth a repeat, last night was extreme.
However, it seemed last night, especially with the BBQ tools and the visit from the Hot Bunch, actually was closure.
Joey came up to me, and her eyes were on Knox too.
“He seems to be hanging in there,” she remarked as we sidled closer to the bar when folks took off after getting their drinks.
“He found out last night that his mom left one drug guy for a more promising drug guy, has been living in the lap of luxury in Mexico for the last twenty-some years while her man built his own cartel, and only then did she make moves to bring her kids to her. The sub-context is, her daughter and Knox’s beloved sister knew all about this the whole time and never breathed a word to Knox. And his dad kidnapped me, necessitating an extraction on the eve of one of their own having a big event.”
“Is that your way of saying he’s not hanging in there?” Joey asked.
“He is. That’s my way of saying it’s kinda freaking me.”
Joey hooked her arm through mine and drew us forward. “He’s with his people. It’s a happy day. Look at this place.”
I looked around the place.
There were flowers everywhere. Even hanging at the junctures of bunting on the top railings and floating in the pool. The arch Alexis and Jacob would be married under was insane. There were seating areas with actual couches on actual rugs (Tito was holding court on a couch as we spoke, Tex was holding court on another one). Round tables festooned with gorgeous globes of cream and yellow flowers atop slender, sparkling glass vases were dotted around.
It took an army to pull this off for Alexis and Jacob.
And on that thought, I relaxed.
Because Knox was in the middle of this.
Knox knew, when it was our time, we’d have our version of this.
But Cap and Raye would have it first. Eric and Jessie. Etcetera.
In between, there would be pool parties and meet ups at bars, impromptu barbeques in the courtyard, OSRA meetings, Martha being Martha, and all the rest that came with it.
As he’d said, this was why he wanted to live here.
It was safe.
And everywhere you turned, there was love.
Feeling a lot better, Joey shuffled us up to the bar and I ordered our cocktails.
When we got them and curved off, her eyes caught on something and she echoed, “He’s with his people.”
He was.
In his fabulous blue suit with the green shirt that did amazing things to his eyes, laden with two plates filled with hors d’oeuvres, coming our way, he was with his people.
He smiled at me.
