The Chance (Thunder Point #4)(46)

“How did you know to wait by the cab line?” Laine asked.

Genevieve just laughed. “You? Check a bag? For a couple of days? Laine, you’d take carry-on to Europe!”

Well, true enough, she thought. “Breakfast?” Laine asked.

“Whatever you want. Did you sleep on the plane?”

“I can sleep anywhere,” she lied. It used to be true.

“I wish I could,” Genevieve said. “Let’s get breakfast, then you can play.”

Play? It wasn’t exactly play as it completely wore Laine out, but it was fun. They started off with rehearsing—Missy on her cello and Sissy wearing her tutu and dancing around the family room. Before long Missy and Laine wore makeshift tutus and were learning dance steps from Sissy. Then it was time to do art in the kitchen—clay and paints. Then lunch, then makeovers—fingers and toes, mani-pedis. Baths and hair curling. Then off to a dress rehearsal for Sissy’s dance recital at four; Laine couldn’t miss it as she would miss the actual performance a week later. Then home for pizza and the elementary school strings concert at seven. Of course Genevieve’s two sisters and her parents were also there. Pax showed up at the last minute, wearing scrubs, of course. He had barely escaped the hospital and was on his way back the second it was over.

“How do you stand it?” Laine asked Genevieve.

“The concert? Or the doctor’s hours?”

“Well, since you mentioned it—either one.”

“I’ve learned not to hear too much of the music. It reminds me a lot of slaughter day at the farm. As for the hours, I think about what baby or little kid he might be operating on—that gets me past the jealousy. I complain, though. I don’t want to, I don’t mean to, but I complain.”

“You probably get lonely.”

“Lonely for adult company, even though the girls fill up the days and nights. We try to schedule time together,” she whispered. “But the doctor he works for is such a nasty dick and I think he enjoys messing up our little bit of family time!”

Laine chuckled behind her hand and whispered back, “I’ve never heard you use that word before.”

“Pax has never worked for such a dick before. Really, he’s impossible. He owns my husband. And he doesn’t deserve him.”

After the concert came ice cream, after ice cream it was pajamas and then it was back rubs with lotion. The girls would sleep in the guest room’s big king-size bed with Laine. It had been such a big day, they were both asleep in minutes.

Laine stumbled into the family room, where she heard the TV volume turned low. Her sister-in-law sat on the sofa, her feet propped up on an ottoman, a bottle of wine open and breathing on a tray that also held two glasses.

“Oh, my goodness,” Laine said happily. “How did you know I wouldn’t be passed out in the bed between two little blondes?”

“I think it was when you tried to order Cabernet ice cream at Baskin-Robbins,” she said, lifting the bottle. “Plus, you’re on West Coast time—you should be rockin’ until midnight, at least. But, I was prepared to drink alone if necessary. I got a text from Pax that he should be home in an hour, which usually means three. But I like to wait up if I can.”

Laine slumped in the corner of the sectional beside Genevieve. “I think that ice-cream guy was a little rude to me. He couldn’t take a joke.”

“You were joking?” Genevieve poured two glasses, handed one to Laine and toasted her. “Welcome home,” she said.

Laine took a sip and then was stilled for a moment. “This has been my home. This house more than the house I grew up in, at least since my mom died.”

“I told you when we got engaged—our home is always your home. It always will be. I know giving him up to me was hard for you.”

Laine shrugged. “Don’t make me out to be too possessive. I knew I’d have to give him up to a wife eventually. I just didn’t realize he’d decide to get married when he was twelve.”

Genevieve laughed at her. “We were pretty young. I could have waited a couple of years, but Pax—”

“Fell hard,” Laine interjected. “Hard and fast.”

“He’s always like that—when he decides he wants something, he’s single-minded. A lot like his twin. How’s the arm, Lainie?”

She flexed and straightened it as if on demand. “Better. I haven’t been able to do a push-up yet, but I’ve been working out in a dojo and getting some acupuncture. I think if the girls didn’t wreck me today, I’m in pretty good shape.”

“You look wonderful,” Genevieve said. “Something in the water out there on the coast?”

“Yeah.” She laughed. “Fish. The sun just made its debut a couple of weeks ago. Did Pax tell you? I’m doing a little part-time investigative work for the sheriff’s department. And the Bureau has sent me a little work—nothing big, but enough to keep me busy so I’m not sitting around, just waiting for something to happen. As it turns out, I’m not really crazy about time off.”

“You never have been, but then you’ve never been shot before. And even though you and Senior have always had your issues, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you as angry as you were at Christmas.”

“I hope I apologized for that. I shouldn’t have put you and the girls through that hideous shouting match.”