“The police station. Might as well get the fingerprinting over with here. I don’t think anybody at the Sheriff’s Department would call Xander on his honeymoon, but I’d just as soon not have to explain anything to them until they’re actually back.”
“Fair enough.”
It was past time for lunch when they made it back to the inn. An unfamiliar car was parked in the lot.
“Were we expecting a reservation today?” Flynn asked.
“No. But Ari knows she was supposed to call if anyone showed up. Maybe it’s one of Abbey’s clients. She was supposed to be here all morning.” Except Pru didn’t see Abbey’s car. A trickle of unease bled through. What if this was Lydia Coogan? Pru didn’t like the idea of the woman talking to Ari by herself. But surely Ari would have called if she’d shown up.
She and Flynn hurried inside, following the sound of voices back to the kitchen.
Ari sat at the kitchen table in animated conversation. She looked up and beamed as they came into the room. “Look who came back!”
“Athena? What are you doing here?”
Her youngest sister swung around, eyes narrowing in on Pru’s left hand. “What. The. Literal. Fuck?”
“Language,” Pru warned.
“Screw that. You’re engaged?”
And so it begins.
Flynn pressed a hand to the small of her back and, for a moment, she leaned into his support. “I’ll make the tea.”
Pru took a deep breath and sat. “How did you hear?”
“Logan called me.”
Damn it. Had he told anyone else? “There was no reason for him to.”
“No reason? Pru, you are engaged to a man you barely know. No offense, Flynn.”
“None taken.”
“Maggie’s gonna lose her shit.”
Pru winced. “Did you tell her?”
“No. She’s taken off enough time the past few months to come home. She can’t afford to take any more, and I didn’t really believe Logan when he said it. I figured there was some logical explanation for it or that he was mistaken somehow, and I could come down and sort things without needlessly upsetting her.”
“Right, because it’s Maggie’s level of upset that’s the priority here.”
Athena stared at her. “Who are you and what have you done with my sister?”
Temper pricked and for once, Pru didn’t try to tamp it down. “Ari, sweetheart, could you go upstairs for a bit? I need to talk to your aunt in private.”
“But—”
“Now, Ari.”
She screwed up her face in a snit. “Yes, ma’am.”
“And actually go upstairs. No eavesdropping this time.”
That added a flounce to the snit on her way out of the room. Pru would have a chat with her about that later. She waited until she heard the tromp of feet up the stairs to speak again.
“Look, I get that Maggie’s stressed. We’ve all been stressed. But you and Maggie have both gone back to the lives you’ve built. I’m the one who stayed. I’m the one who’s gotten no break whatsoever since Mom died. I’m the one who’s changing my entire life for that child. So far be for me to actually think about myself for once.”