“How’s Tio Jose?” Seb asked.
Nick gripped the arms of his chair, feeling slightly dizzy and ill. The sudden change in topic didn’t help. “He’s good…aging, but…why?”
“Well, it’s just, you know Aubrey is in Buenos Aires on sabbatical, which means that Adrienne is also in Buenos Aires.” He paused as if waiting for Nick to connect the dots.
“You want Tio Jose to check in on her?”
“No.” Seb turned around and frowned at Nick. “I mean, it probably won’t come to this. She’ll be back…but I thought, maybe you could go and get her if Abuelo starts to ask questions. Maybe drop by and see Tio Jose, swing past Aubrey’s.”
Nick narrowed his eyes at Seb, trying to read him. They had been raised as brothers and had shared a room since Seb was thirteen and Nick ten. Instead of resenting a young, fresh-from-Uruguay cousin foisted on him, Seb had taken Nick under his wing, made him his protégé, introduced him to his friends, coached him in sports. Nick had adored him. But their relationship had changed the moment Seb brought Adrienne home.
“Come on, you know she loves you,” Seb said. “If you ask her to come back, she will.”
“Why would I do that?” Nick asked. “Why ask her to come back to an unhappy situation?”
“Who says the situation is unhappy?”
Nick folded his hands to keep him from strangling his cousin. “If she was so happy then why did she leave?”
“She wanted to see her sister.”
“And why would I need to persuade her to return?”
“Because I’m her husband.”
“That’s an argument that should be made by her husband. What are you not telling me?”
Seb pushed his fingers through his black hair, making it stand on end. “Abuelo can’t know.”
“Can’t know what?” Nick pressed.
Seb turned back to the window. “As soon as Abuelo dies, the company will be mine. But if he finds out… It’s in her best interest to stay married, you know, for the time being. I’ll be worth a lot more and the divorce settlement will—”
“Divorce?” Nick stood. “You’re talking divorce?”
“Well, not until Abuelo is gone.”
“You make it sound like he’s going to the grocery store. We’re talking about the end of his life. And that business and his family are his life!”
“Exactly. You know how he is. You understand his feelings on divorce.”
“You want to divorce Adrienne?” Nick tried to tamp down the incredulity and hope in his voice, but he still heard the rise of timbre. Thankfully, Seb, always so self-centered, didn’t pick up on it.
“Not while Abuelo is alive. It’s not even an option!”
Nick choked back his questions.
“Look, I’ll pay for the flights.”
“You should go,” Nick said. “You said she loves me, but she loves you more. You’re her husband.”
Seb opened his mouth just as the floor rolled under their feet. His face filled with astonishment.
Nick braced his feet and held onto the shaking desk. “Earthquake,” he murmured.
Commotion came from the next room—a woman screaming, a child crying, a dog barking.
“Did someone bring a dog in here?” Nick asked, astonished.
