“Frustrating.” I kissed her forehead. “I talked to Alyssa today. No more questions about my mother.”
She stilled in my arms. The way her body locked told me she hadn’t expected that.
Yeah. Who’s stiff now?
Carmen pulled back just enough to look at me.
“I was worried about you,” she said softly. “I didn’t know if I should ask, or wait until you were ready.”
“I know. But you talk to me about your concerns. Not my sister. Understand?”
She looked down. “It’s kinda hard to.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Meaning?”
“I mean… it’s been a lot,” she went on. “Adjusting to each other again. Opening up to each other. Figuring out how to be in the same place again.”
I pondered that for a minute. “We’re trying.”
“I know,” she sighed before she rested her cheek on my chest.
“We’ll figure it out,” I reassured her. “‘Cause it’s worth figuring out.”
Her expression softened. She gave me one of those small, barely-there smiles.
“Good. Now, keep dancing with me,” she whispered.
I leaned in, brushing my lips against hers. “I wish I could, baby. But we gotta start getting ready for the party.”
She groaned, exaggerated and theatrical, pulling away to head for the bathroom. “Fine.”
“Attitude!” I called out after her, and I could practically feel her rolling her eyes. I wasn’t worried, though, I’d fix it for her in a minute.
I smirked at the dramatics and started to undress, only for my phone to ping in my pants pocket—one notification.
The money I’d sent to Kass.
Returned.
Along with a message:
I’m good. I just need space. Please. Don’t contact me.
I stared at the screen for a moment, thumb hovering above the response bar, then locked the phone without replying.
Champagne Kisses.
Still Day Two.
“You two make a beautiful couple,” an older white woman in a backless, velvet gown said beside us. Her hair was bleached within an inch of its life, and she had a diamond bracelet that probably cost more than my rent.
Not that I knew how much my rent cost. Theo paid for that.
“Thank you,” Theo and I said in unison.
She sipped her drink, then tilted her head. “Do you swing?”
Theo choked mid-swallow, coughing into his fist. I didn’t blink.
