Isabelle rolls her eyes in the melodramatic manner her grandmother is known for. “He’s also a man who is sitting right here. And just so you know, I don’t have warts.”
Henri grins at me, his dentures glowing in the midmorning sunlight. “Am I not right? You would cherish the woman you love?”
“That’s right…as long as I know she won’t spear my heart with her stilettoed heel. And that includes taking stupid risks with her life.” The last part is directed at Isabelle with a raised eyebrow.
Because I know she would never cheat on me. But if I lost her because something happened to her, that would gut me worse than when my ex-fiancée proved to be unfaithful.
“I didn’t plan to get kidnapped. And I certainly didn’t expect that gorilla to grab me after I finished talking to Granny on the phone.”
A collective gasp rises from the other three individuals, Henri’s being the loudest.
“There’s a gorilla running loose in Huntington Beach?” he asks.
“I meant figuratively, not literally.”
“Oh.”
Isabelle laughs. “Try not to sound too disappointed.”
“You were kidnapped?” Josephine looks at Isabelle; then her wide-eyed gaze sweeps to me. “You let my baby get kidnapped?”
“It wasn’t his fault,” Isabelle says at the same time as I tell her grandmother, “This is why I don’t want her involved in any more dangerous missions.”
There’s a chance I might have ended it with a caveman grunt.
Liza and Henri are one step away from clapping their hands in glee at the reality show playing out in front of them.
Isabelle heaves a heavy breath. “Look, I get it. Your best friend died while you two were deployed together, and I’m really sorry about that, Jayden. But you’ve got to stop trying to protect me like I’m an easily broken tea set.”
Another grunt from me. “I’m not trying to protect you. I’m trying to keep you from getting killed.”
“Same thing. But that’s what you do, Jayden. You protect everyone. Me. Your country. Your colleagues. The clients you’re hired to help. That’s why you’re so good at your job.
“But when it comes down to it, you’re no different than those women you’ve dated. They expected you to give up your job for them…and you’re expecting me to give up the job I want to do because it makesyouuncomfortable.”
I gesture at Josephine with the wave of my hand, my eyes not leaving Isabelle’s. “What—you think your grandmother wants something bad to happen to you?”
“You can keep me out of your lovers’ spat, young man. You’re on your own with this one.”
“You’re actually okay with your granddaughter risking her life?”
“No, but it’s not about whatIwant. It’s about whatshewants. Because if it were about what I want, you two silly hens would have already admitted to yourselves and each other that you’re in love.”
“I told her I love her. She’s the one who’s not in love with me.”
Isabelle lets out another heavy breath. “I didn’t say I don’t love you—”
“Yes!” This time Liza does clap her hands and grins like a little girl on Christmas morning.
“I’d say this is the perfect occasion for champagne,” Henri says, also grinning. “Josephine, I don’t suppose you still have the bottle ofDom Pérignon Vintage Rosé? We need to celebrate.”
Both Isabelle and I stare at him with what have to be “Huh?”expressions.
Seeing this, Henri clarifies, “The reason she didn’t say that she doesn’t love you is because sheisinlove with you.”
My heart stumbles over itself at his words, and hope lets out a sigh of relief. “Is that true?” I ask her.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m in love with you or not, Jayden. I’m not interested in being with a man who doesn’t respect me enough to let me do the job I’m good at. The job I’ve proved I’m capable of doing.”
