“You know I love you, but if they told you to call me to reassure me, you aren’t doing a great job.” Stefanie pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes.
“That hurts.” Ree put a hand to her chest. “Would you like me to tease you about something? I’m happy to do it, but I need to know it would help.”
Stefanie rolled her eyes. “You are so accommodating.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. So, did Alexis train you with Waffle?”
Stefanie made a cup of tea while they talked. “Yes. Joey is getting trained today. I’m not sure what Matt’s role is in all of this is. He didn’t say much, honestly.”
“Yeah, he usually doesn’t until he has the lay of the land. That means he’s working in the background and he thinks Joey and Alexis have it under control. Get worried if he starts intervening.”
“Ugh, I need a massage. But I also need to be sure I don’t accidentally get a massage from some kind of assassin.” Stefanie rolled her neck in the futile attempt to get the stress out. “They’re apparently much more numerous than I realized.”
“It’s probably a good idea to make sure you aren’t asking someone who might kill you to give you a massage. Although the odds are fairly slim.”
Stefanie had just put her mug of tea to her lips and she froze in that position. “I was joking.”
“Oh. Sorry. That was a very funny joke, Stef.”
Stefanie stared at her sister incredulously. “How do you live like this?”
Ree shrugged. “It’s not like this all the time. Oh, I almost forgot to ask! How are things going with Joey?” Stefanie took a sip of tea, hoping to disguise her embarrassment. Ree leaned in. “Ooh, your face turned red. I need details.”
Stefanie looked at the ceiling in a futile attempt to regain her composure. “First of all, you super didn’t forget to ask, you were waiting to pounce. Second of all, there are no details to share. And I don’t like where your mind is headed, considering you have babies on the brain. Joey and I learned we don’t hate each other’s company, and that’s progress.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to tell Parker.” Ree snort-laughed. “This is hilarious.”
Stefanie lost all pretense of self-assurance. “You will not. Seriously, Sis. I don’t need that in my life right now. I’ll sic Waffle on you.”
“Nice try. Waffle is good at two things: finding explosives and loving on everyone in the room. He is a lot of things, but he is not an attack dog.” Ree rubbed her stomach in the way that pregnant women sometimes did. She probably didn’t even notice it. It was a good reminder of why Stefanie was doing what she was doing.
Stefanie cleared her throat. “Maybe you should take a cue from him and work on being nice to everyone in the room rather than antagonizing your sister.”
“Aw, but what fun is that? And seriously, you should have heard Mom digging for details when I first met Parker. And she didn’t even know he was FBI.”
Stefanie rubbed her neck. “You know what, I’m finally starting to think that facing a crowd of Dmitri’s minions will be less stressful than this conversation.”
“Love you too, Sis.”
“It’s a good thing because, after all of this, you so owe me.”
Ree’s voice turned serious. “I do. And thank you for putting yourself through this. Seriously, be careful.”
Stefanie and Ree had long considered sarcasm and light-hearted teasing their love language. Ree’s sincerity quickly generated an intense pressure in her chest. She breathed out. “Ree. If something happens to me, I love you. Take care of your little baby.”
“No. Don’t. None of that.” The words came quickly, as they often did when she was nervous. “You have Joey, Alexis, Matt, and Waffle at your back. I know Matt doesn’t always speak up, but the man would drive a tank to your office if he thought you were in danger.”
Stefanie chuckled. “Something tells me you aren’t kidding.”
“I’m not.” She paused. “When is your business meeting?”
“Tomorrow afternoon. I’ll rip the metaphorical bandage off and then, hopefully, we can all move on with our lives.”
17
The following morning, with half an hour left before she needed to leave for work, Stefanie leaned against her kitchen counter and wrapped her hands around a warm cup of coffee. She needed something to perk her up and tea would not do the trick today. She checked the time again. Still twenty-nine minutes to go. She would meet Joey at the building, despite her desire to drive to his house and carpool so she wouldn’t go in unprotected. It was amazing how quickly her wishful thinking that they were all overreacting had shifted into the same level of caution as her government-issued bodyguards. Unfortunately, the shift had taken its toll on her nerves. She put her empty coffee mug in the sink and poured what was left in the coffee pot into a travel mug. Half a lifetime later, when she was sure Joey would beat her to the building, she left. Her drive was unremarkable and her morning typical, the outside world seemingly unaware of the invisible tug-of-war taking place inside of her head. She managed to make it to her office and sort a slew of new emails in record time.
Stefanie decided to wait until she’d finished the coffee in her travel mug before approaching Joey. See, she could act as if things were normal. She lifted her mug for another sip and was surprised to find it empty. It
