laughed.
Cheyenne looked up at him and shook her head. “No. Tod-
dler on a boat with a bunch of drunken adults? Bad idea. You
know how cranky he gets when he’s confined to small spaces.
Not to mention that would be way too much sun for him.”
“You worry way too much, my love.” He kissed her fore-
head.
Cheyenne closed her eyes. “It scares the shit out of me,
Scot. I won’t be able to relax.”
“Fine. We’ll leave him behind. I just think we need some
real family time.”
“You’re not getting any arguments from me.”
“I’ll talk to the front desk. Find out what family friendly
things they have to offer on this rock.” Scot graced her with his sweet grin, and Cheyenne pulled him down to kiss his gorgeous
mouth. He was always so thoughtful, and he still made her melt
on a daily basis.
Stephanie had spent the last hour listening to Yara drone on
about rose petals, bamboo archways, and sand mounds in the
shape of a giant heart. She nodded seriously, and Yara spoke as
if this were the most important event Steph had ever photo-
graphed. She prepared a “must shoot” list for the ceremony on
her IPad feeling bourgeois for the first time in her career.
“No! Oh my God! That is not the right champagne! David!”
She shrieked midsentence and bolted away from Stephanie after
some poor, unsuspecting servers. Steph tossed her IPad into her
purse and quickly changed location. She had just reemerged on
the patio, when Bret Williams, the lead guitarist of Fury, stepped into her path.
82
RAGE
“Would you care to samba, Mi’lady?” He bowed dramati-
cally to her. He was clearly buzzing. Steph cackled.
“I don’t know how,” she admitted. Bret grinned.
“Neither do I, but I’m not gonna let that stop me.” He
tossed her bag onto the table and pulled her onto the dance floor.
He yanked a rose from a nearby centerpiece, placing it between
his teeth. Halfway through their butchering of a bastardized tan-go, Yara stomped up and violently pulled the rose from his
mouth.
“This is for decoration only!” She shook her finger at him
and stuffed the rose back into the centerpiece. It sprawled cockeyed from the vase.
“So why isn’t Sarah here with you?” Steph asked once he’d
led her away from the crowd to the far edge of the dance floor.
Bret’s chipper expression vanished, and he slowed involuntarily.
He seemed to forcibly gather himself and continued leading her
in their bastardized dance with a casual shrug.
“I honestly don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know my-
self. I came home from the studio the other day, and she was
gone. She just took the kids and left.” Bret’s lovely Welsh accent normally cheered her up, but his voice cracked in a heartbreaking way as he spoke.
“I’m so sorry, Bret. You two always seemed so happy. I
hope you work it out.” Steph felt surprisingly choked up. She
knew it was lame—showering him with platitudes—but she had
no idea what else to say.
“How do you know when it’s time to walk away from
someone? At a certain point, it’s just pathetic. I put everything into our marriage, and then she just…leaves. No explanation, no
fight—like she doesn’t even think we were worth fighting for.”
Stephanie tried to keep a poker face, but his train of thought
sounded a little too familiar. Though she and Phillip were more
than willing to publicly spar, neither of them had been willing to push up their sleeves and fight long enough to come to any real
83
TAMMY COONS & MICHELLE PACE
resolution.
“Tee tee!” Liam shouted, and as Bret stepped back from
Steph, the impact of Liam slamming into her legs nearly
knocked her into the pool. Bret snatched Liam back by the arm
as she started to stumble, and Phillip appeared, yanking her back from the edge by the front of her skirt. His other arm came
around her to steady her, and pulled her against him. Her face
was smashed against his chest, and she could hear his heart
hammering and smell the familiar scent of his cologne. The feel
of his body against hers was all too familiar, and she looked up into his silvery eyes. He seemed to search every millimeter of
her face, and the color flared in his cheeks.
“Pip!” Liam complained, and Phillip reluctantly released
Stephanie from his grasp.
“Pip?” Bret laughed, and Phillip flushed an even deeper
shade of red.
“That’s me. Uncle Pip.” He explained. Steph tried to sup-
press a giggle at his Mary Poppins-like nickname, but it was useless. Phillip’s lips curved in a tiny smile.
“Tee Tee!” Liam complained, wrapping himself around one
of her legs. Steph struggled to keep his head from ending up un-
der her skirt.
“He certainly takes after his father,” Bret muttered, and
Phillip huffed out a surprised laugh. Cheyenne raced up with
panicked eyes.
“Where the hell is my nanny?” She growled, picking up
Liam, who reached out for Stephanie with all the theatrics of a
prisoner being dragged to the gallows.
“She’s in the ladies room. She asked me to watch him for a
minute. But he saw ‘Tee tee’, and suddenly I was no longer his
preferred playmate.” Phillip explained, cocking his head toward
Stephanie.
Scot wandered up with a drink in his hand. “What’s going
on?”
84
RAGE
Cheyenne blew her bangs out of her eyes with a loud ex-
hale. It had been a very long time since Steph had seen her look so stressed. “Come on, Liam. Let’s put you down for the night.”
“I’ll go with you,” Scot offered. Without looking back at
him, Cheyenne shook her head.
“I got it, Scot.”
Steph saw the hurt expression etched on Scot’s face. He
turned away. As she trailed after Cheyenne, she heard Phillip
behind her.
“Come on blokes, I’ll get the next round.”
Steph regretted her choice of shoes as she clomped after
Cheyenne down the curvy steep path toward the bungalow. The
moon was almost full, and the tropical vegetation surrounding
the path had a haunting quality. As they walked through the door of the bungalow, Steph exclaimed,
“Holy crap!” This place is beautiful!”
“Shhhh.” Cheyenne responded, and Steph realized that dur-
ing the short walk, Liam had crashed in his mother’s arms.
“What is going on with you and Scot?” Steph demanded.
Cheyenne pointed to the balcony and pulled two drinks out
of the fridge, handing one to Steph. Once they were away from
the sleeping boy, Steph sat
