Caroline watched her husband and Rain go their separate ways at the entrance to the restaurant.
Except, of course, they didn’t go their separate ways at all. Hunter doubled back, meeting Rain at the elevators that serviced her wing of the hotel. He’d look in on the kids later, assuming he had time. If not, so be it. They’d been checking them every half hour all night. And for what? Nothing was going to happen to them. He’d already left Samantha alone this afternoon for twenty minutes while she was napping and she’d been just fine. Not that he’d told Caroline about it. How could he, after all, when he’d been with Rain? Luckily, he’d had time to take a shower before she came back. Besides, she was being unreasonable and overprotective. If she wasn’t careful, she’d turn into her mother. Which wasn’t fair, he knew, even as he was thinking it. Caroline was absolutely nothing like her mother. But it made him feel better, a little less guilty, to think ill of her, to pretend that his betrayal was at least partly her fault.
“Come here, you,” Rain said as the elevator doors closed. Immediately her hands were at the zipper of his pants.
“Whoa,” Hunter cautioned, grateful there were no cameras in the elevators. Or anywhere in the hotel, for that matter, which made sneaking around that much easier. “We have to be careful. What if we run into Steve or Becky?” They’d thrown a definite monkey wrench into his plans with their abrupt and unscheduled departure.
“Fuck them,” Rain said with a laugh. “We’ll think of something. I’ve been waiting to get my hands on you all night. I’m not waiting any longer.”
Hunter almost laughed at the urgency in her voice, and was ashamed to find himself so excited.
She already had his jacket halfway off by the time they reached her room. “You are so damn sexy,” she told him, tugging at his pants and falling to her knees.
He wished she’d shut up. That was her problem, he was thinking as she guided him toward her mouth. She talked too damn much.
“Come to Mama,” she said.
And then mercifully, she was silent.
—
“I don’t get it,” Steve said, looking from his watch to the clock beside their bed. “Hunter should have discovered Samantha missing by now.”
“Maybe he has.”
“No. We’d have heard something. I’m going back down.”
“What? No.”
“I have to. It’ll look weird if I don’t. Are you coming?”
“Are you crazy?”
“Fine. I’ll tell them I tried to get you to come back but you refused to listen to reason.”
“You really are a piece of shit.”
“And you’re the whipped cream on top.” He opened the door.
And saw Hunter hurrying down the corridor.
“Holy crap.”
“What?”
“I’m pretty sure I just saw Hunter.”
“What? That’s impossible. What would he be doing over here?”
“I’m wondering the same thing.”
“You don’t think…”
“I think we just bought ourselves another thirty minutes.”
—
“Look who I found in the lobby,” Rain said, gathering her newly acquired shawl around her as she and Steve rejoined the others.
“I was about to send out a search party,” Jerrod said.
“I forgot I’d already packed the damn thing. Had to unpack my whole suitcase to find it.”
Liar, liar, pants on fire, thought Steve. He smiled at Hunter.
What the hell is he smiling about? Hunter wondered.
“Serves you right for being so organized,” said Peggy. “I haven’t even started packing.”
“I take it you couldn’t convince Becky to come back,” Caroline said to her brother.
Steve shrugged as he pulled out his chair and sat down. “Women,” he said to the men present. “Can’t live with ’em, can’t shoot ’em.”
“Nice talk,” said Caroline.
The waiters returned and began preparing the crêpes.
“Kids okay?” Steve asked Hunter.
“Kids are fine,” Hunter said.
Okay, so maybe it hadn’t happened exactly that way, Caroline thought, watching the movie play out in her head again. Maybe she would never know the precise sequence of events of that night or the inflection of each spoken word. Maybe she’d never be privy to the actual thoughts of everyone involved, or the convoluted feelings behind those thoughts. But it didn’t matter. She knew enough.
“Are you all right?” Samantha asked her.
Caroline nodded, focusing on the beautiful young girl kneeling in front of her.
“Are you sure?”
Caroline looked around the now empty living room, trying to remember when everybody had left. The dishes, along with the remains of the Chinese food and the empty beer bottles, had been cleared away, although an assortment of smells remained. “What time is it?”
“Almost midnight. Even the reporters have gone home.”
Caroline smiled. “Where’s Michelle?”
“Getting ready for bed. You should come, too.”
“I will.” She sighed. “How are you doing?”