“I’m going to go feed him and change him, which should give you just enough time to say all the things you don’t want me to hear. Okay?”

Rainy nodded. They parted ways in the lobby, with Viola going right toward the elevators that would take her to their room. Rainy stepped into the hotel’s restaurant with Ham still beside her.

“I’m meeting someone... Braithe Mattson.”

The hostess nodded and led Rainy to the terrace where Braithe was already seated, drinking a glass of red wine and staring at Rainy like she’d been expecting her to walk in at precisely that moment. She didn’t stand up when Rainy got to the table, but she did greet Ham, who sniffed at her with interest. They’d purposely chosen a pet-friendly patio.

“I’m sorry about Shep,” she said. “He was a good boy.”

“He was old,” Rainy said. Ham whined and Rainy settled him down before taking a seat herself. Shep had died a few months after they got back from Vegas. Cancer. Ham was a good boy, too; he just needed practice.

“Is Viola here with Rupert?”

“Yeah, she’ll be down in a minute.”

Braithe nodded. She’d changed a bit: she wasn’t so polished. Rainy had seen on Instagram that she’d chopped her hair and had given up the beiges and golds for blacks and grays. As far as Rainy was concerned, Braithe could make anything look good—especially this edgier self.

“How has it been?”

The waiter poured her a glass of water, asked what she wanted to drink. Braithe waited until she was gone to answer the question.

“I love it. I wouldn’t have before... I know that. But—”

“It lets you get lost enough to think.”

“Yeah. And I’ve never been on my own like this. I’m a real adult at forty-three. Paying my own bills and all.” She rolled her eyes to say how silly it was, but Rainy could also see Braithe’s true pleasure in these facts, as well. She’d split from Stephen after they got back from Vegas. Rainy hadn’t seen her after they parted ways at the airport.

Grant had met her as she walked through, rushing, running, holding her in all the right ways. Braithe had stayed with Tara for a few weeks before moving to New York, where her sister’s family lived. Stephen put the house up for sale a month after. He and Grant still spoke occasionally, but after everything that had happened, he moved to Montana and was living with a new woman.

“Nice ring.” Braithe nodded at her finger.