“So you can run off and be with your girls on Valentine’s Day.”

Max smiled. “Something like that.”

Silence filled the line and Max and I looked up at each other in question.

“Did he hang up?” I mouthed.

Max shrugged. “Still there, mate?” he asked.

“I’m here. And yeah, no problem. Pretty sure I have the perfect distraction in mind.”

“I don’t trust him,” I said on our way back to the restaurant.

“Stop worrying. Johnny is a man of his word, I assure you.”

“He didn’t exactly sound happy with you.”

Max waved me off. “He’s never going to be the guy to give me flowers and tell me I’m lovely.”

“He sounded like we were assholes.”

“We are arseholes.”

He had a point. “So what about Henry?” I asked, stopping at the stairs just outside the restaurant.

“Do you think he’ll be a problem?”

“I think if I shoved a thousand bucks in his pocket I wouldn’t see him again until Tuesday morning.”

“Brilliant. So we have a nice dinner, wait for Johnny to send someone over, and then find our girls. If all goes well I won’t see your ugly mug until the morning, when we can start this weekend properly.”

“Done.” We shook hands and made our way inside with a new sense of purpose.

Will and Henry were just where I’d left them and now surrounded by a mountain of bowls and platters. There were steaks and fish, salad with bacon, steaming dishes of vegetables and what had to be some of the biggest shellfish I’d ever seen.

“Wow,” Max said, looking over what had to be enough food to feed at least ten people. “Hungry?”

“We didn’t know what you’d want,” Henry said with a shrug. “Plus Ben’s picking up the bill so . . .”

“Feeling better?” Will asked Max skeptically.

“Much, thank you. And absolutely famished.”

We each took a seat and Max motioned to the waiter. “I’ll have another Macallan,” he said.

“And a Belvedere gimlet for me.” I pointed to Henry and Will across from me. “And bring them two of whatever they’re having.”

“So what did I miss?” Max asked, covering his plate in some sort of potatoes. “Did you two finally stop playing hard to get and decide to run off together? There’s a chapel just downstairs, I believe. In the casino.”

“Ha,” Will said. “We were actually discussing who would be next. I assured Henry here that the only possible answer was you.”

“Oh I don’t know about that,” Max said. “Never know what will happen with one of your sheduled booty calls.”

Will laughed.

“What about that, Stella? Think it’ll happen with you and Sara?” Henry asked.