“I told him everything about my past and about my son, and my struggle with alcohol, and how I chickened out on him too,” Janae whispered.

“Oh, Janae, I can’t believe you told him,” Liza said. “How did he take it?”

“He was amazing. I went to see his dad. He told me he wanted his father to see”—Janae paused, getting teary—“the woman he’s going to marry.”

“Did you tell Ma?” Maurice asked.

“Oh god no. Let me enjoy it for a minute.”

“You know that she’s going to be the happiest woman alive for all of the wrong reasons?” Liza said.

“Can we get her in some woke classes?” Maurice asked.

“I think it’s too late for her. Save yourself, Reece,” Liza shot back.

They laughed, and Janae asked the attendant if there was a speaker system. They played Janae’s favorite Go-Go from the Backyard Band over the airplane speakers as they touched down in DC.

JOHN WAYNE

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: RE: I thought you should know

Dorsey, I almost fell over in my chair! You sneaky bastard! Was Liza the mezcal girl? One of the No Women? I’m so happy you came to your senses. I got a weird feeling about you two during the snowstorm. Janae and I even talked about it. You two just couldn’t stop circling each other! But you shot yourself in the foot so bad when you first met we thought there was no coming back from it. Ha! That’s the real story! We are going to have epic double dates!

David

Dorsey saw Liza on the tarmac first, her ivory and blue high-waisted linen pants blowing in the wind and his shirt still tied at the waist. Did she know how many women would kill to look so effortlessly elegant?

Gigi whistled. “She can have those pants. Who was I kidding? I can never do justice to them again.”

Dorsey privately agreed. The pants obeyed the lines of Liza’s body, and they looked tailored to her. Her family looked mostly intact as they tumbled out of the plane, perhaps a bit less gracefully. Maurice looked like he’d taken a beating, and LeDeya looked like she’d taken a tongue lashing. Their bags and pockets were full to bursting with the gourmet snacks from the jet.

They had all rallied to protect their family. Fifty-six thousand dollars was such a small sum to be anyone’s life savings, but they had done everything in their power to retrieve it. If his family were still intact, he liked to think they would do the same.