Doesn’t count.

Kate watched from the corner of her eye as Tilly sat on the edge of her bed and slipped her heels onto her stockinged feet. Silence settled and Kate tried to control her yearning for the tension to dissipate, for them to find that sweet peace that had been theirs up until twenty hours ago.

Suddenly, Tilly’s voice broke the silence. “Hey,” she said slowly, her attention focused on buckling the thin straps of her shoes, “about what you said last night…”

Kate glanced up, her heartbeat quickening as she watched Tilly fasten the tiny buckle of the shoe around her ankle. Which part?

Both shoes buckled, Tilly sat up on the edge of the bed. As she met Kate’s stare, her shoulders slipped back, posture perfect. “I know he’s going to Vanuatu,” she said.

“You do?”

“I’ve known for weeks. Mason told me that he overheard his father speaking to one of the acolytes.” She paused, her gaze flickering to the closed toe of her heels as they dusted along the dark carpet. “I haven’t spoken about it with Declan, but I do know.”

“Right.” She tilted her head. “You’re okay with it? Him leaving?”

Tilly hesitated. “I suppose I would have liked to have been informed.”

You think?

“But the fact of the matter is that it doesn’t bother me.” She stood, smoothing her dress over her thighs and adjusting the seam and refusing to meet Kate’s eye. “It really doesn’t.”

The sound of Tilly’s laughter was infectious. Kate smiled as she closed the hotel room door behind them and followed Tilly and the girls down the hotel hall to the lifts.

With an arm slung around Tilly’s shoulders, Emma’s other hand gestured wildly as she spoke in fluent French, Tilly attempting to guess what Emma was saying while Lexi and Molly threw corrections at Emma every two seconds.

“Kate?”

Grace’s whisper was soft as she fell into step beside Kate. “I feel dreadful,” she said. “What I said was just the worst. I didn’t mean it. I love Tilly. We all do. Forgive me?” Grace had timed her apology perfectly—they’d reached the end of the hallway and Molly was holding the elevator door open, hurrying the others inside. But Kate wasn’t finished with Grace. A quick “sorry” wasn’t going to cut it this time.

The lift was already semi-full with other guests. Kate reached out an arm to stop Grace from following the others inside. “You all go on, Grace and I will get the next one,” she said.

Lexi licked her lips, her gaze flickering knowingly between Kate and Grace. “I can hop out too, make some room…”

“No,” Kate said. This wasn’t about Lexi. “You stay.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tilly said from deep inside the elevator. “There’s oodles of room. Just get in.”

The other strangers in the lift agreed, but like a gift from Heaven, the doors closed instantaneously and the man holding them open lowered his arm, indifferent. Kate shrugged lightly at Tilly’s curious expression as the group disappeared.