Closing the door, she let her forehead rest against it and closed her eyes. I’ll adjust, she assured herself. But right now, she had to sort out where to put the mini fridge that was apparently coming. Not her bedroom. She needed it somewhere James wouldn’t notice. Holly knew she had to tell him about the change in her at some point, but she wasn’t ready for that conversation right now. She needed a little time to adjust to the changes herself before she tried to help him adjust.
The laundry room downstairs, Holly decided suddenly. James hated laundry. She’d put the refrigerator in there and then take over the chore of doing laundry from now on, until she explained everything. Yes, that would do, she decided and then gave a start when the doorbell rang again.
Whirling, she opened the door. The refrigerator had arrived.
“Honey?”
Holly shifted sleepily on the couch and blinked her eyes open. When she recognized the man leaning over her, she sat up abruptly, the blanket she’d pulled over herself dropping to her waist. “James.”
“What are you doing sleeping on the couch, honey? When did you get home?”
“Around noon,” she answered running a hand through her hair to be sure it wasn’t standing on end. “I laid down on the couch because I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Well, you’re home now. How about a hug for the poor husband who had to do without you for so long?”
“Oh.” Flushing, Holly stood, allowing the blanket to slip to the floor, but rather than hug her, James stepped back, eyes widening.
“Whoa, wow, what are you wearing?”
Holly glanced down, blushing brightly as she stared at Gia’s leather outfit. She wasn’t surprised by his reaction. She didn’t even own a skirt in her meager wardrobe. Jeans and dress pants were all she usually wore, and this skirt was a little short . . . okay a lot short, she acknowledged, tugging at the hem to make it look a little longer.
“Oh, I borrowed this from a friend and didn’t have time to change before the bus left,” she lied.
“Plane.”
Holly glanced at him blankly. “What?”
“You mean before your plane left,” James explained. “You surely didn’t take a bus all the way home from New York,” he added with a laugh.
“Yes, plane,” she said weakly, giving her head a shake. She had always been a horrible liar, but how could she have forgotten she was supposed to have been in New York on an internship rather than in Los Angeles playing Bela Lugosi?
“Well, good. I’m glad the outfit’s borrowed,” James said on a laugh. “For a minute I thought you were—” Cutting himself off abruptly, he shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. You look great. You’ve lost weight, haven’t you?”
“I—a little,” she murmured.
“Good.” Smiling, he turned to head for the kitchen. “I’m starved. Let’s have some breakfast.”
Holly stared after him, unmoving. He might not have said what he was thinking, but she’d read his mind. That was something she’d promised herself she wouldn’t do on the bus ride home, but she hadn’t been able to resist. The thought he’d cut off was that he’d thought she was going slutty on him, and his comment about her losing weight had been followed by the unspoken thought that he was relieved. He’d feared she was going to “chunk out” now that they were married, and had found her extra pounds unattractive before this weight loss.
The worst thing about it was that she couldn’t confront him about his thoughts because she shouldn’t know them. And Holly couldn’t even be mad because they were his thoughts. He had every right to think her outfit was slutty, and it wasn’t his fault if he’d found her less attractive with the extra twenty pounds she’d been carrying before the turn. He hadn’t said that. He’d kept his thoughts to himself, no doubt, to avoid hurting her. She was the one who had intruded into his mind and read them.
Holly let her breath out slowly. Gia was right. It was going to be hard to keep this marriage together now that she could read his thoughts. She really needed to refrain from using her new skills with him. And she would, Holly promised herself grimly. She would never read his thoughts again.
“Hey, honey. We don’t have anything in the refrigerator. Do you want to go out to supper?”
Holly glanced toward the kitchen at that shout and bit her lip. All her old clothes would be too big, and she hadn’t packed and brought any of the new ones she’d bought with Gia. Clearing her throat, she said, “I don’t know. Why don’t we order—” She paused when the doorbell rang, and then hurried to answer it. It was another deliveryman. Holly accepted the envelope and the clipboard he handed her, and then watched with surprise as he turned to hurry back to his truck. Noting that Gia Notte was in the slot as the sender, Holly quickly opened the envelope and read the short letter inside.
I thought you might need your new clothes.
Hope everything is going well.
You have my number.
Giacinta
Sighing with relief, Holly stuffed the letter and envelope into her pocket and quickly signed the document on the clipboard in the spot marked with an X. She then offered the clipboard and a smile to the deliveryman as he returned with a box.
“Thank you,” she murmured, taking it from him.
“My pleasure. Have a good day,” the man said turning to head back to his truck.
“Holly? Did you want to go out to dinner or not? We can invite Bill and Elaine to make up for having to cancel last time.” James stuck his head out of the kitchen, then raised his eyebrows as he noted the box she was carrying. “What’s that?
“My clothes,” Holly said, moving toward the stairs. Now that she knew what James thought of her outfit, she wanted to change. She’d have to ship the skirt and vest back to Gia, of course.
“Airport misplaced it?” he guessed and when Holly glanced at him blankly, James clucked his tongue impatiently and explained, “Your suitcase. I gather the airport lost it briefly?” He paused, one eyebrow rising as he noticed the box she was holding. “Although it looks more like they wrecked your suitcase or something. I doubt you took your clothes out there in a box.”
“No,” Holly agreed vaguely, and then hurried upstairs to avoid further questions.
“I’m surprised you aren’t coming back with us.”
Justin shifted his gaze from the small plane that had just taxied to a halt twenty feet in front of them to glance at Dante, and then shook his head. “I need to stay close.”
He didn’t explain why, but then he didn’t have to. They all knew he was waiting there in the desperate hope that Holly would realize her marriage couldn’t work and would give him a chance.
“Well, I’m surprised Mortimer is okay with you hanging around here when he’s so shorthanded,” Dante said.
“I left a message and he didn’t call back so he must be,” Justin said mildly. He didn’t admit though that he’d shut off his phone after making the call.
“Hmmm,” Tomasso grunted. “I wonder.”
Justin raised his eyebrows and then followed the man’s gaze to the plane. The door was open, the stairs down and—Justin straightened abruptly when he saw who was coming down the steps out of it.
“Crap,” he muttered, fighting the sudden instinct to jump in the SUV and drive off.
“Si. It could mean merda,” Dante said thoughtfully.
“For you,” Tomasso added.
They all fell silent as Lucian approached. Stopping in front of them, he skimmed them with a gaze before focusing on Dante and Tomasso. “Go ahead. And I’m sure Justin thanks you for your assistance,” he added as the two giants headed toward the plane.
“I thanked them before we left the house,” Justin said tensely.