The Love Scam - MaryJanice Davidson Page 0,17
Didn’t think of it like that.” Then she giggled. Giggled! The delicate sound should have sounded strange coming from the lanky woman, but it was just charming. Like her grin.
“How’s your day been?” she asked Lillith, who shrugged.
“He still thinks I’m a horrible mistake.”
“I do not!” Shocked, Rake stared down at her. “You’re worlds from being a horrible anything. I’m just not your dad, and you shouldn’t be with me. Not that there’s something wrong with me. It’s just—you should be with your mom, uh…”
“Donna Alvah.” This from Delaney and Lillith in unison.
“Yeah, about that.” He fought the urge to jab a finger at Delaney. “How do you know the kid’s mother but I don’t? And where is her mother? Why are you even here with her? Who are you? Are you some sort of one-woman international child-placement agency? What the hell is going on?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I knew you were gonna say that.”
“What other kind of story could it be?” Lillith wondered aloud. “If it was a short one, she could have told it to you by now.”
“Good point. See, Delaney? Lillith’s got your number.”
“Literally,” the kid added, holding up a card identical to the one in Rake’s pocket.
He laughed. “I’m pretty sure she’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. And I’ve met Blake Tarbell.”
“Fair enough. We’re finished here, so.” She spoke briefly with the three remaining women, hugged one of them, then turned back to Rake and Lillith. He was morbidly aware that Delaney’s—friends? coworkers? sisters?—were staring at him. “C’mon with me.”
They fell into step beside her as she left the loading area and headed to the front of the hotel. “You don’t seem surprised to see me,” Rake pointed out. “Us.”
“Nope.”
Now that he was under her steady gray-eyed gaze, he was having trouble finding the words to explain how his day had gone after she’d run off. Am I seriously trying not to sound pathetic? After throwing up on the woman? Twice? “This is going to sound incredible—”
“Try me.”
“—but I’ve been robbed.”
“We’ve been over this. You threw your own wallet into Lake Como. You mugged yourself.”
“Not that!” he snapped over Lillith’s giggles, then had to grin because, yeah, the whole thing was absurd, but he could see the humor in it. Sort of.
“Listen, my bank accounts are empty. I don’t know if it’s an online snafu or an accounting screwup or just a mistake, but technically, I’m broke.”
“And he won’t borrow from me,” Lillith put in. “Out of a misguided notion of—uh—actually, I don’t know why he won’t borrow.”
Because, among other things, you couldn’t go anywhere or do anything in Venice for less than twenty euros. He wouldn’t embarrass her by asking for money she didn’t have. “Keep your snow-shoveling money.” To Delaney: “Like I said, technically, I’m broke.”
“Technically, that must suck.”
“It does suck,” he agreed. “I’m sure it’ll get straightened out in a day or two, but in the meantime I can’t reach my family and … I … we…” He glanced at Lillith, the hotel, and Delaney. The sun was setting, turning the canal gorgeous shades of orange and pink and cream, and tourists rushed around and past them, intent on dinner and, later, the night life. He wanted to be one of them very, very badly.
Come on, Delaney. Pick up on the hint. It’s been the most humbling day of my life, and that’s counting the time I fell asleep in Bio and fell face-first into my dissected frog. I had frog kidneys stuck to my cheek until lunch! Nobody told me!
Nope. No joy. She was opening the lobby door now, and walking toward the elevators. He hesitated, having no clue what to do next, and nearly wept in relief when Lillith said, “He hates borrowing and he’s too proud to ask if we can stay with you tonight. He doesn’t know you’ll say yes.”
“Oh my God I love you,” he muttered under his breath, earning another giggle from Lillith the Great and Powerful.
Delaney glanced back and said, “Well, come on, then.”
“Nice work,” he whispered, and Lillith smiled at him, then let out a yelp as he practically lifted her off her feet as he galloped to Delaney.
Yessssss! She was leading him to her room! Her bed! Oh dear God, her shower! He might never come out. He might sleep in the shower, eat in the shower. He might vacation in the shower, grow old and die in the shower.
Of course, if Delaney wanted him in her bed, that was completely fine.