Rocked (The Everyday Heroes World) - Julia Wolf Page 0,68

over my shoulder. I began to turn too, when a solid arm slid around my waist and warm lips pressed a kiss in the place where my neck met my shoulder.

“Lady,” Devon murmured. “You’ve made friends.”

“I have. This is Mo, and...I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.” The woman frowned at Devon, not in an angry way, but more perplexed.

She offered her hand again. “I’m Michaela.” I slid my hand into hers, which she squeezed gently, her eyes flicking to Devon. “Wow, I didn’t know you’d be here. I thought you were finding yourself somewhere remote.”

Okay, so they knew each other. No surprise, since Mo and Devon were in the same industry. But something niggled the back of my mind.

“We’re only here until tomorrow, then I return to my search for self-realization and reflection,” Devon answered, his voice loaded with sarcasm. He leaned toward me, his mouth beside my ear. “This is Mickey, my ex-wife, and her new husband. Are you okay?”

My body jolted as the thing that had been niggling the back of my mind shot to the front. I recognized this woman from a picture Devon had in his house of the two of them when they were young. She was all glammed up now, and I hadn’t expected to meet her, which explained why I hadn’t put two and two together.

My eyes moved over Michaela, then Mo. They were a gorgeous couple and clearly mad for one another.

“Kat mistakenly allowed me to rent her cottage for a couple months, and I have forced my company upon her as often as I can,” Devon explained.

Michaela winced. “Oooh, Kat. I’m sorry. If you would have called me for a reference, I would have told you to run fast and far.”

She said this good-naturedly, but I had a feeling she wasn’t really kidding. I didn’t blame her. Devon had been a horrible husband to her, and an awful friend.

I decided to not make things awkward by playing along. “Fortunately, I’ve only had to have him arrested once. My dog and daughter keep him in line for the most part. If Devon tried to throw a wild party, Ellie would march next door and pull the plug. The girl needs her sleep.”

Mo laughed. “Think your daughter could come have a chat with mine? She likes to party all night—and not in the way I’m used to.”

“What’s her name?” I asked.

“Simone,” Mo answered, while Michaela and Devon seemed to be having a silent conversation. Her eyes kept darting to me, then back to him. His hand on my hip flexed, and he tugged me deeper into his side. What that meant, I had no idea, but I refused to take part in any awkwardness between exes, so I continued my conversation with Mo, who took good-natured to the next level.

“Was she named after Nina Simone?” I asked.

He nodded, grinning. “She was. Mic’s family had music Sundays when she was growing up, and Nina Simone was on heavy rotation. We thought she was a pretty strong namesake.”

“I named Ellie after Eleanor Roosevelt,” I said.

All attention was on me then. “You never told me that,” Devon said.

Michaela propped her chin on her fists. “I need to know more. Tell me why Eleanor Roosevelt.”

“She was a badass.” I slid my arm behind Devon’s back, letting him know I was okay with the current situation. He pressed a soft kiss to the side of my head as I spoke. “I’ve had a thing for her since high school. Before she even became first lady, she was deeply involved in human rights and social justice issues. She used her voice and privilege to amplify those who didn’t have her massive platform. When I went through a rough time with a long hospital stay two years before my daughter was born, a friend wrote a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt in a card that really flipped my thinking on its head. She once said, ‘It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.’ All I had been doing was cursing the darkness. Lighting a candle was the more difficult choice, but I chose it anyway. That friend and I ended up conceiving Ellie together, so the name fit in so many ways.”

Devon rumbled beside me. “That’s the fucking perfect name for Ellie.”

Michaela shook her head as she focused on me. “I love it. And I’m going to remember that quote because…wow, that hit home.”

Mo winked at me. “It’d be weird if we name our next kid Eleanor,