doing—expanded things a little. Taken some chances.”
“I think it worked out okay,” Matty said, and Amy laughed.
Toward the end of the night, Stevie and I had found ourselves up by one of the windows, Brad curled, sleeping, in her arms, and snoring occasionally. Both of us were looking out at the lights of Manhattan across the water, at the snow that had almost totally stopped falling. “I’m really sorry about the subway,” I said, after a moment of comfortable silence, punctured only by Brad’s snuffling breath. Somehow, it was easier to say this without looking directly at Stevie, but knowing she was right there. “I did wait for a while, and then I just figured you weren’t coming back. I should have stayed—I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
“I’m sorry too,” Stevie said.
“It wasn’t your fault you got mugged!”
“But the phone was an accident. I knew you wouldn’t do that on purpose, and I shouldn’t have reacted that way.”
“I’m still sorry.”
“Me too,” she said. “And I should have told you the truth about Beckett.” She turned to face me, and I did the same.
“Are we good?” It felt like we were—in the rush of finding each other again, in all that we had to catch up on, things felt like they used to. But I knew that we had to talk about this before we could really, truly move on.
She smiled at me. “We’re good.”
I turned to look at the loft. It was close to two a.m., and nobody was showing any signs of flagging. People had started dancing—Matty and his friends, Amy and Lucien, Leo and Kaya the model, who were dancing very close indeed. A pizza guy had just staggered in the door, his arms piled with what had to be twenty pies. Brad’s nose twitched, and he sat up, straining to get down. Stevie set him on the ground, and he immediately ran for the pizza guy, yipping and running circles around his legs. I saw Cary emerge from the crowd, bow tie untied around his neck. He caught my eye and smiled at me, beckoning me forward to the dance floor.
I looked at Stevie—my best friend. “So, same thing next Friday?”
Stevie laughed, and then without looking at me, bumped me with her hip. I bumped her back, and then, like we’d discussed it ahead of time, we both walked forward to rejoin the party.
Meanwhile, back in Connecticut…
TERI HADN’T UNDERSTOOD HOW REAL Gilroy was so calm—or how they were possibly going to get home before the Stones.
That was before she realized they’d be traveling by helicopter.
As they flew home with the kids, Real Gilroy, and two other agents in what everyone seemed to call “the bird,” Real Gilroy had pulled strings and gotten everything into place.
He had found the Stones’ event, and then located their car, currently heading home on I-95. An officer had been dispatched to pull them over for an expired registration, and while it was being inspected, puncture a hole in their tire. All of which meant they wouldn’t be getting home for a while. Real Gilroy had also arranged it so that someone would pick up the yellow car outside the Borderline and return it, and Mr. Stone received an email telling him Hertz had picked up the car from his house with a valet service that didn’t actually exist.
Teri checked on the kids, but all were occupied. Chris was looking out the window, Parker was sleeping, and Daryl was playing on Teri’s phone.
Real Gilroy hung up his phone and looked across the chopper at her. “All set,” he said. He nodded. “Brace yourself.”
The helicopter touched down in the Stone backyard and they all jumped off, ducking low to keep clear of the propellers.
The kids headed inside with the other agents. Real Gilroy had told her that they were going to do a sweep of the house, make sure there wasn’t anything suspicious. Teri started to follow, but Real Gilroy shook his head. “Teri, hang back a minute, would you?”
Teri paused. “Everything okay?”
“Just wanted to talk to you about something.” Real Gilroy rocked back on his heels and looked at her with a rare, wry smile. “You did well tonight. There are agents who’ve been in the field for years who couldn’t have handled themselves as well. And with three kids, to boot.”
“Oh.” Teri felt a spark of pride ignite in her chest. “Um—thank you.”
“We’re always looking for talented people.” He pulled out a business card and handed it to her. “And your theater background