Desperate Girls

Epilogue

THEY WENT to Playa del Carmen because neither of them had been there, and they’d heard it was paradise. As luck would have it, it rained. Not gentle showers, but angry bursts of water that pounded down from the sky, and they spent three days holed up in their hotel room.

Which turned out to be its own kind of paradise.

On the fourth day the rain let up some. Brynn could tell Erik was getting restless, so at her suggestion they grabbed a taxi to Tulum. They explored the Mayan ruins in the intermittent drizzle, clambering over the slick rocks. Then they hiked down the steep path to the beach, where they sat on the sand and looked at the surf.

Erik held her hand—to Brynn’s surprise, he was a hand-holder—but he didn’t talk, and she liked that, too. They sat side by side with their knees up, staring out at the endless supply of waves battering the shore. On the way back, they stopped in town to eat ice-cream cones and buy postcards for Liz and her mom. Brynn told them everything was wonderful and didn’t mention the rain.

“My sister wants to meet you,” Brynn informed Erik as she mailed the postcards.

“Oh, yeah?”

“She said you must be really hot for me to run off to Mexico at a moment’s notice.”

He smiled. “What’d you say?”

She shrugged. “I said you were okay.”

He grinned and pulled her in for a kiss.

Their fifth and final day was sunny, and Brynn dragged Erik out of bed at 7:45 to stake out the best lounge chairs by the pool. She lay there all morning, enjoying the balmy breeze from underneath the shade of an umbrella. Turned out, Erik didn’t like lounging. He got restless again, and set out to walk the resort and check out their security setup.

Brynn’s phone chimed on the table beside her. She checked the number and debated a moment before answering.

“Hey, Reggie.”

“Hello.” He sounded surprised she’d picked up. “How’s Mexico?”

“Restful,” she said, knowing what he really wanted to ask was when she planned to be back. “How are things there?”

He filled her in on new developments, including the news that her law school friend Molly was coming down for an interview.

“She’s a genius at appellate work,” Brynn said. “We’d be lucky to get her.”

“I agree.”

“Thanks for letting me know.”

Brynn promised to call Molly and then jumped off the phone before Reggie could pin her down on her return date.

Brynn set aside her magazine and lowered herself into the negative edge pool. The water swirled around her, cooling her skin, which was already pink from the sun.

Brynn felt happy for Molly. She’d given up an opportunity years ago because of Ross, and now it seemed oddly fitting that his death should create a new opportunity.

Ross. She got a familiar tightness in her chest at the thought of him. Inhaling deeply, she ducked her head under the water and swam to the other end of the pool in one breath. She rested her arms on the warm tile and gazed out at the turquoise Caribbean.

She still couldn’t believe Ross was gone, or that such a strange and twisted series of events had led to his death. And Corby was back in prison now, facing new charges for the murders of a prison guard, Jen Ballard, and Michael McGowan. Corby’s girlfriend, Ann Johnson, was facing charges of her own for aiding and abetting a fugitive.

A splash behind Brynn made her turn around. Erik swam over and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

“I got us daiquiris for breakfast,” he said, kissing her shoulder.

“I thought they didn’t open until eleven?”

“I may have flirted with the waitress.”

“You? Flirting?” She turned around in his arms. For Erik, that probably meant he’d uttered two sentences of small talk.

Brynn slid her hands up around his neck. He smiled down at her, but she saw the worry in his eyes.

“You okay today?” he asked.

“Why?”

“You were tossing around all night.”

“I’m okay.”

He kissed her softly, and Brynn’s heart squeezed. He couldn’t fix what was wrong, but it helped to know that he wanted to.

“I printed out our boarding passes for tomorrow,” he said.

“Thank you.”

Back to reality. Back to work and people and everything they’d managed to avoid for more than a week. Brynn took a deep breath.

“You seem tense,” he said.

“I’m just thinking.”

“About?”

“What happens next. This has been great, but it’s not reality.”

His brow furrowed. “I know what I want to happen. The more important question is, what do you want?”

“Why is that more important?”

“Because.” He brushed a lock of hair from her forehead. “What I do is hard on relationships. The hours, the stress, the travel—”

“The bullets, the stabbings.”

“It’s not usually like that.” He paused and searched her face. “Yours was an unusual case.”

She trailed a finger over his shoulder where his cut was healing. It was going to leave a scar.

“I’ve seen people make it work, but you really have to want it.” His arms tightened around her. “Do you?”

She looked up at him. “I’ve never wanted anything more.”

The instant she said it, she felt weightless. The words were out now. No more hiding.

“I love you,” she whispered.

He smiled.

“What?”

He pulled he closer. “I think I’ve loved you since that first day when you told me I wasn’t your bellboy.”

She pulled back. “You can’t be serious.”

“That whole car ride, that was it for me. I knew I was toast.”

“I had no idea.”

“I know.”

She looked into his eyes. They were loving and tender, and she knew he really saw her, in a way no one else had. Hope began to edge out the fear. She was ready to commit to something hard. Hard was okay because they had something special together, and it was worth the effort, even though there were no guarantees, only possibilities.

“I’m counting on you to break my losing streak,” she told him. “Can you handle it?”

He tipped her chin up and kissed her. “I can handle it.”