Page 117 of The Replay

Mom: I know you'll be careful.

Mariana: I won't be inviting my friends thistime, FYI.

Mom: Any dates you might want to bring are welcome. Otherwise, we'll keep it a family event.

Maisie: That sounds brilliant. I wish we didn't live so far away… it's hard to join you for these things.

Cam: It's an early game. We can go out for a late dinner after.

Cora: I'll make a reservation.

My office is getting dark, but I don't rush to turn the lights on. Half an hour after the last text in the family thread, I'm still thinking of the casual invitation to have guests at dinner and the game. Right after saying Strike friends are not welcome. What kind of syncope would Mom have if I showed up with Dom anyway?

I'm in the middle of perfecting the look of shock on her face, when Cora raps a quick knock on my door.

"Are you tempted to bring Dom to dinner?" she asks.

I laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I turn on the lamp on my desk, and invite her in with a gesture. This should be interesting. As far as I'm aware, Cora doesn't know of my arrangement with Dom. And as I don't plan on telling her, she'll never know just how amazing my time with him has been, and she won't get to interrogate me about it.

No one, not even Dom, knows how aware I've been that it feels like we're a typical long-term couple, living life side-by-side. More than I ever did with Henry himself— and he was my husband.

"Please." She rolls her eyes and sits on one of the armchairs across my desk. "Don't rob me of my favorite delusions. These days, she'd try to be politeand pretend everything is fine. But she'd get that one wrinkle between her eyebrows— you know the one?"

"Of course I know the one."

"And it wouldn't be gone the whole dinner!" She sighs, pleased with her vision. "Then she'd wait anywhere from an hour to a week to bring it up, incapable to resist asking you what exactly is going on with your ex."

"Let's imagine for a moment that I decide to throw everything to the wind and take Dom to dinner. That I risk all my goals in England for some reason. What do you think I should tell her? You know, for maximum chaos. I'm sure that's the stuff your dreams are made of."

She laughs. "Depends. Are you taking him to provoke, or because there's something there again?"

I cock my head. How did I not see Cora's real intentions with this conversation before? She's always been my deliciously sneaky sister.

"I see." My eyebrows go high on my forehead. "This whole scenario we're making up— it's a strategy. You want to know what's going on."

She crosses her arms. Shrugs. "I've heard rumors. I'm just gathering information before I make up my mind."

I smile through the knot forming in my stomach. The fact Dom and I have been bad at keeping our secret is old news, but this is a whole new achievement for us. Gossip runs smoothly through the Thunderdome’s halls. I've been warned about it. Somehow, I didn't think Dom and I had given them enough to feed the rumor mill. Clearly, I was mistaken.

"What did you hear?" I ask.

The level of panic I allow myself fully depends on what kind of things are being said about us. If we have to talk to HR, or somehow things make it outside of the TD…

God, I really need this gala to be spectacular. Then, if I mess up with anything else, at least I have that success to hide behind.

"Nothing major," Cora says.

She's about to tell me more, when Dom appears at my door.

"Miss Duchess," he says. "I sneaked some food for you from the kitchen—"

He stops himself and gapes. He's been coming to my office every few days. Short, simple visits we can pass off as friendship to anyone that notices. Or so I thought, until Cora brought it up.

My sister turns on her chair to stare at him too. "Well, well, well. I expected this, and even so I am surprised."

"Expected what?" he asks.