“Absolutely,” I said.
Hillary sat up a little straighter. She stared up at Williamson. “Yes, that’s exactly what I was saying. I would never let anything happen to my family.”
Frances jabbed me in the ribs with her elbow. I ignored her.
• • •
THAT NIGHT, AFTER AMETHYST CELLARS closed for the evening, Bruce, Scott, and I sat at a tall table in Hugo’s bar area to celebrate the fact that Bennett and I were still alive and that all was right in Emberstowne once again.
“What about Signor Pezzati?” Bruce asked, taking a swig from his beer bottle. “What does he think about all this?”
I kept my hands wrapped around the base of my wineglass. “I’m getting all of it secondhand from Bennett, you understand, but Signor Pezzati is quite healthy. He had a little cold, that’s all. He hasn’t been fighting pneumonia. Irena made that up, too. All these revelations have come as a bit of shock to him, as you might imagine, but Gerard and his family are traveling there now. Signor Pezzati will meet his daughter-in-law and his grandchildren for the first time. I understand he got quite choked up to discover that his son made such a success of himself.”
“I love a story with a happy ending,” Bruce said.
“What about that bodyguard guy—Angelo?” Scott asked. “The one you didn’t like?”
“Turns out he didn’t like Irena, but knew better than to disparage her in front of her father. He didn’t trust her. He tried, apparently without much luck, to institute controls on Pezzati’s treasures. That’s probably one of the things they were arguing about when we saw them.” I swirled the red wine in my glass. “I wish them all the best, but I don’t think I want to go back.”
“You brought a family together again,” Bruce said. “Not for the first time.”
I thought about that. “Why does bringing people together always seem to also involve tearing them apart?”
“You aren’t responsible for that,” Scott said. “People make their own choices and have to live with the consequences.”
I nodded but didn’t want to answer. Instead, I took a sip of wine.
My two roommates looked up at once, focusing over the top of my head.
I turned, stifling a little gasp of surprise.
“Adam,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
His smile was tentative, shy. “I don’t really know,” he said. “It’s not like fireworks go off for you whenever I show up. At least not the good kind.” He shrugged. “But now that you know I’m no villain, I thought maybe we could try being friends.” He gestured toward Bruce and Scott. “If I’m intruding, though, I’ll leave you alone.”
I turned to my roommates, who looked as surprised as I felt. Bruce gripped his beer bottle, frozen in place. Scott rested his chin in his hand, watching me. All three men were engaged, observant, waiting for me to make the next move. I looked at Adam. He raised those expressive brows, asking a silent question.
For the first time since we’d met, I felt a flicker of possibility.
I scooched my chair over to make room. “Pull up a seat.”