Page 66 of But For You

He just looked at me.

“Dane—”

“No.” He shook his head. “Not on my watch. Never. If Sam were there with you, if you weren’t in mortal danger … fine. But someone tried to shoot you and your kids in a hotel. Absolutely not.”

I squinted at him. “Is this why you and Aja moved into that building downtown? Were you worried about your safety in Oak Park?”

“Oh, no, Oak Park is gorgeous and safe. It was just even that small commute to her work and my office and the kids’ school got to be tedious. This way I can drop them off, Aja can pick them up, and we can both actually make it home to eat dinner together as a family and not have to sit in traffic for an hour, hour and a half.”

“Did you sell it yet? The Oak Park house?”

“No.” He squinted at me. “Sam asked me not to.”

I was surprised. “Sam asked?”

He grunted. “Yes, he apparently really loves it and the backyard and the front yard and the neighborhood and the whole area. He’s thinking about putting in an offer on it.”

“But?”

“But he doesn’t trust me.”

“What does that mean?”

“That means he thinks I’ll tamper with the appraisal to sell it to him for cheaper than it is.”

“And you would.” I smiled at him.

“I would give it to you if he wasn’t so exasperatingly stubborn.”

“Maybe Aja wouldn’t want you to do that. Her brother and his wife are expecting a child. Maybe he’d like you to give it to⁠—”

“Might I remind you that Alex moved to Delaware?”

“Yes, I know, but⁠—”

“He married a woman from Delaware.”

I growled at him.

“He lives in Delaware now,” he said pointedly, like I was stupid.

“You know what I mean. If Alex had a house here or Candace, maybe they⁠—”

“Candace is a journalist, technically now a foreign correspondent with ABC News. She lives in New York and Paris and⁠—”

“Yeah, I know, but⁠—”

“Aja’s parents have no interest in returning to Chicago, even to visit. It’s—I’m quoting her father now—‘stupid cold.’ He’s done bundling up. He loves Palm Beach; he wants to golf and wear Crocs.”

“You’re making that last part up. The man was a judge, for crissakes.”

“I have a picture on my phone if you’d like to see. Aja was mortified and sent it to me on her last visit when I was stuck here for that convention.”

“Oh God.”

“The fact is that you and Sam are who Aja and I have. Aja would love to see you both in our old house and would love to have it be yours. She doesn’t want to sell her baby to strangers, but neither does she want to continue holding on to a property that we have to pay to keep up.”

“And so?”