I sent him to the shower and bagged the clothing to burn later. While Ari cooked crepes and sausage, I announced the good news about our day off, and waited for Liam to smile. He loved relaxing. Liam bit his lip. “I’d love to take a vacation, but we just found the alligator’s nest.” “I thought that was earlier.” “Another nest. This is the one with all the eggs in it. If I don’t go back there and make some flame broiled omelets, we’re going to have a disaster in the making.” Liam reached across the table to take my hand. “You understand, right?” I understood. Well, part of me understood. Most of me was still either in shock that he’d turned me down or furious that he’d turned me down. “It’s a day off. A whole day of no one watching in the mirror. No emergency calls. No . . . nothing.” Liam stood up and walked to the mantel, where he licked his fingers and then touched two candles.
