He strolled over to give her a kiss on the cheek. “Morning, beautiful.”
She recoiled. “Oh, wow, the whiskey is coming out of your pores today.”
“And here I showered for an extra-long time in hopes of smelling fresh.” He grabbed the biggest mug in the cupboard. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay. My nose is extra sensitive these days.”
He poured himself a coffee, then watched while Sienna stirred what looked like a Bolognese sauce, heavy on the ground meat. “What are you making?”
“If you can believe it, I have a craving for Sloppy Joes.”
He laughed. “No, I can’t believe it.”
“Me either, but it’s all I want right now. I even found a can of mushrooms at the back of the shelf.”
“You hate canned mushrooms.”
“Not today, I don’t.”
“The kids will be devastated that they missed this.”
“I’ll save some for them,” she answered. “Or, if I eat the entire pot, we’ll have to agree this never happened.”
“I promise not to rat you out, even under threat of torture.”
“Good.” Sienna grabbed a bag of buns from the pantry.
Zane slid onto a stool at the island and took another long gulp of coffee.
Without turning to him, Sienna said, “So, that was quite the party.”
“It was, thanks to you.”
After a long pause, she said, “Claudia seems terrific.”
“Yeah, she’s great,” Zane answered, feeling a pang of something he couldn’t put his finger on. Was it disappointment? Anger? Maybe it was heartburn, and he should take one of Sienna’s Tums.
“Can you believe her and Mike going to town in front of everyone?”
“Yeah, that was … a lot. Typical Mike.”
“You seemed upset about it,” she said, placing the can under the arm of the electric can opener and turning it on. When it finished, she took it over to the sink to drain the mushrooms. “Want to tell me what that’s about?”
No, he did not. How do you tell your wife you felt jealous seeing your best friend with another woman? You don’t. “I wasn’t upset.”
“Yes, you were. I saw the look on your face. Then you went straight to doing shots with Steve.”
Oh. Christ, this was the problem with marrying a smart woman. They don’t miss a thing, even when it would be best for all involved if they did. Zane sighed, trying to ignore the thud of his brain against his skull. “To be honest, I was pissed at Mike about it.”
Narrowing her eyes, Sienna said, “Why? This is what he does. You already know that.”
“He wasn’t supposed to do that withher, which was made very clear to the guys when she was hired.”
“Apparently he forgot.”
“Apparently he doesn’t care,” Zane answered, rubbing his temples with both hands.
“Well, who knows? Maybe it’ll work out between them, and she won’t quit.”