He hated that, at the moment, he felt exactly the same about his wife.

The rough spots in their marriage had smoothed out recently. Now it seemed they’d hit another bumpy patch. “It’s important to my grandmother, Charlotte, to my father, to me, to the family.”

“Your family’s swallowing me whole, Aidan.”

She did a heel turn, her hands flying out. So much drama, he thought, over a few more hours.

“It’s just one more night, and there’ll only be a handful of us left by dinner. We’ll be home this time tomorrow. We still have guests, Charlotte. We should be downstairs right now.”

“Then let your grandmother deal with them. Your father. You. Why can’t I take the plane and go home?”

“Because it’s my father’s plane, and you, Caitlyn, and I will fly home with him and Lily tomorrow. For now, we’re a united front.”

“If we had our own plane, I wouldn’t have to wait.”

He could feel the headache growing behind his eyes. “Do we really need to go there? And now?”

She shrugged. “Nobody would miss me.”

He tried another tack, smiled. He knew, from experience, his wife reacted better to the sweet than the stern. “I would.”

And on a sigh, she smiled back.

She had a smile, he thought, that just stopped a man’s heart.

“I’m being such a pain in the ass.”

“Yeah, but you’re my pain in the ass.”

On a quick laugh, she walked over, cuddled on his lap. “I’m sorry, baby. Almost sorry. Sort of sorry. You know I’ve never liked it up here. It feels so isolated it makes me claustrophobic. And I know that doesn’t make sense.”

He knew better than to stroke that shining blond hair after she’d had it styled, so he lightly kissed her temple instead. “I get it, but we’ll be home tomorrow. I need you to stick just one more night, for my grandmother, my dad. For me.”

After letting out a hiss, she poked his shoulder, then offered him her signature pout. Full coral lips, sulky and soft crystal-blue eyes dramatically lashed. “I better get points. Big points.”

“How about a long weekend in Cabo points?”

On a gasp, she grabbed his face with her hands. “You mean it?”

“I’ve got a couple weeks before I start production.” So saying, he rubbed a hand over his scruff. “Let’s say we hit the beach for a few days. Cate’ll love it.”

“She has school, Aidan.”

“We’ll take her tutor.”

“How about this?” Now she circled her arms around him, pressed her body, still in mourning black, against his. “Cate has a long weekend with Hugh and Lily, which she’d love. And you and I have a few days in Cabo.” She kissed him. “Just us. I’d love some just us, baby. Don’t you think we need some just us?”

She was probably right—the smooth patches needed tending as much as the rough. While he hated leaving Cate, she was probably right. “I can make that work.”

“Yes! I’m going to text Grant, see if he can do some extra sessions this week. I want a perfect bikini body.”

“You already have one.”

“That’s my sweet husband talking. We’ll see what my hard-assed personal trainer says. Oh!” She hopped up. “I need to shop.”

“Right now we have to get back downstairs.”

The flicker of annoyance marred her face before she smoothed it away. “Okay. You’re right, but give me a couple minutes to fix my face.”

“Your face is gorgeous, as always.”

“Sweet husband.” She pointed at him as she started toward her makeup counter. Then stopped. “Thanks, Aidan. These past few weeks, with all the tributes, the memorials, it’s been hard on all of us. A few days away, well, that’ll be good for us. I’ll be right down.”

While her parents made up, Cate organized a game of hide-and-seek as the final outdoor game of the day. Always a favorite when the family gathered, the game had its rules, restrictions, and bonus points.

In this case, the rules included outdoors only—as several of the adults had decreed no running inside. The It got a point for every hider found, with the first found designated as the next It. If that hider, now It, was five or under, he or she could choose a partner on the following hunt.

If a hider went three rounds without being found, that meant ten bonus points.

And since Cate had been planning this game all day, she knew how to win them.

She darted off when Boyd, age eleven, started the countdown as the first It. Since Boyd lived in New York like his grandmother, he only visited Big Sur a couple times a year at most. He didn’t know the grounds like she did.

Plus, she had a fresh hiding place already picked out.

She rolled her eyes as she saw her five-year-old cousin Ava crawl under the white cloth of a food table. Boyd would find Ava in two minutes.

She nearly backtracked to show Ava a better spot, but it was every kid for herself!

Most of the guests had gone, and more were taking their leave. But a lot of adults still milled around the patios, the outdoor bars, or sat around one of the firepits. Remembering why, she felt a pang.

She’d loved her great-grandda. He’d always had a story to tell, and lemon drops in his pocket. She’d cried and cried when her daddy told her Grandda had gone to heaven. He’d cried, too, even when he told her Grandda had had a long, happy life. How he’d meant so much to so many, and would never be forgotten.

She thought of his line from the movie they’d made together, while he sat with her on a stone wall, looking over the land.

“A life’s marked along the way, darlin’, by the deeds we do, for good or ill. Those we leave behind judge those marks, and remember.”

She remembered lemon drops and hugs as she scurried to the garage, and around the side. She could still hear voices, from the patios and terraces, the walled garden. Her goal? The big tree. If she climbed to the third branch, she could hide behind the thick trunk, in the green leaves that smelled so good, ten feet up.

Nobody would find her!

Her hair—Celtic black—flew behind her as she ran. Her nanny, Nina, had tucked it back at the sides with butterfly pins to keep it out of her face. Her eyes, bold and blue, danced as she flew out of sight of the multitiered house, far beyond the guest cottage with its steps leading down to the little beach, and the pool that overlooked the sea.

She’d had to wear a dress for the first part of the day, to be respectful, but Nina had laid out her play clothes for after. She still had to be careful of the sweater, but knew it was okay to get her jeans dirty.

“I’m going to win,” she whispered as she reached up for the first branch of the California bay, put her purple (currently her favorite color) sneaker in the little knothole for purchase.

She heard a sound behind her and, though she knew it couldn’t be Boyd, not yet, her heart jumped.

She caught a glimpse of the man in a server’s uniform, with a blond beard and hair pulled back in a ponytail. He wore sunglasses that shot the light back at her.

She grinned, put a finger to her lips. “Hide-and-seek,” she told him.

He smiled back. “Want a boost?” He nodded, then moved forward as if to give her one.