Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 217

I'm perfectly happy to let our days pass as a strange mix of shared, noisy meals together book ended by a great deal of time alone with Kent. The two of us spend the spare hours between meals in our cabin or out on the sun deck, talking quietly about our plans, or about nothing. It's precisely what I wanted - just time to reconnect, to decompress from the stress of planning the perfectly-timed execution of several felonies, to recommit ourselves to each other. But after about a week of begin pretty much constantly at each other's side, I turn over in bed one morning and nudge Kent on the shoulder with my fingers.

"You have to talk to Daniel, you know," I murmur, frowning at him.

"What?" he asks, frowning down at me over the reading glasses I picked out for him. He's already awake, letting me sleep in a bit while he enjoys a cup of coffee and reading some international news on a tablet. I think I surprised him by being awake. "Seriously," I say, yawning and reaching for his coffee. "You have to talk to him -"

"You won't even like this," Kent mutters, pulling the coffee out of my reach and making me scowl. "There's no sugar or cream -"

"Little baby Bell Pepper wants the caffeine - "

He rolls his eyes. "Well, tell Pepper to get her own," he says, making me laugh. So I sigh and pull myself out of bed, wrapping myself in my ratty robe and heading for the French press, which is waiting with my own cup of coffee still in it.

"I'm serious, though," I say, pouring my cup and adding my sugar and cream before coming back to bed and curling up at Kent's side, resting my head on his shoulder. "You have to talk to him."

"Why?" he asks, looking at me, confused. "Is there...is something wrong?"

"No," I say, shaking my head. "But you haven't talked to him."

"I have too talked to him! I've -"

"Not one-on-one," I insist, knowing that I'm right. "You've been avoiding it."

Kent scoffs but I look up at him, raising my eyebrows and calling his bluff. "Fine," he sighs. "Maybe a little."

"Why though?" I ask, confused. "You and Daniel love each other - we all know you do. But you two never sit and talk."

"Because we never have," Kent sighs, flicking off his tablet and putting it down on the bed, wrapping an arm around me. "It's...different with us. We've had twenty-plus years of not speaking to each other about anything...significant. About how we feel or what we think. It's a difficult pattern to unlearn."

"Well, you do those things with me," I point out. "It's not like you can't talk about your feelings."

"I barely tell you my feelings, Fay," he murmurs, growling a bit, and I smile because I like it when he's disgruntled. At least, when he deserves to be. "You just...intuit them."

"Yes, I'm very intuitive," I murmur, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. Then I sit up straight. "Well, I'm very sick, and I want my sister, and I want to be alone." I quip, clearly lying. "What?" he asks, confused.

"I want you to bring my sister to me so she can nurse me to health, and I want you to leave me alone while she does," I say, flicking a hand at him in dismissal. "So, go away. I need girl time." "Fay," he groans, shaking his head.

"Go!" I say, shoving him a little and laughing. "Honestly, Kent, I'm sick of you - we haven't left each other's side in a week -"

"It's going to be longer than that when we're married -" he growls, moving closer to me, intent on staying.

"Oh, it is not," I sigh, pulling away and pointing at the door. "Besides, that's impossible, I'm already married. Now go speak with my husband, your son! Send Janeen here when you find her."

Kent grumbles, dissatisfied, and glares at me the whole time that he gets dressed. I ignore him, opening his tablet and continuing to read his article where he left off.

"Mine," he says, snatching the tablet out of my hands.

"Rude," I say with a tsk, crossing my arms and glaring at him.

"Two hours," he says, heading for the door. "Then I'm coming back."

"Bye, baby!" I call as he opens the door. "Talk to your kid! Bond!"

Kent grumbles something noncommittal as he slips out the door.

I spend the next ten minutes pulling myself together, getting changed out of my nightgown and putting on some comfortable clothes. Though honestly, I don't know why I bother - I'm probably just going to end up back in bed. The seas and the baby are not going easy on me today.

As I comb my hair in the bathroom mirror, I hear a little knock at the door and turn, surprised.

Because...Janeen probably wouldn't knock if she knew Kent wasn't here. She'd probably just barge right in, as she's done my whole life.

Frowning, I move to the door and pull it open, my mouth opening in a surprised smile when I see Jerome standing there, leaning against the doorway with one hand behind his back.

"Janeen said she wouldn't be beckoned like a puppy," he says, twisting his lips a little in apology. "I hope you will accept me as a replacement."

I laugh, grabbing his arm and pulling him inside. "Even better," I say, grinning at him. "She's in a foul mood, all cooped up on this ship, anyway. What snacks did you bring me?"

Jerome's smile grows. "What makes you think I brought you snacks?" he asks, cagy.

"Um, probably the fact that you did," I say, rolling my eyes and quickly reaching behind him, grabbing for the bag of popcorn in his hand. He just laughs and willingly gives it up, following me when I head to the bed and cheerfully sit down, my legs crossed. "So," I say, pulling open the bag and starting to eat. "Are you as bored as Janeen?"

"Nah," Jerome says, sitting down on the bed and then laying himself out on his side, propping himself on his arm. I offer him the bag of popcorn but he shakes his head, leaving it all to me. "Janeen is just stir crazy because there are no men on this ship who she can flirt with. I, alternately, am on a 10-day cruise with my boyfriend. I have plenty to do."

I laugh at this, shaking my head in wonder. "I mean, how does Janeen not have anyone to flirt with?" I ask, confused.

"Well," Jerome says, holding up his fingers as he counts people off, "gay, gay, dad, and ridiculously obsessed with you," he points out, shrugging. "So, pickings are slim."

I roll my eyes, because obviously that's not what I meant. "Jerome, there are like thirty other men on this ship. And Janeen's hot! Surely one of them is hungry for some company."

"Well," Jerome says, smirking a little. "I think Daniel had something to do with that."

"What?" I ask, my eyes going wide.

Jerome laughs, shaking his head. "Yeah, he told them day one to keep their hands off the one with the purple hair or else they'd lose their jobs."

"Just Janeen!?" I gasp, a little appalled that I wasn't included in the ban.

"Well, there was no need to include you," Jerome says, smirking, "considering you've got your gigantic baby daddy at your side at all times. No one even has a chance to hit on you."

"Wait," I say, turning my head at him now. "Why did Daniel do that to Janeen? Are the sailors like...bad guys? Everyone has been so nice..."

"Nah," Jerome says, grinning deeply now. "He just wanted to see her spin her wheels. She's been throwing herself with more and more desperation at the crew, who want nothing to do with her - he's getting a kick out of it -"

I throw my head back and laugh when I hear this, delighted. But then I shake my head, bringing my gaze back to my friend. "No, that's mean - poor Janeen, she loves a sailor." I unfold my leg and give him a little kick. "Tell him to take it back - let the poor girl run free." Jerome shrugs and nods. "I'll do my best," he says, shaking his head.

"Who knew," I say thoughtfully, munching on more popcorn. "Ivan had the gall to warn me about you, but the whole time Daniel was the devious one."

I'm still laughing a little and reaching for another handful of popcorn before I realize that Jerome has gone silent. Confused, I let the popcorn fall from my fingers and move my eyes to my friend, a little surprised to see him laying perfectly still on his bed, his face worried.

"What?" Jerome asks.

"Huh?" I ask in response, not understanding.

"What did you just say?" Jerome asks, sitting up and looking at me carefully.

I shake my head at him, still not getting it. "About Daniel being devious? I'm sorry, Jerome - you know I don't really think that -"

"No," he interrupts, peering at me closely. "About Ivan. Warning you about me. What did he say?"