“Damn.” Tara came across the lobby and rejoined Remy.

Remy looked up from his phone. “What is it?” She didn’t need him hovering directly over her shoulder but he’d been concerned about her father, or about Dimitri trying to sneak back in, and had taken the elevator down with her.

“My father must have cancelled my bank card.”

“So how broke are you?”

“Not as broke as he thinks. I pulled out my daily maximum over the day yesterday and managed one transaction this morning before the system locked me out. I only got about a third of my savings but it’s more than enough to get me to your place.”

“I guess your dad feels it was his money in the first place?”

“Some of it wasn’t. I won’t mention what I already pulled out, but I will call my mom and tell her to send what would equal my savings from my freelance gigs. I won’t even press for various birthday presents, they can keep that as ‘rent’ payments.”

“Did they charge you rent?”

“Nope, but my father’s not above back charging me out of spite. I’ll be right back.”

“Go ahead, I’m almost done.”

When Tara came back, her face was carefully neutral. She smiled but Remy could see it was strained.

“Not all good news, I take it?”

“She’ll send me a few grand, but that’s it. Between that and what I pulled out, I’d say I can live for about six months. I need to change over my banking information on my freelance contracts so any new money comes to my new account, and not the one I’ve been locked out of or I’ll never see that money.”

“You’ll have income from the freelance and it won’t take you six months to get a job.”

“In this economy?”

“It’s who you know as much as what you know.”

“What have you been up to?”

“Plenty, but among other things I can arrange for you to have a job interview at Tandell Corporations. That’s as far as my influence can go. You’ll have to wow them all on your own.”

“You haven’t even seen my work.”

“But I know you’re brilliant and passionate so I know you’ll do just fine.”

She kissed his cheek. “Thanks. So, what else were you up to? You’ve been a busy bee all morning.”

“Well, I booked you a flight to New Orleans.”

“Remy, I could have done that.”

“And then your money would only have lasted you four months.”

“A flight is not that expensive.”

“Maybe not, but all the extra last minute fees add up.”

“So how much was it?”

“No idea.”

She stared at him. “What do you mean you have no idea?”

“I didn’t pay for it. Brock did. And before you yell at me, I argued long and hard with him. He’s rich, Tara, he doesn’t view a few hundred dollars the way I do, or the way you’re going to have to now.”

“Great,” she muttered. “More meddling rich guys.”

“He’s not your father. You owe him nothing for this trip, no money, no favors, nothing. He has never flinched at donating or lending money.”

“I’m not a charity case.”

“You’re his Chief’s mate, his best friend’s mate, and he’s desperate to meet you. And I’m sure Gia had something to do with it. You’ll get along well with Gia, she’s a lot like you. He wanted to do this and short of ordering him I couldn’t dissuade him.”

“You give your people a lot of leeway, don’t you.”

“I’m in charge, yes, and I’ve put my foot down and punished people before. But we’re friends, too. I trust them, so why would I meddle in their affairs? And why would I let my position get in the way of my friendships?”

“I think I’m going to be getting used to a lot more than just the change in weather,” she said.

“Hopefully they will all be good changes.”

“I think they will be. So, when does my flight leave?”

“Our flight leaves in a few hours. We need to pack and say our good-byes and get to the airport.”

“Our flight? I thought I’d be stranded here another day at least. How did he pull that off? We’re not going by private jet, are we?”

“No. Unless I’m travelling with Brock, I do not travel by private jet. Brock may have exaggerated your situation ever so slightly.”

“What did he say?”

“That you’re leaving an abusive situation and it’s important that you leave town as quickly and quietly as possible. The airline was happy to help and got you onto my flight. No, no one else lost their seat. They’ve been told you want this as quiet as possible so they’re not to hover over you before or during the flight. They’ve also been given a description of your father and his name so if he tries to locate you in the airport or if he comes to bother us at our gate they’ll remove him for you.”

“You did all that for little old me?”

“You’d better believe it.”

She laughed. “Then I guess we have a lot to do this morning. Let’s get back upstairs.”

---

They managed to pack without too many personal distractions but with both of them moving around the confined space it was impossible not to bump into each other and bumps often led to hugs or to kisses of apology. Remy got a baggage cart and they hauled everything downstairs. Daniel and Marnie were waiting for them.

Daniel held out his hand, shaking Remy’s, then Tara’s. “Remy, it was good to see you again. I suggest you call your mother as soon as you get home or I’ll be forced to give her all the details.”

“I will, I promise.”

“Tara, it was good to meet you. I’m glad this all worked out with a happy ending.”

“So am I.”

“So, when are you two getting married?” Marnie said.

Remy laughed. “Let me get her settled in New Orleans first.”

“Don’t make her wait too long,” Marnie said. She held her arms open. “Tara, I’m glad to have met you.”

Tara stepped into the hug. “And you. Good luck. I hear your situation isn’t the most pleasant.”

“Well, as we get rid of more and more of these old-fashioned, arrogant Chiefs things will improve for all of us. But, no politics now. I’ll not spoil your day. Jane has all my contact information. You keep in touch.”

“I will, I promise.”

“Oh no,” Remy said, looking skywards. “I’m doomed.”

Marnie poked him in the ribs. “You should call more often, too.”

“I swear, I’ve accumulated more women into my life in the last year than in the rest of my life combined.” Remy was smiling as he said it, then added, “I will try to call. I’m busy, you know.”

He hugged her and then turned to Daniel while Marnie and Tara chatted about the flight and about Jane.

“I’ll tell Mom every detail I can when I call her but reassure her and Dad that she will be invited to help plan the wedding and I expect them to attend.”

“Just them?”

“Yes, I’ll invite you, too.” Remy sighed. “You know, you’d better just bring the whole damn clan with you or I’ll never hear the end of it. Shit, that’s the alarm on my phone, we have to go.”

“Get out of here. We won’t be far behind, I’m sure. Good luck, you two.”

There were more handshakes and hugs and waves as Remy and Tara wrestled their luggage out to the car. The roads were better heading back to the airport. The rain over the week had cleared away much of the snow and though it was still cool the sun had come out Wednesday and the roads were mostly dry. They listened to the blues CD Remy had picked up or talked, laughing often.

They were rushed through airport security and straight to their gate with a staff member at their side. “Will you be okay here?” he asked them.

Remy nodded. “I know how to call for security if anything happens but we aren’t expecting any trouble. Thank you for your concern.”

“Anything we can do to help.” He turned and smiled at Tara. “Good luck, ma’am.”

Tara managed to keep a straight face until he was gone and then she started giggling. “What did Brock tell them?”

“I don’t know, but that’s the best service I’ve ever had at an airport. Of course I wasn’t planning on getting through security that fast so now we have a lot of waiting ahead of us.”

“Why don’t you go grab us some coffees then?”

He kissed her cheek. “I can do that.”

He wandered off into the crowded airport, leaving her with their carry-on luggage. She settled into one of the seats, thankful there were outlets everywhere, and plugged in her phone so it would charge while she was checking her emails.

Someone stopped in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw dark dress pants and a large body mass. She waited a moment but the legs didn’t move. She smiled.

“Back so soon? The line must -” She stopped as her gaze came up from her phone to find it wasn’t Remy in front of her, but her father.

“You’re a hard girl to find. I didn’t know when you were leaving the hotel.”

“You don’t want to be here.”

Charles went on as if he hadn’t heard her. “You made a fool of me yesterday. I needed those notes.”

“Why didn’t you have a copy of your own?” She kept her voice sweet. “When I left your clan, I also left your service as your secretary. I was no longer required to be at your beck and call at all hours. I didn’t want to deal with anyone so I turned my phone off.”

“And I’ve spoken with your mother. Now you’re trying to rob me?”

“Just trying to get my things shipped to New Orleans. I’m not taking the TV from my room or any of the furniture, just my clothes and my shoes and what not.” He was hearing her speak but not really listening to the words, that much was obvious.

“I paid for all that.”

“I worked for years, Dad. I had money of my own. You’ve frozen my account, taken my money, so let’s just assume the clothes were bought with the freelancing income you don’t want to release to me and call it even.”

“We’ll see about that. I hope you have all your accounting records in place.”

“I do, yes. I’ll send you a copy.”

He changed subjects. “Dimitri was removed from the hotel yesterday.”

“I was in my room most of the day. I didn’t see that.”

“But you knew about it, didn’t you?”

“Only after the fact.”

“Are you denying that you were the cause of his humiliating treatment?”

“Yes.”

They stared at each other for a long moment.

“So, this had nothing to do with Dimitri asking you to dinner?”

“No, Dad. This was about Dimitri not taking no from an answer, not from me, and not from Remy.”

He opened his mouth to speak but a hand tapped his shoulder.

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to come with me.”

Remy had returned with a coffee in each hand, a frown on his face, a flight attendant, and two men in security uniforms. The flight attendant, the one who had tapped Charles’ shoulder, was the one that was currently speaking to Charles.

“I haven’t harmed her. And I’m going.” He looked back at his daughter one last time. “Good-bye, Tara.”

Remy sat down beside her and handed her a coffee. “Figures, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. I don’t think this is over, you know. I’m going to be fighting him for every scrap of clothing and every penny for as long as he can drag this out.”

Remy wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “We’ll figure it out and we’ll make it work, I promise.”

“I don’t want to borrow any more money from your friend.”

“I’ll let Brock know. But expect an elaborate ‘welcome to New Orleans’ gift to show up.”

“More meddling rich men.”

“He doesn’t meddle. He’s generous. I know you don’t trust his motives yet and I understand why, but trust me, you won’t ever owe him anything more than what is pre-agreed upon at the beginning of a deal.”

“I don’t like being a charity case.”

“I’ll tell him that, too.” He kissed her temple. “Things will be a lot better now, I promise.”

---

The flight, once they got boarded and off the ground, was uneventful and relatively short. It was already dark when they made their way through the airport and rescued their bags from the luggage carousel. Remy turned his phone back on and it immediately binged at him.

“The car is here.”

“Car? Did someone bring your car up from long term?”

“No. Brock dropped me off, he was going to pick me up, too. Come on, you’ll like him.”

The car was fancier than a cab, sleek and black, but not quite a limo. Still they drew a few stares as the driver, James, helped them load their bags into the trunk.

“Where’s your friend?” Tara whispered.

“I guess Brock is waiting in the car. He is the Mayor so sometimes reporters, or even random people with cellphones come bother him.”

“Actually, Brock stayed home,” James said. He smiled at them. “He said it would be late and he didn’t think the two of you would be in the mood for visiting. I’m to drop you off at your apartment – or anywhere else you’d like to go.”

“The time zones have messed up my eating schedule,” Tara said.

“You think you can run us through a burger place?” Remy asked.

“I know a good one close by. Climb in.” He opened the door for them.

“Thanks, James. Any emergencies I should know about before the meeting tomorrow?”

“Nope. They were quiet as kittens.”

Remy clapped James on the shoulder and got into the back seat with Tara. He shot Brock a text message as they travelled, thanking him for the car and driver. He got a hearty, “any time” followed by “enjoy your evening” and a lot of winking faces. He rolled his eyes and put the phone away.

James helped unload the trunk but Remy insisted he leave the bags on the sidewalk. “We can get it all upstairs ourselves,” he said.

“If you insist. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“What’s going on tomorrow?” Tara said.

“The clan meeting. I did mention that, didn’t I?” Remy said.

“You did. Is this Jules or Philippe?”

“Neither. Tara, this is James, Brock’s official driver. He also works at the Tandell house, just helps around the yard and such. So we’ll probably bump into him at the meeting.”

“I see.”

They managed to get everything to the front door with a lot of huffing and puffing and almost dropping things. Remy grabbed the shopping cart from the lobby and loaded as much into it as he could so the rest of the trip to the apartment was much easier.

He was surprised to find that he was suddenly nervous as they rode up the elevator. He knew he was in a better part of town than Jules, even Jules’ new place, and Jane, but still, it was a one-bedroom place and this wasn’t the ritzy end of town where all the apartments were condos and cost two-to-three times as much per month, easily. She’d reassured him several times on the flight over that she wasn’t looking for glitz and glamour, she was wanting to be with him.

All well and good in theory but Remy knew all too well that it was hard for people with money to understand the reality of the working class lifestyle.

He’d left the apartment tidy because Brock had volunteered to come by and get his mail and water his plant while he was out of town and he didn’t want his friend and second to be tripping over dirty laundry. He also didn’t like coming home to a sink full of dirty, smelly dishes.

Gia had not come over in his absence to redecorate, though now that he had Tara with him he was actually considering that it might have been a good thing if she had. The apartment was simple but very masculine. The only thing on his walls aside from a recent photo of his parents was a few movie posters Brock had bought him as Christmas gifts over the years. He didn’t do statues or China. His plant was some sort of vine thingy that had taken over the kitchen window sill, and the curtain rod, and had been left behind by his mother when she moved to Florida.

Tara stepped inside as he opened the door and looked around. “You have an eclectic taste in movies,” she said.

“I suppose so.”

“Makes sense, coming from a jazz lover.” She dropped her purse on the couch. “Let’s get these bags inside.”

“I can do that if you want to take a look around.”

“Don’t you want to give me the grand tour?”

“It’s not a grand place.”

“Then I will go look around.” She went to the door first and rifled through one of her bags, coming up with what looked like a second purse or hand bag. “Be back in a minute.”

He lined the suitcases up just far enough into the apartment that they weren’t blocking the door. Tara hadn’t come back yet so he yelled, “I’m going to take the cart back down.”

“All right!” came the reply.

He shrugged and went down. When he came back she was in the kitchen, leaning on the counter, a glass of water in one hand. “I thought you’d fallen down a rabbit hole or something. The apartment isn’t that big,” he said, joining her in the tiny space and wrapping one arm around her waist.

“Nope, no rabbit holes, just getting settled in.”

He glanced at the suitcases, then back at her.

She just smiled and sipped her water.

“Were you looking for my porn stash?”

“Do you have one?”

“If I say no will you not find it until after I can throw it out?”

She laughed. “I wasn’t looking for porn. Besides, the bathroom would be a strange place to hide it, don’t you think?”

One eyebrow went up in question.

“It’s late, I’m tired. Sorting clothes and closet space will take time. That can all wait a day or two.” She drained her glass and set it in the sink. “Come on. I’m tired. It was a long, stressful week. Let’s go to bed and we can worry about everything else tomorrow.”

He almost asked her what she’d been doing in the bathroom but she cut him off with a kiss and suddenly it didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered to either of them in this moment was getting to the bedroom and getting their clothes off.