"Does Emily still want me to make love to her," Jack said nervously to Brooke, who smiled back at him."No, Jack. Emily wants to get fucked."Jack's eye... widened slightly at his wife's words. Brooke's tone wasn't sarcastic. But Jack still feared she would be calling things off shortly, or that at the very best she would resignedly tell him to proceed with what Em said she wanted while she threw daggers at him with her eyes the entire time. But for her to seem suddenly on board with the idea took. It was a quarter till nine when McKinley stumbled back into his hotel suite. He drank way more than he intended and was late for his date with Grace.To be fair, he had texted her at 8:30 p.m. to apologize for running behind. But she hadn’t texted back. He was pretty sure he was in the doghouse.“Grace!” he called out when he didn’t find her in the living room or sitting area. When she didn’t answer, Mac started to get worried.Finding the door to her room unlocked, he gave a soft knock and then. I'll do that now. What type of pizza do you want?"The important practicalities were discussed and agreed on. Julia got out of the tub, wrapped herself in a towel, extracted payment from my billfold (I'd offered because my money was closest. Anything that made getting a pizza quicker was fine with me), and she wandered off to place the order and tell her mom to expect the delivery.Meanwhile, and less importantly, "Lily, you've got the most distinctive hair. Can you pluck out a single long one. It didn't occur to Sam that the parade was a blessing. Without it, his arrival would have been ridiculously early."What am I doing here?" Sam thought as he arrived at Madeleine's apartment. "This is 'way too much woman for old, tired Sam Wicks. Who am I kidding, here?"Madeleine opened the door and greeted him with a smile. "You're early." she said. "I guess you had no trouble finding me?" No trouble," Sam mumbled, deciding not to describe his frustration at waiting for the parade to allow him.