Back in the parlor once more, Rozie slipped out of Erica’s arm and grabbed Dom’s hand. She felt steadier as she held him. He glanced at her. Seeing through her anxiety, his smile wilted.

  “Everything, okay?”

  Sara, Willow, and Sophie had taken the interval between rounds to fetch another glass of wine. Rozie felt torn. She craved the solid presence of her husband, but she could read the excitement on his face. Without far less theatrics than Conrad, Benjamin held up the timer. His eyes fell on Rozie a little too intently. She wouldn’t make Dom give up his time with his friends, but she couldn’t bring herself to be anywhere near Ben.

  “Yeah, just…” She replayed the scene in her mind as if from afar. Squished up against Benjamin. Elbows sticking into each other. Ben was the most normal of Dominic’s old high school friends. “I’m tired from the drive. Gonna play the pregnancy card—”

  “How about we bump it up to ten minutes?” Tyler shouted from the rear of the group.

  Conrad’s eyes sparkled as he searched the faces around him. The alcohol had risen to his cheeks and nose, turning them pink.

  “Fifteen!” The word came out like a fake cough. Alfie held his hand to his mouth pretending to clear his throat.

  Conrad’s eyebrows rose, and he tilted his head side to side in consideration. “I got fifteen! Fifteen! Can I get twenty!” His voice lilted like an auctioneer’s.

  “Twenty!”

  Rozie watched a ripple pass through the guests. Hands clutched together. Bodies angled, feet braced, ready to spring out the door. Dom squeezed her hand.

  “One more round? We’ll stick together.”

  He sounded like a kid in a carnival, pleading to go on the rickety death-trap rollercoaster.

  “Twenty minutes it is!”

  Tyler actually pumped a fist. Rozie stole a glance at Benjamin still standing by the mantle, timer in hand.

  She relented. “Last one, then I’m calling it a night.”

  Dominic nearly bounced with excitement. Benjamin shook his head, smiling. He gave the egg a generous twist turned his back on the group and set the timer down.

  “Go,” he said with a sigh.

  Immediately, Dom held out his arms. He brought a finger to his lips. Everyone froze watching him as he held up his shoes. Willow gave a short squeal before Tyler shushed her. Except for the rustle of fabric and faint tinkling of metal clasps, everyone silently removed their shoes. Conrad pointed to a corner of the carpet and gently laid the burgundy boots on the ground. One by one the other guests left dress shoes and high heels and followed Conrad out of the parlor. Except for Rozie. She didn’t feel confident she could even reach her sneakers without help. Dom raised his eyebrows questioningly, but Rozie shook her head.

  Conrad beckoned them with an exaggerated wave. Rozie pulled her husband close and wrapped her arms around his. He laced his fingers with hers as they followed the others. From the parlor, Burke crept to the entrance hall and back toward the dining room. Rozie glanced back as she rounded the corner. Riley sat in a tall cushioned chair in the back of the parlor. Their eyes met briefly. He stood, but didn’t follow the others.

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  Rozie looked about her at the scene as it became more and more surreal. Full grown men and women dressed in taylored suits and fine gowns tiptoed through an immense Victorian mansion, giddy as they played a drawn-out version of hide and seek. Twice she clipped the back of someone’s barefoot, whispering apologies.

  Conrad pushed his way through a swinging door in the corner. As the group followed, they jostled into each other. Elbows and shoulders bumped into Rozie, and she pulled her arms free from Dom to try and shield her belly. Filing through the door, Sara and Willow wedged in front of her. Dom pushed ahead, and Alfonso whispered something to him with a ridiculous toothy grin on his face.

  Before Rozie could catch up to Dom, Burke led them through the small back room, but instead of going the stairs, he slinked past them. He opened a door beneath the staircase. Looking over his guests with a mischievous expression, he waved them on.

  “Deeper and darker,” he said in a whisper-yell.

  In the dim light of the confined space, Rozie held back, a knot turning in her stomach. She knew what she would find on the other side of the door. The memory of seeing the house as they drove up. The stone steps that led up to the main entrance. The half-sunken basement below. Erica and Tyler trailed behind the rest. Before she disappeared down the stairs to the basement, Erica held out a hand for Rozie to follow.

  Another orange sconce illuminated the stairs as they descended, curving into the darkness. Rozie slowed to a stop. She looked up from her feet in time to see Erica disappear around the curve. Dominic was already out of sight, somewhere near the front. She passed through the threshold and carefully climbed down. Rozie reached out to both sides for the hand rails. A few steps down, the air became cooler, damp, rising up her body like she was stepping into a pool. The knot in her stomach worked its way up into her throat. She coughed as the air hit her lungs. Willow’s giggles echoed up the narrow passage way. One of the men said something, the hushed baritone distorted by the small space. She froze, nearly sinking to the steps.

  Rozie backed up, blind foot searching for the wooden step. Then another. She turned around and raced back out of the stairs. She doubled over and stopped to catch her breath, watching her shadow expand and contract under the sconce.

  Rozie caught her breath, but she didn’t move. Her mind wandered forward in time to the moment Dominic realized she wasn’t with the group. She didn’t know the basement’s layout, but they wouldn’t hide all together. Would he break from his hiding place? A cold iron barb set its hook in her gut. Rozie knew she shouldn’t, but she invited the satisfaction. Dom abandoned her. she chided herself, if she was going to be self-righteous she’d at least be clear and honest. Dom let her fall behind.

  Hide and seek. The thought dropped into her mind forcefully—her subconscious’s minor cameo. Rozie really didn’t care. She thought about holing up in the room and waiting to see how long it would take for her to be found there.

  Again the deep recesses of her mind bubbled up to the surface. She saw herself, sitting in bed reading, until Benjamin came searching for her. The knot in her stomach soured at the thought. Benny stroked the side of her abdomen then came into her room while the others smiled and snickered in the basement.

  It wouldn’t be any better to quit. Hey, Ben,

  Rozie strode out of the back room, but as she stepped into the dining room, she remembered she didn’t even have a key yet. The young man with the cart took their luggage up to the room.

  Suddenly the game took on a more sinister importance. Rozie didn’t want to risk asking about her room, only for Benny to hear.

  The emotional torrent caught her attention. She watched the struggle from the outside, second guessing herself. Hormones? Maybe the thing with Holder was just an accident. A confined space. She shifted, giving Ben more space—space he leaned into making it feel like he maintained contact.

  Rozie stood under the archway between the dining room and the grand stairway. The timer ticked loudly through the wood paneling. Or did she imagine it? Across from her, she saw the long corridor of the hotel wing and remembered playing hide and seek with her brother in their grandmother’s house in Missouri.