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I see Stephanie’s gaze drop to the ring finger of my left hand It’s bare, of course

As if he’s read her , so it’s a secret If either of you tells anyone--including my brother or Tania--I’ll have no choice but to kill you"

More of Stephanie’s teeth are exposed She laughs, and it sounds like a horse’s whinny

"I’

"That’s cool," Christopher says "I hate big weddings"

"Me too," I say "Aren’t they the worst? Who needs another Crock-Pot?"

"About the shooting," Cooper says "The man as shot, Bear--"

Stephanie and Christopher look startled by the sudden change of subject

"Bear? Great guy," Christopher says "Really, really could not feel worse about what happened to hi cuddly teddy bear"

"A big cuddly teddy bear who happens to be a bodyguard," Cooper says

"Well," Christopher says, blinking "Yeah He’s a teddy bear unless you get too close to so Then he’ll rip your head off"

"But that’s not what happened tonight?"

It’s interesting to watch Cooper at work Stephanie and Christopher don’t see To the brother

I, on the other hand, can tell he’s piecing together the beginning of his own private investigation into what exactly went down on Varick Street

"Oh no," Stephanie says, her eyes widening In the glow fro the terrace walls, I can see that the vein in the middle of her forehead has cal we’re just four friends, sitting around a patio table, talking

This is far from the truth, however

"The police said it was probably teenagers goofing off," Stephanie says, "although when I was a teenager, we goofed off by throwing eggs at people’s cars, not shooting at the at each other," Cooper asks, "or Bear? Or aze has drifted toward Jordan, who can be seen through the French doors looking on worriedly while the EMTs take Tania’s vitals I’ll adht, not just because the blood pressure cuff is so huge on Tania’s tiny ar so solicitous This is apparently as foreign to Cooper as it is to me