"When was the last time you saw him?" Keats asked. Sloane made a face and shrugged.
"You're kidding…you ho…" Keats said, knowing she wasn't kidding.
"Sloane called me last week and told me that Roddy hadn't been back to the hotel in several hours. But when he came back, he said he'd been gambling." Glenn said. Sloane nodded, apparently too lazy to tell her side of the story.
"Sounds like he was picked up by Cretin loan sharks or something. Heh…um…yeah." Keats ran her fingers through her strawberry-blond hair and sighed. The constant Miami sunshine had made her hair lighter than her usual strawberry red.
"Funny. Anywho, he said he was going out for a smoke and I never saw him again. I reported him missing and there's a search party and everything, but no one's made any progress." Sloane said.
"I just want to know why you married the guy after only knowing him for four days." Miles said with a sardonic laugh.
"Well, the wedding was already paid for, and Esteban was going to jail, so…" Harvey said in a falsetto voice, mimicking Sloane. Sloane laughed hard.
Despite the horrific undertones of the situation, something about it was ironic and somewhat amusing.
"Will you guys shut up?" Glenn yelled. Everyone stopped laughing and sighed, giving their full attention to Big Brother Glenn.
"We're already doing everything we can, Glenn. What else do you want?" Sloane asked him. Glenn pointed at Keats.
"She's the cop. Ask her to do whatever it is that she does to find a runaway suspect." Glenn said. Keats folded her arms across her chest.
"Not technically. But give me another good week and I'm your gal!" She mocked. Glenn was treading in dangerous territory.
"Tell your police friends that Roddy stole some of Sloane's jewelry and disappeared. Surely they'd look for him then, right?" Glenn continued. Keats rolled her eyes.
"You want me to lie to my peers? When this is all figured out, I'll have to live with the fact that I betrayed their trust…I can't do that." Keats murmured.
"She's right, Glenn. Plus, if the cops found out that he hadn't stolen anything they'd stick you in jail for perjury…What? I watch A&E, okay?" Sloane shrugged again.
"Okay, here's the plan: I tell people down here that I'm taking a senior vacation or something before I graduate, when in reality I'll be in Agios Giorgios looking for Sloane's husband. I think I can figure out where he might be.
If anyone else wants to come with, they're more than welcome. But don't hinder me whatever you guys decide to do. I've made up my mind to solve this." Keats said, already taking out a suitcase.
"You can have Greece. I got more than enough of it last week." Sloane said with a sigh.
"I don't know…Greece…it sounds so…greasy…" Harvey said, wiping potato chip debris from his hands.
"Actually, a trip to Greece would be great for you two Neanderthals. Heaven forbid you should be exposed to some culture…" Miles added, talking to his brothers with a hint of disdain.
"I'm not letting you go alone, Keats." Glenn said at length.
"I'm not letting you go at all."
Keats turned to find Ryan standing in the doorway. She wondered how long he had been there and mentally chastised herself for not taking her siblings back to her own apartment, which was in escrow at the moment.
"Hi, Ryan." Sloane said unenthusiastically from the couch. Ryan nodded toward her in salutation.
"Hey, you must be that guy Kit is living with…" Harvey said. Miles rolled his eyes.
"I'm Ryan Wolfe, nice to meet you. And you must be Keats' brother…"
"Harvey. I'm the stupid one…or so they tell me a lot." Harvey grinned.
"I'm Miles. The only non-idiot in the family." Miles said.
"Hey!!!" Keats and Sloane shouted in unison.
"I'm Glenn Remington. Keats mentioned she was living with you. She told me you were just her roommate…" Glenn gave Ryan the once-over. His attire may have been questionable, but his mannerisms and overall demeanor were quite masculine.
"So…do you ever bring dates home?" Miles asked, taking his cues from Harvey. Ryan seemed rather confused by the question.
"No. I don't." He said. He glanced at Keats as though it would help him understand what was going on.
"I've got a question for you, Ryan, if you don't mind my asking…what business is it of yours whether Keats goes to Greece or not?" Glenn asked. He was getting down to brass tacks, that much was certain.
Keats made sure no one was looking in her direction, and then proceeded to send Ryan hand signals telling him not to spill the beans about the engagement.
"She's my friend." Ryan said after a time. Keats could tell it pained him to lie about their relationship.
"All the same, if she wants to go, no one should stop her." Glenn replied.
"Keats, can I talk to you for a second?" Ryan asked. He led her into the bedroom they shared and closed the door behind them.
"What's going on? I leave you in bed thinking you're going to watch Oprah, I come back and you're on a crusade to some obscure island in the Mediterranean."
"My sister's husband is missing. Either he's died some horrible death at the hands of a few restless natives, or he's deliberately gone and left her. None of them are very reassuring." Keats sighed, sitting at the edge of the bed.
"Look, I know you're bored and you miss work. But just because an opportunity presents itself doesn't mean you have to take it…" Ryan stood in front of her, gazing down at her.
"For some reason, you just can't stay in one place for too long. Why is that?" Ryan asked, coming to sit down beside her on the bed.
"I don't know…I feel an intense sort of…eh…I guess I have a superhero complex, or something." Keats mumbled, falling back onto the bed.
Ryan placed himself beside her, propping himself up by the elbow.
"That explains why you want to go to Greece…how about why you don't want your family to know we're getting married?" He asked.
"Because I know what they would say…and you shouldn't have to deal with that." Keats explained rather wistfully. After all, she'd gone through something similar not quite two years ago.
"What would they say?" Ryan wondered. He enjoyed spending time with Keats like this. He loved hearing her talk about things and thought the sound of her voice was very soothing.
"First they'd be mad that they didn't meet you before. They always have to approve the guys I date. And then they would tell me it's too soon for us to get married because we haven't known each other very long.
They would kill me for dating a guy I work with anyway, especially one who's sort of my boss…and to top it off they would tell me I'm too young for you. They'd try to pin you as some sort of pedophile.
I love them but they drive me crazy. They can't understand me. They never have, and they never will." Keats nibbled on her lip, trying to make it seem like she wasn't biting it.
"My brother, Malcolm…he's the same way. He never lets me think for myself…Miami was sort of an escape, at first. I couldn't be there and do my own thing at the same time, so…" And there it was. Another glimpse into Ryan Wolfe's past.
Keats adored learning new things about Ryan. She only wished he could open up more. But she knew how hard it must be for him.
"Malcolm…what does he do?" Keats asked. Ryan gave her one of his ironic smiles.
"He's a lab rat back in Boston…I was all set to be his partner in the company he created. But I wanted more, you know…more than just filling out grant proposals and publishing papers and testing certain hypotheses…"
"You were doing something you loved and even then, an element was missing." Keats said, understanding the feeling.
"Exactly. Keats, how is it that you know me better than anyone else even when you don't even know my dad's name, or where I went to high school, or my favorite song on the radio?"
"I understand you as a person, which has nothing to do with your history or personal preferences. I love you as a person, which is why even when people say that we're not right for each other, I'll know they're wrong." Keats smiled, her face all lit up and dazzling.
Ryan took her in, they way she spoke, her smile, her touch. He knew he'd never be able to get enough of her, even when they were ninety and helping each other look for their dentures.
He moved on top of her and began kissing her with gratitude, reverence, with need and anticipation. Keats ended the kiss after awhile and sat up, touching her flaming cheeks.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to tell the relatives that I'm getting hitched." She said, exiting the room with a flourish.