“I love you so much!” Chloe exclaimed.
“I love you, too,” Ellie responded immediately.
Neither woman really noticed as the men in the room lifted them back to their feet, both guys looking concerned, their eyes suspiciously damp. Neither man could look away from the reunion. All they could do was share the joy of two women who were so damn happy to be together again.
Finally, Chloe pulled back and took Ellie by the shoulders. “Let me look at you. Oh, my God. You look fantastic. You lost weight, and I love your hair shorter.”
Ellie smiled at Chloe, determined to never mention exactly why she was at a normal weight. She wasn’t going to say a thing about her shorter hair, either. Her hair had grown, but it would take years to get the length she’d had before. Then again, she wasn’t sure she even wanted that anymore. She liked the shorter style and the ease of taking care of it.
Clasping her friend’s arms, Ellie did her own inspection of Chloe, noticing how worry-free she looked right now except for the stream of tears flowing down her face. “You look happy,” she said simply. It summed up exactly what she saw.
“I am. Oh, let me introduce you to Gabe, my husband.”
Untangling herself from Chloe, Ellie looked at the tall, dark, and handsome man beside her friend. “We’ve crossed paths a few times. Congratulations, Gabe. You got the most wonderful wife you could ever want,” Ellie told him with a wink as she held out her hand.
Gabe nodded and smiled at her as he shook her hand. “Don’t I know it,” he replied with a slight drawl. “If I forget, she reminds me.”
Chloe tapped him on the arm. “I certainly do not,” she countered, mocking indignantly.
Drawing back her arm, Ellie noticed that Gabe’s smile went all the way to his eyes, making them twinkle with mischief. God, her best friend had found the perfect man. Ellie had a feeling that Gabe and Chloe laughed a lot.
She watched as Gabe and Zane shook hands and slapped each other on the back.
Chloe turned to her brother and gave him a gigantic hug.
“How was the extended honeymoon?” Zane asked, apparently asking the question to lighten the mood. “Come on into the living room.” He led the way.
Ellie and Chloe followed, their arms locked together like they were afraid to let go.
“It was amazing,” Chloe gushed. “But none of the trip was better than coming home. It still seems surreal to me that Ellie is here. I guess it will take a while for me to get used to having her back.”
The two women took a seat on the couch and turned to face each other.
“Are you really okay?” Chloe asked hesitantly.
Ellie nodded. “I won’t bullshit you and tell you I don’t have some lingering problems, but I’m working through them. Zane saved my life.”
“Were you cold? Did that bastard feed you? Did he hurt you?” There was a desperate note in Chloe’s voice.
“I was cold, and he left me very little food and water, but enough to last until Zane found me.” Ellie wasn’t going to lie to Chloe. But she hoped her friend didn’t ask any more questions.
Both men had taken a seat in one of the chairs across from the couch, and Chloe’s eyes searched out Zane. “Thank you. But I still want to kill you for not telling me she was alive.”
“Don’t,” Ellie interrupted. “Please don’t blame anyone but me. I wanted some time to get my head together. Zane and Gabe respected that. If you’re angry, it’s all on me. I asked them not to tell. I think we both needed our time to heal.”
“I’m not mad at you, Ellie, and I’m really not angry with Zane. How could I be? He saved you.”
The intercom at the gate chimed, and Ellie looked at Zane, perplexed. “Is somebody else coming over?”
Zane rolled his eyes. “Are you kidding? They’ll all be here. Maybe I should leave the front gate open.”
“Who?”
“My family. Did you really think my brothers and Mom would miss this?”
Chloe squealed with delight as she jumped up to answer the intercom. “I don’t know how to let them in, but I’m glad they’re here. I just wished they’d given us more time to talk.”
Honestly, Ellie was relieved. Although she wanted to have some quiet time with Chloe, she wasn’t sure she was ready for some of the things her friend might ask.
Zane rose, not bothering to answer the intercom. He just buzzed the vehicle in.
Before the car reached the end of the driveway, he had to let another vehicle pass through the gate. “Hell, I hope some of them rode together,” he grumbled as he went to answer the door.
Ellie knew Zane got his wish as she saw Marcus and Blake enter together, and then Tate, Lara, and Chloe’s mother a few minutes later.
Aileen had brought dinner for everyone from the resort, so the guys unloaded the stuff from Lara’s car.
As the party moved away from the living room, Zane caught her arm on the way into the kitchen. “Baby, I hate to do this right now, but Sean just called. He’s having some emergency at the lab.”
“Today? It’s the weekend.” Ellie knew that some of the research staff worked weekends, but rarely the guys at the top. Sean was usually off with Elena, and he wasn’t required to do any weekends.
“He said Elena left him, and he wanted to take his mind off her. So he went to work because he was starting to have some luck on one of our projects. But some of the equipment isn’t working. I have to have it up and running by Monday morning.”
“Then, go,” Ellie urged. “I’ll stay here and visit with Chloe.”