I dashed a hand across my jaw; her words made me uncomfortable. “I don’t think either label is necessary,” I informed her tartly.
“It’s your choice, of course, sweetie,” she cooed with a flirtatious wink.
What was that about? My evening was getting weirder by the minute.
TWENTY-THREE
PHOENIX
I watched as Mrs Summers poured herself three fingers of whisky, the hairs on the back of my neck standing to attention as I felt someone behind me. As I turned around, Dominic Summers stood in the doorway of the room. He looked as pristine as ever; clean-shaven, short haircut, and the suit he wore looked like it had been sewn directly onto his body. He was like a neater, older me, but of course, I only thought that now I knew.
“I’ll take it from here, Rachel,” he said, scowling at the drink in her hand, which was halfway towards his wife’s mouth. She paused and smirked at him.
OK. So now I was in the middle of their fucking tiff. Not how I had envisaged the moment at all. Resentment must have been pouring from me.
“Look, I can come back some other time?” I suggested with a sigh, ramming my hands into my jeans. “I mean, if you two needto talk.” I made quotation marks with my fingers at the words ‘to talk’ just to be extra antagonistic.
“No. It’s fine. Rachel, please leave us.”Pfft, he spoke to his wife like she was the help.
Rolling her eyes, she drained the entire contents and slammed the tumbler back onto the trolley. Temper, temper. Her attitude and behavior confirmed I was correct in my first assumptions about the mayor’s wife, the last time I was there. Rachel Summers was a handful,justlike her daughter.
After she flounced out, my father closed the door behind her and turned back to face me.
“My apologies. I didn’t know she’d be here. My wife left with Storm at the beginning of the week, and they came back todayunexpectedly.”
“Look, I don’t really give a rat's ass about your problem in paradise. Can we get on with this?” I stated scornfully. I really didn’t care, and no way would I play Monkey in the Middle,ever.
Summers was unfazed as he shifted further into the room and circled his desk. “Please,” he said, motioning towards the seat opposite. It felt like the business meeting of nightmares.
After a beat or two, I did as he suggested and threw myself into the chair. Half of me wanted to plant my feet on his desk, but I held back.
Hear what he has to say and leave.
“So, the wife took it well,” I said sarcastically.
Ignoring my comment, Summers walked over to the drinks trolley and brought over two fresh glasses and the bourbon Rachel Summers had just literallythrowndown her throat.
I watched him with a bored expression as he placed the tumblers and the bottle on his desk. The surface was neat, with just a phone and a closed laptop there.
“What’s with the booze?”
Dominic cleared his throat and sat down. “For emergency purposes.”
“Maybe I don’t drink?”
The man was unshakable, as cool as ice. Instead of calling me out and sayingyou're full of shit, he leaned forward and placed his elbows on his desk. My smirk grew as he steepled his fingers and replied casually. “Then that’s the first thing wedon’thave in common.”
His tone was so controlled as if he was totally unaffected that his long-lost,unwantedchild sat across from him, and it annoyed the hell out of me. “That won’t be the only thing I can assure you.”
I knew I was behaving like a monster-dick, but I was still reeling.
Summers then assessed my face, his expression one of scrutiny as he replied. “How would you know? You don’t know me.”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” I snapped out, cracking my knuckles. Just my being there should have been a big enough olive branch. The man could go fuck himself if he thought I was going to be reasonable. My reasonable side came out—hmm—let me see,never?
“Indeed,” the old timer deadpanned.
“Look, my to-do list today is pretty long, so could we hurry this up?” I lied. The only thing I had to do that evening would be to apologize to Harper. Why? For throwing her issues back in her face.
