I close my eyes and tilt my head to the ceiling. “God, I love that sound.”
April chuckles as Anna pours three generous glasses. She drags a stool around the island bench to face April and me.
“Get on with it, then,” she says, crossing her legs.
I take a deep breath and recount every horrid detail, from Lance being forced to raise his prices to spilling my coffee on Max, right up to the button incident with Grayson’s eye.
April hides her face in her hands.
Anna glares at me in stunned silence momentarily before throwing her head back and releasing a deep belly laugh.
“Why are you laughing? This isn’t funny,” I say.
“Isn’t funny? It’s hilarious. You spilled coffee on my brother’s Tom Ford suit and nearly blinded one of the world’s richest men, while flashing everyone in your meeting!” Anna chokes out.
April raises a hand. “If Grayson needs surgery, I can get him in to see my old boss.”
April used to work as a PA to one of London’s leading eye surgeons, but she pivoted to her hobby of ceramics a couple of years ago and managed to turn it into a thriving full-time business. She’s super talented and makes the most gorgeous pieces. She even made me a penis vase for my birthday last year—I swear I nearly cried, it was so perfect.
I shake my head, taking a long sip. “He left the country, thank God.”
“That’s almost as good as the time April shat her pants at work,” Anna says, wiping the tears from her eyes.
April points a finger in Anna’s direction, her voice serious. “That wasn’t my fault. How was I supposed to know that taking too much magnesium can cause diarrhea?”
“Oh, April, you sweet, innocent thing,” Anna says.
“My pants were white too…” April adds, trailing off.
I drop my head into my hands. “Guys, can we please focus? How am I supposed to show my face at work tomorrow?”
Anna tuts. “You’re overreacting.”
“Overreacting? Grayson could have lost his eye. I nearly blinded a billionaire with a bloodybutton. Plus, the entire executive team saw my bra! Have youseenyour brother? He’s gorgeous, which makes it so much worse.”
“Oh no.” Anna straightens. “I know that tone. Absolutely not. You are not getting any ideas about Max.”
I look up. “I didn’t say—”
“You didn’t have to, you little minx. I know you too well.” She points her glass at me, wine sloshing. “My brother is absolutely off-limits. I mean it, Gem. One of my friends from high school—Nicole—dated Max briefly after we finished our GCSEs. She was head over heels for him, but then he moved to the States to study at NYU. He didn’t see the relationship going anywhere, so he broke it off and she was left devastated. She never spoke to me again. It ruined our friendship, and I won’t let that happen to us. You mean far too much to me.”
Christ, no wonder she’s so protective of her brother. That’s unfair of Nicole—she sounds like a twat. It’s not Anna’s fault the relationship didn’t work out.
“Oh, I remember that. Nicole was so obsessed with Max in high school. She was completely out of line for letting that affect your friendship,” April says.
“It was so upsetting. Besides, I’ve spent years trying to forget walking in on him with Casey, his ex-wife”—she shivers—“I don’t need trauma flashbacks with my best friend.”
Ex-wife? The word hits me like a splash of ice water. Anna’s mentioned Max here and there over the years, but I never paid much attention to the fact that he was once married.
Now, after meeting him, the questions pile up faster than I can suppress them:How long were Max and Casey together? When was he married? Why did they divorce?
But I swallow them back, forcing a neutral expression.
“Gross,” April says, pretending to gag.
Anna points to April. “See that?That’sthe reaction you need to have toward my brother. I already know far too much about your sex life, and I’d like to keep at least one man in London sacred in my mind.”
I wink at her playfully, lightening the mood.
