“There aren’t any sex tapes, and she’s never been arrested for murder, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Bah.Hic!I prefer the scandals where she’s sleeping with her brother’s fiancée.”
“She only has one sister, and she isnotsleeping with her sister’s fiancé.Ex. Ex-fiancé.”
“Unfortunate. That’s a brilliant scandal.”
“Simon Luckwood, are you a gossip?”
“Of course,” the bubbly replies for me. “Where do you think I get my best ideas from? Do keep up, darling.”
She laughs again. “It is absolutely impossible to read you.”
“Excellent.Hic!What role do you play in New York high society that you were able to gain an introduction to the heiress of the largest hotel chain in the known universe?”
Would you look at that?
I’m able to speak long sentences.
And I do believe I’m tracking this conversation.
That deserves a pat on the back.
Bea’s eyes go comical as she watches me pat myself on the back with what’s left of my willy dog.
“Daph and I met at the local college here. I was taking a couple classes since Hudson was my only brother left at home and I had a little more bandwidth for trying to work toward my degree again, and she’d transferred here and was in both of them.”
“Do children of the rich and famous often come to university here?” I inquire.
I believe that’s what I ask, at any rate. It seems a logical question. And when Bea answers, I applaud myself once again for managing to keep up the appearance of a man who knows what she’s saying.
“It’s a pretty exclusive school, so rich and famous students aren’t uncommon. I didn’t know she fit that category—she was just someone who seemed a little older than most of our classmates, like I was too. I don’t remember why we started sitting next to each other in both classes, but we did, and then one day, she caught me in my car before class having a complete meltdown over my refrigerator breaking two days after the washing machine bit the dust.”
“Arsehole washing machine.”
Bea laughs. “Exactly.”
I bite into my corn dog again and sigh in satisfaction. “Carry on. Your voice is lovely, and I am quite—hic!—tipsy, and it’s an excellent combination.”
She squints at me, but then her lips are moving again, and I could watch her lips for hours.
Days, even.
Months.
Years.
With the dimple.
The dimples.
All of them.
“I told Daphne I was dealing with homeowner crap, she offered to buy me new appliances, and I thought she was kidding. I asked her if she could buy me three extra days every week instead to get all of my shit done. I’d bitten off more than I could chew with two classes, my job,andHudson. Daph insisted on taking me out for tea, and then she really did buy me new appliances.”
I lift my willy dog’s stick in salute. “Jolly well done. My parents once nearly divorced over a household appliance.”
“That doesn’t sound like a healthy relationship.”
