“Of course I do. I have a charter booked. It takes off an hour after I land. I’ll be there in time for the rehearsal dinner, I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you have no intention of keeping.”
“I have every intention of keeping it. There is literally nothing that will keep me from Tiff’s wedding, Mom. I promise. I know I screwed up by missing the first part of the trip. I do. But I’ll be there to walk down that aisle and hold her bouquet for her.”
“That’s the maid of honor’s job.”
“Well, if the maid of honor needs me to holdherbouquet so she can hold Tiff’s, I’ll do that.”
“You promise? You will be here tomorrow night?”
“Yes. I promise. Even if it means I lose my job.”
“I’d be happy if you lost that stupid job. You can just as easily get a job at an ad agency in Philadelphia. In fact, with your father’s connections, you’d be way ahead if you’d have stayed there in the first place.”
“Mom, we’ve talked about this so many times. I need to do this on my own.”
“Which is ridiculous. You were raised with every advantage, Paige. Every advantage.”
Oh great, here we go.
“We gave you everything—private school, tutors, riding lessons, that expensive nose on your face! We introduced you to all the right people. All the best young men. You could be happily married by now with all the security you’d ever need. But no, you decide to sneak off to New York to live as a pauper while you try to ‘break into’ an impossible industry.”
“It’s not impossible. And I’m already in. I just need a junior account executive position to open up.”
“You’ve been saying that for years.”
“Yeah, well, after this, Guy isn’t going to have a choice but to promote me.”
My mother narrows her eyes and moves the screen close to her face. “Are you … orange?”
“I had a spray tan this morning, but once I shower, it’ll be fine.”
“I hope so. You look … shockingly orange.”
“Thanks.”
My older brother Phillip’s face appears on the screen next to my mom. “Hey, Paige. Oh my God, what happened to your skin?”
My mom glances at him. “A better question would be to ask where she is.”
He looks at me. “Don’t tell me you’re still in New York.”
“I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon. Sharp.”
Vivian gives me a firm nod and a thumbs up, even though tomorrow afternoon sharp makes no sense at all.
“You better be or Tiffany will never forgive you,” he says.
“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.”
“Paige, there is no need to get snippy with your brother. He’s only trying to help.”
He gives me a grin so irritating, he might as well be sticking his tongue out and waggling his fingers in front of his nose. “Yeah, Paige. No need to get snippy.”
“Right. I’m just a little stressed out.”
“You know what you should do?” he asks. “Take a little trip to the Caribbean. Get some sun. Recharge your battery.”
