Tish? Oh crap, THE Tish? The Tish who Caleb used as a warning story?
The couple unhooked their arms around each other long enough for Tish to shake hands with Orchid.
“What happened with Liv?” Orchid asked, jealousy spiking her tone.
“Liv?” he repeated, confused. “My admin?”
“Admin? Isn’t it unethical to date a subordinate?”
“Date?” Phoenix asked. “I’m not dating Liv.” He looked down at Tish for affirmation.
Tish grinned. “You were right that today would be fun. This is entertaining. Maybe you should invite her to the wedding.”
“Wedding?” Orchid’s voice squeaked. “Seriously?”
Didn’t take long for them to get back together.Shock hit her in slow motion. Orchid could feel the permanency of the idea travel through her brain, thick with denial.
“Yeah, first week in April. Cipriani’s,” Tish said.
She stared at him in disbelief. “Cipriani’s? Where we attended the Effies?”
“You mean you think—” He stopped and stared at her, eyes narrowing. “Is it really so shocking? Not everyone has the same hang-ups as you, you know.”
Hang ups?Was being jealous of his engagement a hang-up?
A security guard dressed in a well-cut black suit and slender, matching-hued tie came to face Phoenix and Tish. “You two can come in now. I can’t take a third though,” he said, eyeing Orchid.
“She’s not with us,” Tish said.
And they were gone.
CHAPTER 40
IT’S TRUE THAT WE LOVE ONE ANOTHER
Orchid
SATURDAY MARCH 3
Casting eyes up from the luggage belt at Los Angeles’ LAX Airport, Orchid registered a face she thought she’d never see again.
“Orchid,” pronounced the man sporting her father’s likeness in the hue of a perpetual Southern California tan.
“You look just like Dad,” she said, suddenly shy, and put out her hand. Uncle Zach looked nothing like the scrawny twenty-four-year-old she’d remembered at her parents’ funeral.
“So do you,” he said, memorizing her features with a mirror-image of her hazel eyes. He clasped her outstretched hand and used his muscle, will, and the magnetism of shared bloodlines to drag her into an embrace.He smells like Dad. Or maybe it was her mind playing tricks. Her eyes suddenly watered.
“Wow, you’re all grown up. God, I’m sorry it’s been so long.”
Her uncle’s hair waved the same as hers, only in dark brown, and like her father, it looked good on him. His gaze slalomed down her face, maybe marveling, like she did, how sixteen years could pass with no sense of time, how family is rare and finite yet can slip away, how features and mannerisms marked them as the same tribe.
He took her bag and strode through the airport. “I hope you’re hungry. Esty will have lunch ready and expect you to eat.”
“Eating’s a specialty of mine, though right now, my stomach’s a bundle of nerves,” she admitted.
“Don’t be nervous. I’m really glad you came.”
She followed Uncle Zach to a rounded Jaguar, its silver cat leaping forwards, oblivious to the harsh pavement that lay beneath, like Orchid leaping to meeting family members she’d never known.
