“Had an offer that was too good to refuse.” She smiled and pointed to the living room. “Let’s talk in there. What happened with Owen? You’re smiling, so I’m assuming everything was cool.”
I gave her a brief rundown of what happened, including Livi’s suggestive comments about our brothers, which made Ava laugh. “Where are you staying between houses then?”
“With a friend. Let’s talk birthdays. I was thinking about something at Cases…”
“Which friend?”
“Oh, just someone you don’t know that well—”
“Is it a man?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Are you moving in with someone?”
Her face paled and her mouth froze into an ‘O’. “It’s just a friend, Payts and we need to leave it at that. If you ever find out you’ll understand why I’m being cagey about it. But you won’t find out because it’s not going anywhere.”
“You want me to drop it?”
“Please. Everything is more than fine and I’m happy, but I really need you to not say anything about this. Please.” She looked more desperate that I’d ever seen her.
“Is he treating you well?” I’d seen her in relationships before where she’d let men get away with a little more than she should.
“Too well.” Her eyes shone. “Birthdays. Let’s plan.”
* * *
Owen arrived shortly after seven pm with a bottle of Champagne and two pizzas. He was wearing the same outfit as before and looked tired.
“Busy day?” I leaned into him to kiss him. He responded with surprise as it was usually him who would greet me this way.
“Too busy,” he said, sitting down on Ava’s velvet Chesterfield that she had reupholstered herself. “Livi Mason’s got form for trying to grab people by the privates. I spent about an hour on the phone to her agent and publisher. She’s a liability if she acts like that with someone from the media.”
“Don’t you think she’d have more sense?” I said, hearing the pop of a cork as Ava opened the Champagne in the kitchen.
Owen shrugged. “What’ve you planned so far?”
“Are you okay about using Cases?”
He nodded. “How many people?”
“Around fifty,” I said. “It really is family and close friends. You won’t need extra insurance.”
“How about catering?”
“Simone,” Ava said. Her back door slammed shut. I raised my eyebrows, suspicious of exactly why the door had just banged. “That was nothing. Just the wind.”
Owen looked at me frowning. I shrugged.
“Simone’s doing the catering, or rather, one of her underlings is in charge of making sure everyone’s stomach’s lined. Do you know a singer who we could hire?” Ava said, as if there hadn’t been any strange signs that someone else had been in the house at all.
“I can find someone. You want background music?”
I nodded. “Nothing expensive or famous or anything like that.”
“Do you celebrate everyone’s birthdays like this?” Owen looked between us, curiosity in his expression.
“No,” I said. “Mine and Seph’s was the first birthday when everyone was home from university so our parents tended to use it as an excuse to get everyone together. It’s just stayed like that. When we were younger, people would go on holiday during July and August and we’d not have chance to all meet up until Christmas. And now it’s tradition.”
