Ugh, no.
War, from what I’d heard, didn’t just have a one-night stand withonewoman, but one-night, too-many-orgies with several—hell, that alone had me wanting to run far away from the hardcore player.
My friends might have done the marriage deed. And at one point, I’d wanted that, too. But after three knocks too many, nope, marriage wasn’t on the horizon for me. Men were nothing but dirtbags. Well, the ones I fell for, anyway. Because I always,alwaysended up with the same template.
Good-looking, lying, cheating jerkwads.
“So?” Ray arched an eyebrow at me. “You’re all done on the East Coast?”
A pang of tears caught in my throat. My beloved Nan, my late dad’s mom, had passed several months ago. After the wedding, I’d to gone to New York and finally put the brownstone she’d left me on the market.
“Yes, hopefully, the house will sell soon.”
“Settled in your new job yet?” Ila asked.
Two years ago, running away from my broken heart, I’d ended working in an art gallery in Germany, thanks to my stepbrother’s connections. Back then, I hadn’t cared. I just wanted to get away from everything, but I missed home and my friends, so I quit and came back.
But another job as personal assistant to a gallery owner? God, no. I wanted something more, something different, where I could actually apply my own art skills.
“No, I turned it down.” I sighed, my shoulders slumping. “I’m not sure what I want to do anymore, but I know it’s not working in a gallery as a PA, managing correspondence, seeing to the safety of works, and putting together other artist’s exhibits. However…” I perked a little. “I do have a Zoom meeting later this evening with a writer who wants an illustrator for a book he’s working on. Could be interesting.”
But doubts settled, causing my stomach to knot. Would a writer want to take a chance working with an unknown artist and illustrator? In this fast-growing field I waded through, I wasn’t sure. Hopefully, my portfolio would speak for itself.
“That’s wonderful!” Ila reached past Ray and patted my knee. “You’ll get it.”
“He mentioned he had two other interviews, so I’m not holding my breath.” I retrieved my cell from my little backpack to call Lyft, but at the missed call on the display, my heart knocked warily against my ribcage.
Mom.
She’d gone by CamileDupontsince my teens and not Jones any longer after multiple marriages. Currently, she was somewhere in the Mediterranean, on a cruise, recovering from her fifth marriage. It could only mean she was coming home or already on her way there. I didn’t return her call. The last thing on earth I wanted to do right now was deal with my high-maintenance mother.
My gaze lit on the time. Shoot! I jumped up. “I gotta go. I have to get ready for my Zoom interview.”
“We’re leaving, too,” Ila said, rising. “We only stayed to hear Ray’s news. But we’re all meeting up at Mulligan’s later. You coming?”
I frowned as I picked up my backpack. “I’m not sure if I can make it. I’ll try.” I hugged my friends and then skedaddled out of there. More so, to avoid a certain player before he appeared and gloated over his easy victory at the stupid bet. Not that War gloated or some such inane crap. The guy could say volumes with just a look from those magnetic, deep blue eyes.
Maybe I should own up, give him the ten dollars, and suffer the gloating. War had every right to do so. And I needed to learn to zip my quick mouth.
As I headed down the steps and out the main entrance of the building, my mind slipped back to the rehearsal dinner…
“They’re more involved than they’re letting on,” War murmured from his seat by my side.
“What? Who?” My gaze lifted from my decadent dessert, clashing with War’s, and those indigo blues almost had me forgetting why he paid me any attention, making me feel as if I truly was his date and not just a bridesmaid to his best man. Darn, I had to stop letting my romance novels’ ideas bleed into real life. Only in fiction did a girl find a guy so solely committed to her that all others ceased to exist.
“Ray and Jack?” I dismissed it with a wave of my spoon. “No way. Ray’s only interested in getting her degree.”
He made a noncommittal sound.
“You don’t believe me?” I demanded. War’s quietness irked me at times. I was damn sure when he had his groupies around, it wasn’t that way. It probably turned into a whole other ball—er, find-the-hidden-puck game.
He shrugged. “While that might be true, I think Jack changed her mind about him. Their dynamics have altered.”
“Yeah, right.” I snort-laughed, my attention back on them. Ray sat with her parents, and Jack on their other side. They barely said a word to each other during rehearsals. Heck, they didn’t even look at the other. It was as if they both existed on different ends of the country.
“You don’t know her like I do.” I dug up a spoonful of my sinful citrus cheesecake, topped with fresh cream and raspberry coulis, and ate the yummy confection. “I’ve known Ray a long time.”
When that annoying eyebrow quirked, my mouth ran off. “Ten bucks say they aren’t.”
