As soon as she and Carter walked into the parlor, Stacy ran over and kissed Carter on the mouth.
"Stop it!" Allie hissed, dragging her old roommate off of Carter, who wiped his mouth.
Stacy giggled.
"Don't crush her spirit," Harris said, coming over to them.
Allie could smell the alcohol wafting off of him. Stacy bounced around, squealing. Allie gritted her teeth. She couldn't believe her old roommate. Stacy was wearing tall stilettos and a very short, very revealing dress. Allie had made a concerted effort to dress modestly for dinner, yet here was Stacy, showing absolutely no class.
Nancy smiled appreciatively when she saw Allie. "You look so gorgeous with your hair pulled back from your face," she remarked. "I would kill to have a chin and cheekbones like yours."
"We wentto a swingers party last weekend. Didn't we, sweetheart?" Harris said, pulling Stacy onto his lap, and gave her a smooch on the lips.
Allie put the present from her and Carter on the table with the others, then she headed over to the small bar cart and made herself a drink. She had the feeling she was going to need it that night.
"I hope you made enough for two," Carter muttered to her as he took a sip from her cup.
Dinner was quite the affair. Carter's whole family was there, though none of them seemed too pleased about it.
They ate mussels along with a light pasta dish. As the dessert of individual tiramisus was served, Nancy stood up and raised a glass.
"We are celebrating the Holbrook patriarch's seventy-fifth birthday, and we're so glad he is with us."
"Thank you, Nancy," Harris said, standing up. "This is the best family a man could hope for. And I hope we can make it a little bigger." Then he slowly bent down on one knee. "Stacy, my love, will you marry me?"
"No!" Jack yelled as Stacy jumped up and down and started crying. "You cannot keep doing this. We're going to cut you off. Walter, tell him we're cutting him off if he marries her."
Walter sighed, knocked back his drink, and said, "Dad!"
Harris was too busy sucking face with Stacy to acknowledge his son.
"Harris!" Walter said sharply. "This is unseemly."
"You can't tell me what to do," Harris countered as Stacy took out her phone, and they posed for pictures.
"No, but I can cut you off," Walter threatened.
"No, you can't," Stacy said. "We'll just go to the media and tell them how awful America's favorite billionaire is being to his poor elderly father."
"Stacy," Allie hissed, appalled at the whole display. "This is stupid. Why can't you find someone your own age?"
"Stop acting like you aren't doing the same thing!" she screeched. "You stole Carter from me!"
She minced across the room in her high heels and flung herself at Allie, nails swiping at her face. Allie grabbed Stacy's arm and twisted it around her back.
"Stop it, Stacy," she warned.
Jack turned his ire on Carter. "You've been involved with this tramp as well?"
"What? No!" Carter yelled. "I can't believe you always think the worst of me." He threw down his napkin and said to Allie, "We're leaving." Then he grabbed her and Margot and threw their bags into the car.
"We just got here," Allie complained.
"I'm not staying another minute in the same house as him," Carter said. She didn't press the issue because Carter seemed so upset.
Her phone beeped, and Carter almost wrecked the car when he jerked his head to glare at her.
"Who is that?" he demanded.
