“It’s us women who can’t get out the door,” Rose Schultz joked, which cut the tension slightly.
Avery was acting like someone had dumped cold water on her. Was she still worried about her family? Was it the dress? I squeezed her hand reassuringly.
“This is Nathan,” Stacy said, gesturing to her date. He held out his hand to Avery.
“Nice to meet you,” he drawled. Avery shook his hand wordlessly.
“I just love your dress!” Mrs. Schultz said as she hugged Avery. “Where did you find that?”
“At the Alexa Boutique,” she replied, snapping out of whatever had frozen her. “I just love their clothes. Blade was nice enough to take me shopping.”
“You took her shopping?” Mr. Schultz said, slapping me on the back. “You must really love her!”
“With all my heart.”
“You do seem to be getting married awfully quickly,” Cassie said as the maître d’ escorted us to a private dining room.
“When you’re in love, you know.”
“That’s how it used to be,” Mrs. Schultz said. “Why, my parents met at a party right before my dad was shipped off to fight in World War II. They married three days later; they’re not sure of the exact date because they lost the wedding certificate. They’ve been married for almost seventy years. They have the strongest marriage I know.”
“I hope that’s the case with us,” Avery said. “Though of course Blade hasn’t proposed yet, so who knows? He might just decide that he’s done with me.” She grinned up at me, her eyes soft in the candlelight.
“The City Hall has already been reserved, so he must be planning something big,” Meg said as Hunter pulled out her chair for her. Meg scowled at him. His mouth was a flat line, and Svetlana didn’t look too happy either. “They’re definitely going to set a town record.”
“Both of us consider Harrogate our home,” Avery continued, “and we wanted to include everyone in town.”
“That’s so cozy,” Mrs. Schultz exclaimed. “You know, we have a trip planned out to Harrogate soon. We wanted to experience it.”
“I’ll show you around. We can visit all of my favorite spots,” Avery said. She reached up to brush back her hair. It was then that I noticed, amid all the chunky bracelets she was wearing, the watch. If the Holbrooks took a good look at it, they would know exactly what it was.
I put a palm over her wrist and kissed her hand, pretending I was in love with her, then gazing into her eyes and hoping I was silently sending vibes totake the fucking watch off.
“But how is the shopping in Harrogate?” Svetlana asked Avery.
“Is that where you got that watch?” Stacy asked snidely. I could have fired her right then and there.
“Oh, this?” Avery said, holding up her arm.
No!I internally yelled.
“It was a present from my father.”
Chad’s knife scraped the plate.
“Bit of a strange present, eh?” Chuck Schultz commented.
“It was a graduation gift. He got both my sister and me very thoughtful gifts,” Avery said, batting her eyes. “Isn’t that right, Daddy?”
Grant Holbrook’s eyes narrowed slightly. It was dark in the restaurant, and the wordPatekwas in small letters. The watch was dirty as well. Surely he wouldn’t notice.
“Yeah. I got a condo,” her sister Cassie bragged.
“You bought one girl a condo and the other a man’s watch?” Mr. Schultz said to Chad, frowning. He swirled the wine around in his glass. “Are those the kind of values you all promote at Holbrook Enterprises?” he asked Grant. “At my company, we believe family is important.”
“I assure you we value family as well. After all, Chad is paying for Avery’s wedding,” Grant said, leveling his gaze at the project manager.
“Hmm,” Mr. Schultz said.
