The caterers were packing up their carrying cases when she ushered me back out into the grand salon.
“Thanks, Juan,” Lexi said cheerfully to one of the men. “We’ll have the empty trays ready for you tomorrow. Have fun at karaoke!”
The noise faded away as the staff headed to the front door.
It slammed closed.
Lexi and I stood in the middle of my now-furnished salon.
She checked her phone then put it away.
The grandfather clock that had been placed in one corner of the room ticked loudly.
I desperately tried to think positively, to make myself believe that this was the beginning of rekindling my relationship with my brothers.
But all I could do was replay those horrible twenty-four hours that were the last time I had ever seen them.
The clock ticked.
My shoulders ached from the tension.
Lexi popped the tab on a can of sparkling water.
I was about to tell her to call the whole thing off and donate all the food to her neighbors when the doorbell rang.
53
LEXI
“They’re here!” I sang in excitement.
Grayson was wary and stiff. He didn’t make a move to the front door.
Even though I was super curious about how the reunion was going to go, I felt like it would be too forward of me to push myself in the middle of such a heavy, emotionally charged moment.
However, if Grayson wasn’t going to be a gracious host, someone had to.
“Look at all you good-looking boys!” I called when I opened the front door to see four tall, brown-haired, green-eyed men standing there.
None of them moved.
“And rumor has it they have money too,” I quipped. “Bet you’re popular with the ladies. Too bad I’m already taken.”
The one closest to me grinned slowly.
“Can I convince you to upgrade?”
“Depends,” I deadpanned. “How good is your karaoke?”
“I do a mean Kate Bush,” he replied.
“A man after my own heart. Now let me see if I have this right. Spencer,” I said, pointing to the one closest to me, “then Finn, Graham, and Connor the baby, though you don’t look like a baby.”
Graham ruffled his hair. “Yes, he does. Look at those cheeks.”
“Get off!” Connor complained, batting at his older brother.
“Let’s get you boys a drink.” I ushered them through the penthouse into the grand salon. “We have a number of imported scotches and whiskeys, all on Grayson’s dime of course.” I winked at the Richmond brothers as they followed a few paces behind me. “And if you want something more exciting than twenty-thousand-dollar scotch, I have made Lost Boy martinis.”
