Chasing Shadows (First Wives #3)(26)
“You forced your own words down your throat. You don’t need me to add to them. But if you want to make it up to me . . .”
“There’s a catch.”
“Only if you want to make it up to me.”
His comment was met with silence.
“Okay, what?”
“A plus-one.”
“What?”
“Your choice . . . make me your plus-one to whatever you want. Dinner with friends, cocktail party. Work event . . . a distant relative’s wedding. I don’t care what.”
“Seriously?”
He liked the idea as it formed in his head. If he added her to a plus-one event, she would likely be uncomfortable and unhappy. If she added him, it placed the control in her court. Besides, his plus-one would consist of a family dinner, and he knew she didn’t want that.
“Anything. Uptown, downtown . . . don’t care.”
“I should bring you to high tea with my mother. That would take away your desire to be added to a guest list.”
“Mothers love me.”
“My mother doesn’t love anyone but maybe her hairdresser . . . or the doctor injecting Botox.”
“So your mother’s doing the Botox doctor, huh?”
“I wish. That would take the spike out of her ass.”
He laughed. “Dads love me, too.”
“My father hardly knows I’m alive, except to parrot my mother’s complaints about how I’m wasting my life. Trust me . . . a plus-one with my parents is like watching children’s television filled with repeating chants of life lessons I never wanted to learn.”
“No parent dinners, then. You choose the event.”
“You’re not letting this go.”
No, he wasn’t. “We have a deal?”
“You’re pushing me out of my comfort zone,” she told him.
“I know.” He pulled the ball from his dog’s mouth and tossed it across the yard. “Now that we’ve covered that, was there a reason you were calling yesterday, or did you just miss hearing my voice?”
“You’re full of yourself.”
“I’m self-assured. As are you.”
He liked her laugh.
“I was calling to ask you a favor.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“To the favor. The answer is yes.”
The dog returned and dropped the ball.
“What if I wanted to seek revenge on an old boyfriend?”
“You don’t collect boyfriends. So I think I’m safe.”
“Rob a bank?” she asked.
“That’s how you make your money, I knew it.” He was laughing along with her.
“I wanted your opinion on a house I’m working on in Brentwood.”
“Working on how?”
“I help people with estate sales. Mainly with the wealthy and most often after the death of a parent or a spouse.”
Liam winced. “Sounds morbid.”
“I’m not a director of a funeral home. I deal with stuff. Dead people’s stuff, but just things. Most of the time my clients are either living out of the state or the country and need to make sure Grandma’s antique watch that’s worth a hundred grand isn’t being sold at a garage sale on the two-dollar table.”
“That happens?”
“All the time. Anyway. My client is selling the house but wants to get a ballpark of what it would cost to bring it into this century. You’re probably way too busy for a project like this, but if you could offer your expert opinion, and maybe toss a few phone numbers my way of contractors that would be interested in the job, that would be great.”
“The answer is still yes.”
“Two weeks.”
Safe to say Trina was excited about tying the knot . . . again.
Avery set her phone on speaker and continued to talk while she did her morning stretches. “Yes, I know. I have my countdown list, and it does say you’re collecting a ball and chain in two weeks.”
“He’s a very sexy ball.”
“You’re killing me.”
“Diane and Andrea are definitely coming to the bachelorette party, so we need to add two to the guest list.”
Avery made a mental note. “Got it. You sure you don’t want to take that party to Vegas?”
“Nothing good happens in Vegas at a strip club.”
Avery could tell her otherwise. “I’m guessing the club in Houston will be just as hot.” And since Avery was the one in charge of said party, she was making damn sure it was a night Trina would remember for the rest of her married life.
“So you’re flying in Friday night, right?”
“Yes.” She made another mental note to tell Brenda that she was going to miss Friday . . . actually, two Fridays in a row.
“Are you sure you can’t just stay until the wedding?”
Avery shifted her legs and bent into a stretch over her right knee. “I’m a working woman these days. The old Avery would happily blow off her new client. The adulting Avery has to show up on Monday. But don’t worry, I’ll be on the charter on Wednesday with Lori, Reed, and Shannon.”
“I’m getting nervous.”