“No, nothing I want to tell you, Mrs. Nosy-pants.” I gave her a look.
“You can not be telling me that I’m nosier than you are. I am not hearing this,” I said. She shrugged and kept stirring. I gave Lucah a look and he just shrugged one shoulder.
“Go. Sit. I’ll bring you wine.” Oh, wine. My sweet alcoholic friend. I was going to be a good girl and not overdo it this week. I couldn’t afford to be hung over. Not even a little.
Ryder came over just before we sat down to eat. He was flushed and had a smile on his face. You could actually see it now since he’d gotten control of his beard. I had the feeling Sloane had something to do with that.
“Did you have a good day at work, dear?” Sloane said, batting her eyelashes at him.
“Yes, darling,” he said, kissing her cheek. Aw. That was kind of adorable. I liked the idea of Sloane and Ryder getting married, but wasn’t so sure how well it would work in the real world.
Sloane had pulled out all the stops, making lemon and sage roasted chicken, roasted tomatoes and asparagus and for dessert we had a salted caramel and chocolate tart. She spoiled us rotten. It was a wonder I didn’t weigh more. Walking around in heels must burn more calories than walking in flats.
Ryder had finally gotten an idea for his art piece, but then he decided he didn’t want to tell us about it. That set Sloane right off.
“I tell you everything. You’ve seen every single new design I’ve come up with. What the hell, man?” She was actually pissed. I didn’t think he knew what he’d gotten himself into. Yet more proof that they probably weren’t ready to make a binding legal commitment yet.
“I want it to be a surprise. What’s wrong with a surprise?” he asked, looking at me for help.
“We don’t like surprises,” I said, spearing a piece of asparagus on my fork. “Control freaks don’t like surprises. They’re supposed to be fun, but really, they’re just stressful and could blow up in our faces. We like plans. We like knowing things.” There was a reason Sloane and I got along so well and it was because we were so similar in certain ways. She understood how my mind worked because hers worked in a similar way. I didn’t have to explain things to her. She just got it.
Lucah and Ryder shared a look. Something along the lines of OMG, OUR WOMEN ARE CRAZY, WE MIGHT WANT TO RUN. I wanted to kick them under the table.
“So don’t get all shocked when we’re not all giddy about surprises,” I finished.
“Yeah,” Sloane added. “Surprises suck. Remember that.” She pointed her fork at Ryder and he raised both his hands.
“Point taken, point taken.”
I changed the topic to thwart a potential lover’s quarrel.
“How about them Red Sox?”
~*~*~
Somehow I made it through the rest of the week and through the stockholder meeting on Friday. It wasn’t nearly as horrible as I thought it would be. It also didn’t hurt that Lucah was there in the audience. That helped, knowing I had someone who loved me in my corner.
I’d taken having Dad at work for granted. Whenever I had a problem that I didn’t know how to solve, I could just walk down to his office and he would lend me his years of experience and we’d fix it together. Now I didn’t have that and in certain moments, I thought I was going to drown. The moments didn’t last and I got more confident by the day. The compliments from the other vice presidents and stockholders also helped. I was under even more of a microscope than someone else might have been, so I must have been doing a good job.
We got to my parents’ on Saturday morning and found Dad in the kitchen. Mom was upstairs, getting ready for her spa day. Why she was putting on makeup when they were just going to wipe it off for her facial, I had no idea, but that was who she was.
“What are you making?” I asked Dad, giving him a hug. He sighed sadly.
“Egg whites, spinach and tomatoes with whole wheat toast.” Oh. That sounded… fun. He leaned down and whispered in my ear.
“I’m going to put a teensy bit of butter on my toast. Don’t tell your mother.” I admonished him with my finger.
“Don’t make me lie to Mom. I’m no good at it.” Eva Clarke could sniff out a lie better than almost anyone I knew.
“She’s on the warpath.” He pointed his spatula at a stack of cookbooks Lucah was perusing.
“Whoa. That’s a lot.” They were all similar, about “heart-healthy” cooking.
“She’s also been campaigning for me to go vegan. You know, like Bill Clinton? I like the man, but not that much.” Chloe had tried to go vegan once when she was dating Harmony. She’d lasted about two days and then called me in a frenzy and made me take her out for a double bacon cheeseburger and nearly orgasmed when she ate it. I definitely didn’t have the willpower to eat that way. I had too many people in my life that were good at cooking non-vegan things.
“Hey, maybe I can have Sloane look up some recipes? If anyone could find some good ones, it would be her.” Dad nodded and grimaced at the frying pan.
“That is a good plan. I’m not sure how much of this I can take. No salt, no cheese, no butter. No bacon, no steak.” He listed off about twenty things that he was no longer allowed to eat.