“Did you see the claw foot tub she has on her deck?” Summer called from the kitchen.
“You have an outdoor tub? Does it work?” Emma asked, eyeing her speculatively.
Joey nodded and flipped on the outdoor lights so she could see for herself.
She liked Emma about as well as she could like anyone new. She was direct, a little cool, and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. Eva seemed okay, too. Her auburn curls were chopped short in a face-framing, chaotic bob. She seemed to waste no time on things like formalities or ironing.
And it was clear that they both adored Phoebe, so that was worth high marks in Joey’s book.
“Oh, my God, Joey.” Summer’s voice was reaching orgasm capacity. “These cookies are the most incredible thing I’ve put in my mouth in the last…” she checked her watch, “three hours.”
“Oooh!” The rest of the women spread out between the kitchen and living spaces crooned.
“You guys and your Pierce brothers are killing me,” Eva groaned as she sank down on the leather couch next to Phoebe.
“Yeah, seriously,” Emma sighed from the kitchen where she cut a second sliver of Joey’s death by chocolate cake. “I live in L.A., land of the hot guys, and they’ve got nothing on your Blue Moon men.”
Summer and Gia looked appropriately smug. Joey settled for rolling her eyes.
“Don’t give me that look,” Summer pointed at Joey from her perch in one of the cozy armchairs. “You could have one if you wanted.”
She was suddenly glad she had hidden the roses upstairs in her bedroom. “Can we please stop talking about penis and start talking about something, anything else?” Joey grumbled.
Aurora looked up from her plate, cake smeared across her face. She giggled. “Penis!”
Gia sighed and smoothed her daughter’s wild curls back from her face. “Well, at least you’re teaching her the anatomically correct term.”
“So, Summer,” Phoebe called from her corner of the couch. “How’s the magazine? Are you happy with the launch?”
Summer took her plate into the living room and flopped down on one of Joey’s overstuffed armchairs. “I’m ecstatic,” she said, biting into a crisp carrot. “If anyone had told me how successful the launch was going to be, I’d never have believed it. Mind blown. And don’t even get me started on the attention that Gia’s yoga piece is getting.”
Gia waved away the compliment. “That was entirely Niko’s photography. The man’s a photography genius. Traffic to the site has been great and so has the reaction to all of the content.”
“Bottom line is, between Gia and I, the workload is massive, but we intersperse obsessive tasking with celebrations of our awesomeness. Especially when I got an email from my old boss, Katherine, atIndulgence.”
“What did ol’ Hot for Farmers want?” Joey laughed, dropping down in the chair across from Summer and tossing her leg over the arm. Katherine, an editor at Summer’s old magazine, had taken Summer’s article on Carter and the farm and turned it into a sex-god pictorial. It had been the kick Summer needed to quit her job, move in with Carter, and start her own online magazine. Meanwhile, the Pierces spent a solid month or two ignoring modeling offers from agencies.
Her friend tried to look casual. “Oh, not much. Just wanted to insincerely congratulate me on my pet project.”
“B-word,” Gia said definitively.
“And to do a little fishing to see ifIndulgencecould acquire Thrive,” Summer added, spooning up a bit of the vegetable barley soup she had brought.
“What?” The question was shouted from all corners of the room.
Aurora covered her ears and giggled again. Summer grinned.
“Was she serious?” Phoebe asked.
“Serious enough to name a figure, one that would put these two through college,” she said, patting her belly.
The room was unusually silent until Joey snickered. “Everyone’s afraid to ask you what you decided,” she grinned.
“And you’re not?” Summer asked.
“Please. You gave her the professional equivalent of an—” she glanced at Aurora, “eff off and then I assume you immediately made a list targeting which of Katherine’s contributors to go after for Thrive.”
“You’ve learned a lot about my diabolical nature,” Summer winked.
