Autumn looks about to faint. I shift to catch her, just in case. Can’t have a pregnant lady landing on her butt on the hard floor.
“CanI?” she squeals.
“Of course.” Katt turns to me. “Could you do it for us?”
“Sure.” I take Autumn’s phone and take the photo. The woman’s smiling so widely she looks like a crocodile. Katt made her night, if not her year. My chest tightens. Katt and I weren’t like this before. We used to be close, sleeping under the same blanket and whispering our secrets and dreams until Mom came in to tell us to shut up and go to sleep.
But somewhere along the way, after her debut as a model, things changed. And now… Well. Here we are.
“Thank you,” Autumn says to me as she takes her phone, then pauses. “What an interesting ring.” She looks up and gives me an odd look, her eyes darting at Katt and my parents briefly.
I frown a little, unsure why she’s showing a low-grade hostility toward me.
“She just got engaged,” Katt says.
“Engaged?” Autumn stares at my ring with unblinking intensity that makes me want to lower the hand. Except somehow that feels like a defeat. “When?” Her tone is oddly sharp—maybe even a little rude.
“Last night,” I clarify, although her nosiness combined with suspicion is starting to irritate me. Why is it that even strangerstreat me with disrespect? Do I have SUCKER written across my forehead or something?
“How odd. I recently lost a ring that looksjustlike that one. It was a first-anniversary gift from my husband.” Her lips purse, her eyes still onmyring.
I stiffen. Is she accusingmeof stealingherring?
My parents and sister shoot me probing looks.Are they kidding?
Resentment starts welling. Why are they siding with a total stranger? This woman hasn’t provided any evidence. But my family’s subtle support seems to embolden her as she continues to stare down at me like she’s a cop interrogating a suspect.
Continuing to sit puts me at disadvantage—she’s doing everything possible to loom and physically intimidate me without actually touching. I stand, my right hand on the table. “Are you calling me a thief?”
“Maybe you should produce this fiancé of yours. Why would you have a dinner with your family without him? Shouldn’t you be celebrating your engagement?” Autumn says.
I point at Katt. “This dinner isn’t about me. But even if it weren’t, he’s in Charlotte, checking up on his ailing—”
“Hey, honey, what’s taking so long? Didn’t you already get the autograph for the baby?” A trim man in a button-down shirt and slacks rushes over and wraps an arm around Autumn protectively, keeping his back to me. But there’s no way I’d fail to recognize that soft male voice.
Shock and outrage sucker-punch me. “Chad?”
Chapter Six
Josh
“You okay?” Ares asks as I methodically chow down on chow mein. Peking Town has the best noodles in the city, and carbs never fail to make me feel better.
I feign nonchalance. “Yeah. Dad had a ‘chat’ with me, but considering the situation, it wasn’t as bad as I thought.”He thinks I might be fucking up my life and not living like a true Huxley. Where do you think I failed?But I swallow the question along with the noodles. My suspicion is that he wants me to pull my head out of my ass and find someone I can imagine my future with, the kind of woman who would be worthy of belonging to the family. Except who could be the one? He might be right that I’ve purposely avoided suitable women, but—
Want a hug?
Klein’s voice keeps ringing in my head. The offer felt like an escape into sanctuary, but she’s totally off-limits. The firm doesn’t have a rule against interoffice dating, but it’s definitely frowned upon because of so many ways things could go wrong. And she always calls me “boss,” like she can’t imagine me as anything else. The soft gesture in the office was her pitying me because I probably looked like absolute shit after the talk with Dad. I should know better than to confuse the charming blush on her cheeks and the bright smile she gifts me every morning with something more intimate.
“What the hell was that about with Sarah?” Bryce scowls as he picks up a lobster chunk with a set of ivory chopsticks.
“Who?” I ask. He handles divorce, so he tends to get a fair number of highly emotionally clients who sometimes lose control in public.
“Sarah Norwal. The banshee in your office today. I thought my clients were bad, but…” Bryce squints at me. “You didn’t know who she was?”
“Not really. Besides, Ted called her Nelly, then Sally.”
“That’s Ted.” Ares shakes his head. “But shouldn’tyouremember her name? I mean, you slept with the woman.”
