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“I need a heads-up if you’re going to stop by and ambush Winston. I’m not saying don’t do it, because there’s no stopping you if you want something.”
Pippa laughed. “Thanks for giving us credit. But, Sienna sweetie, we were being on our very best behavior. If we’d ambushed him for real, we’d be interrogating him right now.”
“Well, anyway, I’d still appreciate a heads-up.”
“But then you’d stress out, and we just wanted to get a feel for the situation,” Pippa said.
“And?” I asked.
“He is totally into you.”
My heart felt lighter. I wanted to believe in Pippa’s power of reading people now more than ever, but that seemed a rather hasty conclusion after such a short interaction.
“And you could tell that from the two sentences you exchanged?”
Pippa waved her hand. “Oh, no. From the way he acted when he noticed us. As if he was hoping Victoria and I could vanish into thin air so he could be alone with you.”
My cheeks flushed. “Still... really. Let me know when you want to come up to the office.”
“We won’t come again,” Victoria assured me.
“We just needed some first-hand observations so we could build a case for Christopher. We’re still deciding what angle to use.” Pippa waggled her eyebrows. “I wasn’t sure before, but now I’m weighing his chances of surviving Christopher and the rest of my brothers at around fifty percent.”
I burst out laughing, glancing at Victoria.
“You have nothing to add?”
“Nope. Pippa just about covered everything. Though I’d say fifty-five percent.”
“Your confidence is inspiring,” I teased.
After leaving the building, we went to a nail bar. It was the perfect combination of sipping drinks and having our nails done. We’d chosen a spot in Fisherman’s Wharf, because we were having dinner later at Blue Moon, Alice and Blake’s restaurant. We were overlooking the water, with a fantastic view of the fishing fleet. The boats and yachts there had been lit up since the lighted boat parade. I couldn’t make out one from the other because the fog was thick tonight, but the faint colors cast everything in a fairy-tale-like glow.
In the distance, the Golden Gate Bridge was barely visible, just specks of light in the dark sky.
Pippa was a spa girl through and through. She loved getting pampered. Victoria and I had always been the do-it-yourself type. Growing up, we’d had a spa day one Saturday every month, on which we went as girly as we could: face masks, doing our nails, peelings. It was harder to keep the schedule after Victoria became a mom, though, so we snuck in an evening at the nail bar here and there. Chloe usually came with us too, but she was working on a school project tonight.
“I need to confess something,” I said after taking a sip from my wine glass. “I’m glad Chloe isn’t with us tonight.”
Victoria nudged my shoulder, grinning. “Don’t feel too guilty. So do I. Means we can get you to share every delicious detail with us.”
“But maybe I should wait until we’re at the Blue Moon so Alice can hear everything.”
“Or... you can repeat everything once we’re there,” Victoria suggested with a grin. “I don’t mind hearing everything twice.”
“That’s a great idea,” I said.
Pippa did a little dance in her seat. “Start as early as possible and don’t leave anything out.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sienna
Tree-lighting ceremonies were one of my favorite things ever. As a kid, I’d looked forward to any I could get to. Even as a teenager, they’d held a special place in my heart—it kicked off the magic season.
On the day of the tree-lighting event at Statham, I arrived at work even earlier than usual. I didn’t go up to the office, remaining in the store instead, inspecting every detail.
