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GG snorted his disbelief and shook his head. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately Lacey, but you better fix that attitude and fast.” With a shake of his head, GG left the office still griping under his breath.
“Sorry you had to hear all that, but it couldn’t be helped.”
I shrugged. “I’ve heard worse. You gonna be okay?”
“Me?” She nodded, her smile falsely bright and as phony as a two dollar bill. “I’m just peachy Levi. Just peachy.”
“Hmmm,” was all I said in response.
Her expression shifted to playful. “So, Levi are you here for business or pleasure?”
I stood a little taller. “Didn’t realize pleasure was on the table so…both?”
“Good answer. Close the door. We have to be quick about it, GG doesn’t stray too far from the offices these days.”
My smile beamed bright as I closed her office door, and locked it. “What the lady wants…,” I began and stalked towards her.
“Oh, the lady wants. She wants a lot.”
I laughed and set about giving Lacey what we both wanted.
Chapter 13
Lacey
“Things must be really bad if you invited me to lunch.” Carlotta flashed a bright, beauty queen smile as she slid into the booth seat beside Valona. I’d arrived at the diner early to get the most private spot I could find just before the late afternoon lunch rush hit.
I shrugged at her playful words. “I need multiple points of view.” The truth was that I didn’t need any points of view, not really. After the fight with Daddy yesterday, I was pretty dead set on my course. “First, how are you ladies doing?”
Valona smiled the smile of a well-loved and thoroughly satisfied woman still in the honeymoon stage of her relationship. “I’m good. Exhausted, but business is picking up, which is in part because Trey can’t seem to turn down any business. The girls are growing too quickly and I feel like I don’t spend enough time with my friends.”
“Oh no,” Carlotta rolled her eyes. “I’m getting so much hot sex and money that I can’t find time for my oldest and dearest. We should all have your problems, Val.”
“Hey,” Valona frowned and shoulder bumped Carlotta.
“Come on honey, you’re know we’re all happy for you, and sure maybe a teensy weensy bit jealous.”
“You have no reason to be jealous, Carlotta. You’re amazing at a job you love, you always look fabulous and everyone loves you.”
“Everyone except one special someone,” she added with a wistful smile. “He hasn’t landed in my lap yet, so I’m happy with my place in the world, for now. But you sugar, you are living the dream.” Carlotta turned to me with a gleam in her eye. “And you, Lacey, have been holding out.”
I blinked. “What are you talking about?”
“Hmmm,” was all she said, but her assessing gaze bored a hole right through me. “Levi.”
“What about him?”
“Nothing except that I personally witnessed three different eligible bachelorettes give him some of their best moves, which he was completely impervious to.”
Why that thought gave me such relief, I wasn’t ready to explore. Yet. “Maybe they weren’t his type, Carlotta.”
“Maybe,” she conceded. “I even thought of that myself so I decided to do a little experiment. I flirted. Batted my eyelashes and poked my chest out, all the classics. I even went for straightforward no strings sex, and instead of being even a little bit intrigued, he looked uncomfortable, and worse, uninterested.” Carlotta sat back with a smug smile. “So, spill.”
Valona stared at Carlotta and blinked. “You’re interest in Levi?”
“Heavens, no. I mean he’s handsome in that rugged, spends-most-of-his-time-outdoors sort of way, but I like my men a bit more refined or a lot less refined if you get my drift.”
I burst out laughing, and that drew a few stares, mostly from smiling old-timers who used the diner as their hub to catch up on gossip and gather more for later. “You don’t have to say that when your drift is so overt, Carlotta.”
“Enough deflecting, what’s going on with you and the handsome journalist?”
“Nothing.” Immediately I realized my mistake. I answered too quickly and with too much certainty, which wasn’t my style, and now even Valona stared at me with suspicion.
“She’ll tell us when she’s ready. For now I’ll settle for knowing what’s got you all twisted up?”
“I don’t know,” I lied. “I’m just curious how you both decided to buck tradition. Carlotta you come from a family of lawyers, how did you go against the grain to become a party planner?”
She shrugged. “Truthfully? My family never expected much from me as long as I was pretty, polite and well-mannered, all the things a proper southern gentleman wants in a wife. The fact that I wanted a career at all was a surprise to them, so imagine their surprise to learn I’m good at my job. It took them a long time, too long, to acknowledge I was a success in my own right, and now Mama flies me out to Mississippi every December to plan her charity gala.”
