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“Not bad. Addie, you look great tonight.” He’d let his sister wait a few more minutes for the answers she wanted from him.
“That’s his way of saying I brushed my hair and my clothes match tonight,” Addie said with a small laugh.
While he’d never say anything, he’d noticed on some of his past visits his sister-in-law hadn’t looked her best. He guessed having a newborn tended to have such an effect on a new mom.
“Trent surprised me and sent me to the Magnolia Day Spa this morning. I spent the entire day there while he stayed home with Kendrick.”
“And both he and Kendrick survived. I think he secretly called in some reinforcements, although he denies it,” Allison added, her attention focused on the baby in her arms.
He’d seen his eldest brother with his son, and while at one time he would’ve thought Trent incapable of taking care of an infant, he seemed to do a fantastic job. “I doubt it.”
Allison gave a tiny shrug before she repositioned the baby in her arms and looked at him again. “Anyway, Derek, you didn’t answer me. Come on. Spill it. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Didn’t think to. Honestly, I’ve been trying not to think about the event at all.”
“Don’t blame ya there,” Rock said.
Allison didn’t give him a chance to say anything else. “How did Aunt Marilyn get you to agree? Did she threaten you with something or use some thumbscrews?”
“No threatening involved, although if I hadn’t agreed when I did, she might have resorted to the thumbscrews.”
“And he’s been unpleasant to be around ever since,” Trent added, joining the little group.
He’d known he hadn’t been himself lately, but he hadn’t realized anyone else picked up on it.
Trent perched himself on the arm of the sofa next to Addie before he continued. “I don’t blame him either, considering who he might get saddled with next weekend.”
“I can’t believe you’re doing it. Scott I can understand, it’s his mom, but you?” Allison stopped and frowned. “Not unless you have some plan to get out of it at the last minute. But I don’t see how you can unless you end up confined to a hospital bed. Even then, Aunt Marilyn might want a doctor’s note confirming you’re really too sick to participate.”
“Can we drop it? I agreed and Friday night I’ll be up on the stage with the other poor souls. End of story.” His sister’s comment came a little too close to the truth.
The troubled expression remained on Allison’s face, but before she said anything else, Addie cleared her throat and spoke. “I bumped into Brooklyn earlier this week.”
Derek mentally groaned. He didn’t want to talk about her either tonight. Around noon, he’d popped in Brooklyn’s office and asked her to join him for lunch. She declined because of a lunch date with Trevor. He hadn’t seen her again before he left for the day, yet he couldn’t get the image of her and Trevor sharing an intimate lunch somewhere like Mon Soleil or Lucerne out of his head either.
“I saw the beautiful floral arrangement her new boyfriend sent. He has excellent taste in flowers.”
Had Brooklyn referred to Trevor as her boyfriend or had Addie assumed as much? How she labeled the guy shouldn’t matter to him, yet the idea of Brooklyn calling Trevor her boyfriend set his teeth on edge. “I think they’re only friends.”
Addie gave him the same mind-reading stare she had the week before, and he forced himself not to look away. “Huh, maybe. She did say they’d only gone out once so far. But considering he sent her flowers, I’m guessing it won’t be long before something develops between them.”
“Who’s Brooklyn dating?” Allison asked. “Someone nice I hope, and not one of those creeps you tell me her sisters and mom try setting her up with.”
“A university professor named Trevor Jones,” Addie answered before he could reply.
His sister’s eyes got wide. “Really? How’d they meet? He’s a lot older than us, but he seems nice. At least the few times I’ve seen him.”
Nice, boring, and all wrong for Brooklyn. Sooner or later, she’d realize it, even if he had to beat it into her head. Let her damn father find another way to gain control of Atlantic Coast Marketing. “It won’t work out. They’ve got nothing in common.”
“You don’t know Trevor well, Derek. They might get along great together.”
Allison’s comment contained more truth than he’d like to admit, which only frustrated him further. “Fine. I’m sure you two are right. Trevor and Brooklyn will be heading down the aisle any day.” His words came out harsher than he’d intended, and he searched for an excuse that would get him away from the little group. He couldn’t take another word about either the auction or Brooklyn and Trevor’s relationship. “Dad wanted to talk to me earlier. I’m going to see what he wants. I’ll see you all later.”
A chorus of good-byes followed his statement, and then he hightailed it out of the library.
Derek’s reprieve from the unpleasant conversation didn’t last long.
“I’ll have a club soda with lime,” he said to the bartender his father had hired for the evening.
