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“It’ll be nice to see them. I haven’t talked to Trent in months.”
Courtney added letting her cousin’s wife know to expect one more on Saturday as well as coming up with a good story to explain why she didn’t tell Addie she was still with Josh this afternoon to her growing to-do list.
“We can’t wait too long to make our engagement public.” Josh interrupted the various storylines running through her head that would explain why she had lied to Addie. “Any idea of when Pauline can release a formal statement to the media?”
She wasn’t looking forward to the conversation, but the sooner she told her parents they were engaged the better, especially since, as of tomorrow, people would see Josh entering and exiting the Mayfair.
“Let’s plan on Wednesday. I’ll tell my mom tomorrow, and she can let my dad know.” She’d call her sister and brother as well. Whether she’d get a hold of either of them before they read about it somewhere was anyone’s guess. “Are you going to tell your family beforehand?”
Other than his brother, Evan, she’d met no one in his family and knew little about them. Josh might not care how his parents learned of his upcoming marriage.
“In the morning, I’ll give Dad and Laura a call. I have no idea where my mom is and getting a hold of her can be hard. If she doesn’t hear about it from me, she’ll learn about it like everyone else.”
He sounded rather indifferent to the idea his mom might read about their engagement on a social media site, and she wondered what kind of relationship the two of them had.
“We should decide on exactly when and how we met,” Josh said.
“Your publicist said no one has seen you with another woman since before you left for New Zealand. When exactly did you travel there?”
Rather than pull the information from memory, he took out his cell phone and opened the calendar on it. “I flew out of Los Angeles on June 28 and stayed there until July 18. Then I spent about a month and a half on location in New York before heading down to Louisiana.”
“How long did you stay there?” If this was going to work, they needed to get everything straight.
“Only two weeks before heading back to L.A. I remained there working until I flew out to Hawaii.”
“It’ll work best, I think, if we tell everyone we met while you were in New York. It’s not unusual for me to head into Manhattan for a weekend, so I know my family will accept it. And if we do that, it’ll appear as though we’d been together for almost five months before you proposed in December.”
Five months wasn’t a long time to be in a relationship before getting engaged, but she’d heard of shorter ones. And it was far better than telling everyone they’d spent all of two weeks together before getting engaged.
“Whatever you want. Any ideas about the how we met?”
Considering how much he had a stake, she would have thought he’d come up with a whole backstory long before their meeting earlier. “It might be easiest if we say we were both staying at the same hotel and met by the pool. It’s at least somewhat close to the truth.”
“When I call Pauline, I give her the details so she knows how to answer any questions that come up.”
Stifling a yawn, she checked her watch, expecting it to be much later than it was. She rarely went to bed before eleven, so she shouldn’t be tired. Perhaps it’d been the stress of the day or the fact she’d gotten up much earlier than normal. Whatever the reason, she was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed and fall asleep.
As if reading her mind, Josh stood. “It’s getting late. I’m going to head back to Evan’s. What time should I come by tomorrow?”
“Plan to meet me here around six.” Courtney added getting a key for Josh and making sure a guest room was ready to her mental list as she walked him to the door. As tempting as she might find him, at least for the time being, they were not sharing a bed.
Her fingers wrapped around the doorknob, but Josh’s hand came down over hers before she could turn it. His green eyes searched her face for a moment. “I... thank you.” Stepping closer, he kissed her cheek. “See you tomorrow night.”
Five
Despite their different career paths and lifestyle choices, when it came to food, Josh had a lot in common with his older brother. So after selecting a box of Lucky Charms, just one of the many sugary kinds of cereal intended for kids lining the kitchen cabinet shelf, he filled a bowl while listening to Pauline.
“Do you care who I share the news with first?” she asked.
When it came to entertainment news sites, they were all the same to him. “You decide. But it can’t go out until tomorrow.” Opening the milk, he drowned his cereal before adding some to his coffee. “Courtney wants a chance to tell her family first.”
“Did you decide on a wedding date?”
“No, but it’ll be soon. When we decide, I’ll let you know.” If it was up to him, they’d get married this weekend, but he wasn’t going to suggest that. She’d agreed to help him, so the least he could do was let her determine the where and when of their wedding.
“Okay. Keep me informed. Talk to you later.”
Josh set aside his cell phone and managed to get a spoonful of cereal in his mouth before his brother walked into the kitchen. When he’d arrived back at Evan’s last night, his brother was still out.
