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“Finding out her fiancé was screwing a coworker. It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.”
Dread overshadowed her curiosity. “It had nothing to do with you getting married?” She dropped her arms by her sides and took a step back.
As if connected to a light switch, his happiness went off, and he shook his head. “No. Looks like you’re off the hook.”
Off the hook. What a way to put it.
“Did you have any luck setting everything up for the weekend after Valentine’s Day?” he asked.
“Not yet. I’m waiting for a few people to call me back.” This might be the first time a lack of success turned out to be a positive thing.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and blew out a deep breath. “Okay. Then we could push the wedding back several months and then in a month or two call it off altogether.”
A fist closed around her throat. She only had herself to blame for being in this position. If she’d kept this a strictly business agreement, her heart wouldn’t be tearing in half. “You’re not known for your commitment, so nobody would be surprised if it happened.” She somehow managed to get the words out.
“Or we could—” The doorbell rang, and Josh closed his eyes. “Damn it.”
My sentiments exactly. She wanted to finish this conversation, not entertain his family while still pretending they’d soon be married. “I got it.”
He grabbed her arm before she took more than a step. “They can wait a minute.” Whoever stood at the door disagreed, because the doorbell chimed again before he continued.
“We’ve got all night to talk, Josh.”
He didn’t stop her when she pulled her arm away.
If a bell curve for mothers existed, Scarlett Basto and Marilyn Belmont would be at the opposite tails, something Courtney realized the moment she opened the door. As she expected, Josh’s mom wasn’t dressed as if she’d recently left the office. For her first meeting with her son’s fiancée, the woman opted for white pants, a skintight leopard print bodysuit with a plunging neckline, and heeled boots that ended just below the knee. The woman looked like she should be going on stage as a dancer at a concert, not spending a quiet night with her adult children. As if to support Courtney’s original opinion, Shannon was wearing jeans and a pink sweater.
Evan arrived moments after his mom and sister, and Courtney quickly learned why Scarlett possessed the reputation she did. After introductions, she spent a solid ten minutes complaining about the cold and informing them they should’ve planned their wedding for somewhere in California or at the estate she and Trevor owned in Aruba. Her next complaint came when she learned Josh didn’t have her favorite wine on hand. Her problem with his choice of dinner quickly followed. Evidently, he was supposed to know she’d become a vegetarian before Christmas. Of all her complaints, the last was one Courtney could do something about. Press, a café in the city, had a full vegetarian menu, and it delivered.
“You’re not the type of woman Josh is usually attracted to,” Scarlett said.
They’d made it halfway through dinner without another complaint. Courtney doubted the stretch would last much longer.
“It shocked me when those pictures of you together popped up in December. And I didn’t expect him to get engaged. He’s too much like me.” She smiled in Josh’s direction. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that. You should have fun when you’re young. But I made the mistake of getting married before I should have.”
“Mom, you got married when you were twenty-two. Josh is a little older than that. Besides, it’s about marrying the right person, not about how old you are when it happens.” Shannon spoke up. So far tonight she’d helped move Scarlett off more than one topic when she went off on a tangent.
Scarlett finished her wine and refilled the glass. “Well, there’s no doubt your father wasn’t the right person for me. Marrying him was the worst decision I ever made. And that’s saying a lot.”
Courtney couldn’t decide if she should laugh or cry. The woman clearly didn’t think before she spoke. And Courtney could honestly say she’d never met anyone quite like Josh’s mom. If tonight was the one and only time they spent time together, she’d be okay with that. However, there was o
ne benefit to Scarlett’s personality. Rather than focus on the conversation she and Josh needed to finish, she put all her energy into trying to predict what the woman would say next.
“But the good thing about marriage, it doesn’t have to be permanent,” Scarlett added, eliciting something similar to a groan from Josh.
“Have you thought any more about the role in The Water’s Edge?” Shannon asked.
With that simple question, Josh’s mom launched into what Courtney guessed was her favorite subject: Scarlett Basto and her career.
Seventeen
“And Shannon wonders why I haven’t introduced Gemma to Mom yet.” Seated across from them, Evan propped his ankle on his knee. “The woman never shuts up. I don’t know how Trevor lives with her.”
Following dinner and perhaps a few glasses of wine too many on Scarlett’s part, Josh’s sister drove their mom back to her hotel. While Courtney had enjoyed visiting with Shannon and wouldn’t mind getting to know her better, she’d been more than happy to see Scarlett leave. The woman had one of those personalities that few people could handle for any length of time. And Courtney wasn’t one of those people. She hoped any future interactions with Josh’s mom turned out to be much shorter than tonight’s visit.
It might be your only interaction. She’d pushed the thought of their pending conversation away during dinner. Now, it was attempting to climb out of the box she’d shoved it in. Until Evan left, she needed it to stay in there.
Josh sat down next to her, but he didn’t reach for her hand or put an arm over her shoulders like he usually did. “He travels. A. Lot.”
