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Chapter 21
Jet
God damn. Jet had only come to this freaking party because he’d known Abby was going to be here. He’d thought it would be a good chance for them to hang out.
Plus, when he heard it was a “wine and cheese” party, he’d been stoked. It would give him the perfect opportunity to see how hard it was going to be for him to be around alcohol and not drink any. And, bonus, there’d be all that cheese around to ease the sting. Win, win.
But that wasn’t how it was working out. Instead of holding hands with his girl, laughing and talking while they listened to string quartet versions of Christmas carols and stuffed their faces with cheeses of the world, he was stuck here listening to Mrs. Trelawney talk.
And talk. And talk and talk and talk.
For fuck’s sake, he hadn’t even been offered any cheese yet!
“So, you do have to understand how exclusive the guest list for this party is,” the woman droned. “There are three lists I maintain throughout the year. The A List, the B List, and the C List. Only the A List gets definite invites. Depending on the RSVPs from the A List, some from the B List might receive an invite– but it’s so rare that any invitations are turned down. People do know that failure to attend one year results in automatic demotion to the next list down for the next year, so believe me, people who matter make it a point to be here.”
“Mmmm,” Jet replied noncommittally.
His hostess apparently took that as agreement, though, because she continued, “Exactly! And it’s very difficult to move up to the list above during the course of a year. Normally, it takes people two to three years to regain a lost place on the A List, which as I’m sure you can imagine, is highly coveted. And going from C to A in one year? Well, my God, I suppose it’s possible, but it’s literally never been done, and I’ve been throwing this party for 25years.”
“Well…” Jet began, with the intention of making some excuse to leave the conversation and take Abby with him. It didn’t work, though, as she just steamrolled right along.
“Of course, there was that two year period in the middle where my dear Werner was so ill. I simply couldn’t manage it during that dark time. But, after he was gone, rest his soul, my thoughts did, of course, turn back to reinstating the tradition.”
Jet’s brows drew together. His interest had been drawn into the conversation against his will. “Really? I mean…is that really an ‘of course’ kind of thing?”
“Oh, yes. I mean, it is an institution. And people were clamoring for it. I sent out a group email as autumn approached. No body text. Subject line only. It said, ‘If she throws it, will they come?’ You wouldn’t believe the response. You simply wouldn’t believe it.”
“I’m sure I wouldn’t,” Jet said, and he knew he had to find a way to get the hell out of the conversation soon or he was going to lose his battle against laughter. That probably wouldn’t be great for Abby’s bottom line– and he knew she must care about that, because she’d been silent during the entire conversation in a very un-Abby-like way.
Luckily, at that moment, he spotted the perfect opportunity to distract the woman from her stream of chatter. He saw someone come through the door who was certainly far higher in the Valentine Bay social hierarchy than he was, which would be catnip to someone like her.
“Oh, look,” he said, gesturing toward the entryway. “There’s my grandmother.”
Mrs. Trelawney’s gaze moved to the front door and her eyes lit up. “Oh, yes, so it is! So pleased she could make it. Excuse me, dears. I must go and say my hellos.”
Jet grabbed Abby’s hand and they hurried away before she could change her mind.
Jet led Abby through the spacious but crowded rooms, then turned to face her. “Where’s the kitchen? Maybe we could step outside and get some air.”
She smiled and then bit her lip. Fuck, that was an adorable combination. He recognized it from when they were in high school. It was one of her standards– the smile because she felt either happy victorious (depending on if they were on a team together or competing against each other), and the lip biting was because she was concentrating on what she was about to say.
As with pretty much any time she was about to speak, he couldn’t wait to hear what might come out of her mouth. Even if it was about something as small as directions to the kitchen.
Her eyes sparked. “Well…guests aren’t technically supposed to be in there. But, I guess…I mean, I am the wine consultant for the evening. So, I suppose I’m sort of like an employee…”
He couldn’t help but grin at the mischievous glint that lit her eyes, and the flush of excitement coloring her cheeks. He laid his hand on the side of her face and rubbed his thumb back and forth along the soft ridge of her cheekbone. “God, you’re adorable,” he whispered and leaned in for a tender kiss.
When he pulled back, her head tilted to the side. “I appreciate the sentiment. Really, I do. But what was so adorable about that? I was just stating facts.”
He pulled her to him. “It was adorable because the idea of sneaking through the kitchen at this party is so ‘naughty’ to you that it puts that spark in your eyes. It just brings it home to me how different we are now. How different our lives are.”
She feigned disappointment. “Wait a minute. Are you trying to tell me that I am not the single most rock ‘n’ roll chick you’ve ever met? I think I might be insulted.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Holy shit, Abs. Even if I’d thought that up until now, the fact that you’d use the phrase ‘the most rock ‘n’ roll chick’ would’ve disqualified you.”
She joined in his laughter. “My crown would’ve been stripped, huh?”
“Oh, hell, yes,” he confirmed. “Faster than a beauty queen with a secret sex tape from her past that gets released and goes viral.”
