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I frown. “Where?”
Hudson lifts his chin in the direction of the living room. “Here. Tonight.”
“Fuck.” I didn’t see him and I sure as hell didn’t expect him. I should have, though. He knows Mom does Taco Tuesday every week. It makes sense he’d show up tonight, the first Tuesday after my wedding.
“He was taking a call on the terrace. I imagine he’ll be finished with that soon, so you might want to get back out there and manage your wife.”
I drink some more whiskey before nodding. “Thanks for the heads up.”
“Before you go, are you still against the suggestions Paulina made this morning?”
“I haven’t changed my mind.”
“Why are you being stubborn about this?”
“Because I don’t want to tie Adeline’s name to my brand in this way. This marriage has an end date, and I don’t want to have to work on this problem again when our divorce goes through. Besides, I’d have a greater chance of convincing her to jump out of a fucking plane than I would of convincing her to help me in this way.”
One of Paulina’s ideas to improve my hotel chain’s competitive advantage was to launch a campaign featuring Adeline. I have no doubt such a campaign would work, but I have no interest in going down that path.
Hudson chuckles at the plane reference. “You may be right there, but I still think it’s worth considering. We’d only have to run the campaign for six months, at which point we could launch a new one with someone else. By the time you divorce her, the brand would be tied to someone else. We maximize your involvement with her now for the short term, get as much out of that as we can, and then move on. You know her brand would deliver for the hotels. It’s a no-brainer as far as I’m concerned.”
“What’s a no-brainer?” Bill asks, coming into the kitchen.
I turn to him. “I thought you were away this week.” He mentioned something to me last week about flying to London.
“My trip was cancelled.” He glances between us. “What was the no-brainer?”
I drink some more whiskey. “A suggestion Paulina Rossi made for the hotels.”
Before he can ask what the suggestion was, my mother and Adeline join us.
Mom comes to me, and I lean down to kiss her. “Hello, darling. I’m happy to see you wearing that sweater I bought you.”
I smile at her as Adeline moves next to me. Placing my arm around Adeline, I say to Mom, “How are you?”
Adeline slides her arm around my waist, and I try to ignore the way her touch causes my gut to tighten. As hard as I try, though, I don’t succeed. Much like this morning when I couldn’t rein in my desire to kiss her.
“I’m good.” She looks between Adeline and me. “Very happy to see you two here tonight.”
Adeline brings her hand to my stomach and gives me a smile before looking at Mom. “We’re glad to be here, Reese.”
I prepare to stop Adeline’s hand, which I anticipate will drift lower than I prefer, but she surprises me when she doesn’t shift it as low as she usually does.
“Have you two settled on a new date for your honeymoon yet?” Bill inquires.
“We’re looking at a weekend in January,” I say.
His brows arch. “That far away? I thought you’d be falling over yourself to whisk your new bride away.”
“He is,” Adeline says. “Honestly, if Jameson had his way, he’d never let me out of his sight. But I’ve got so much on at work that we just can’t get away this month.”
Adeline surprises me again. She knows that Bill will let this go now that he thinks the lack of a honeymoon is because of her work rather than mine. I wouldn’t have expected her to take one for the team like this. Not with the level of her hostility toward me.
“Right,” says Mom, “enough honeymoon talk. I spoke with Adeline about it yesterday and I know you’re both disappointed you have to put it on hold. Let’s talk about something happier, like the news I saw about Owen last night. He must be delighted.”
I nod as I shift my thoughts from the fact Adeline spoke with Mom about the honeymoon yesterday to Owen. “He is. I haven’t had a chance to have a good chat with him about it yet, but I’m hoping to catch up on the weekend.” My oldest friend manages a hedge fund and was nominated as a finalist in this year’s Hedge Fund Industry Awards. He more than deserves it, too. He’s delivered top performances in the industry for years now.
“That’s great news,” Adeline says, and I hear the genuine warmth in her voice. It makes sense because she’s taken a liking to Owen.
