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I don’t have the heart to tell her to leave the notebook behind. I don’t think this is a work meeting.
* * *
When we stepinto my mom’s office, she’s on the phone with someone. She waves for us to sit down while she finishes her conversation.
I take that as a good sign. If she knew I’d lied to her about my engagement to Violet, she wouldn’t be wrapping up a business call. She’d be yelling at me as soon as her office door clicked close behind us.
Then she notices the diamonds on Violet’s left hand, and her eyebrows shoot up. Two seconds later she hangs up the phone and scurries out from behind her desk.
“Oh, let me see the ring!” She takes Violet’s hand and beams. “Oh, Gage, it’s lovely. I like that you went with a gold band.” She squeezes Violet’s hand before releasing it. “Warm color for a warm, sunshiny woman, right?”
For some reason, Violet’s eyes fly to mine. Then she looks away blushing. “Um. Yeah. Gage said something similar.”
Wait, when did I say that?
I mean, I definitelythoughtit, but...
Bit by bit more memories from last night start coming back to me. Things I did. Things I said.
I definitely called herprettyan undignified amount. And...Christ, I’m pretty sure I said something about her spectacular ass in those tiny red panties.
Honestly, I wouldn’t have blamed Violet if she’d wanted to break our deal after some of the stuff I said last night.
But she’s still here, beautiful and distracting as ever.
I shift in my chair, uncomfortable. “What did you want to talk to us about, Mom?”
“Oh! Right.” She plucks a business card off her desk and passes it to me. “I found the perfect photographer to do your engagement photoshoot and your wedding.”
“Mom,” I say, exasperatedly. “We’re not ready to hire a photographer for the wedding.”
“Fine then, just use them for the engagement photoshoot. She’s my friend’s niece’s cousin’s daughter’s godmother.Veryin-demand.” She pulls the website up on her phone and hands it to Violet to swipe through.
“Wow,” Violet says, softly. “These are beautiful. They look like something out of a magazine.”
“Good,” Mom says, clearly satisfied with herself. “I pulled some strings and booked a shoot for you this Saturday morning, but you have to go to her studio because of the short notice.”
“What?” I blurt at the same time as Violet asks, “This weekend?”
My mom purses her lips. “Look. I’m thrilled you two decided to tell me about your engagement. But now that that paparazzi photo is out there, I need you to tell everyone else. Otherwise, it looks like Gage is using our company as his own personal dating pool, and that’s not a professional look.”
I sit back in my chair, understanding dawning. “You want us to do the shoot, so we have a new image to give the press when we announce the engagement. Something to replace the one photo they currently have.”
“Exactly,” Mom says. “I was thinking we’d send out a press release next Tuesday.”
Well, at least she believes us.
“It should be fun,” my mom adds. “I told the photographer she could be as creative as she wanted, as long as she gave you at least one that was conservative enough to send to the press.” She smiles at Violet. “I know you like artsy stuff.”
“How thoughtful,” Violet says, faintly.
We make about thirty more seconds of small talk, and then my mom kicks us out of her office to take a meeting.
Once we’re standing outside in the hallway, Violet says, “I’m beginning to see where you get your lust for efficiency.”
I bite back a laugh. “I guess I have Saturday plans with you after all.”
Violet groans, but I realize I’m not nearly as bummed as I should be. Even a photoshoot sounds interesting if Violet’s going to be there.
