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“Because of Mrs. Silverstein?”
“Yeah. I don’t want to give her nosy neighbor a reason to start rumors and get Miranda in trouble.”
“No texting?”
“We’ve texted back and forth, but our messages have been brief chats. She had no cell connection most of yesterday since she was hiking in the middle of nowhere and last night she was attending a little dinner a few colleagues she used to work with organized to celebrate her new job. Her focus was elsewhere.”
“What did you end up doing for the rest of the day? Did you go by your dad’s?”
“No. My dad and my stepmom were away. Dad was at a conference in San Diego and Brea went with him. I decided to hang out with the two Scotsmen.”
“Ah, of course, the two calendar boys,” Jake mocks.
“Yeah. After stocking up on a few things that I can actually eat to bring to Collin’s Pacific Palisades lofty mansion, I drove up to his place.”
“What the hell are you doing buying groceries for a grown man?”
“Trust me, it’s for me, not for him. There are two options at this guy’s house—junk food or booze. Neither option is to my liking. I’m all for booze, but not at eleven o’clock in the morning,” I sneer. “Believe it or not, he and Shane decided to ditch those hotel rooms they had booked in favor of Collin’s place. From Shane’s recounting, their five blonde fans had three other friends join them later at the gala. The Scots broke their record.” I chuckle. “They ended up with eight women at Collin’s place for a wild night. Shane texted me yesterday morning early to warn me. He suggested I come by a little later since they were still savoring those groupies. Good thing I did. When I got there the place was a mess and the fridge bare.”
“It’s incredible that someone who makes that much money and who has a housekeeper and a chef always seems to run out of food.”
“Tell me about it. He manages when they work during the week, but they’re off on weekends and that’s when Collin starts running out of food. He’s always quick to blame his workout regime, which requires him to refuel by ingesting an insane number of calories every single day, but I blame it on his endless parties. There’s always someone coming in and out of his house, be it women or his buddies. It’s a revolving door. Sunday morning was a perfect example. I’d rather not take a chance when I go visit.”
“I swear, Collin could give the cast of the now-concluded Entourage TV series a run for their money.”
“I can’t argue. That said, I might take malicious pleasure at poking fun at Collin, but I must admit I was really happy to spend the rest of the afternoon lounging around his pool and catching up with him and Shane.”
“It’s all good, then.”
“It always is with the Dennisons.”
“As fascinating as this story is—and I surely can’t wait to hear more about how things turned out between Miranda and you—that’s not why I called.”
“Of course not,” I say, sitting up in my bed. “So what’s up? What’s so urgent that it couldn’t wait until I had my first cup of coffee of the day?” I joke.
“I just got off the phone with Jay Aberdeen. He wants our meat.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I shout, excited.
“We got him.” Jake cheers.
Even though I can’t see him, I’m sure he must be pumping his fist in the air at this monumental victory.
“You closed one of the biggest handmade burger restaurateurs in Arizona and New Mexico before I even had breakfast?”
“You know what they say?”
“No. And I don’t want to—”
Jake interrupts me to drive home his point. “‘The early bird catches the worm.’” The mocking way he says that you’d think we were still in kindergarten.
“Go to hell. We’ve both been working on this deal for weeks now—well before I moved out here.”
Jay Aberdeen owns We Make ’Em Good, a popular chain of restaurants spanning two states. With over twenty restaurants, this is quite a significant win for us.
“You’re right. He wanted to sign the contract before he went away on vacation so that we can start servicing his restaurants by the time he gets back in two weeks. I’ll be ironing things out with his right-hand person while he’s basking in the sun.”
“Robin Henley?” I ask.
