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I was so absorbed in my fears, I didn’t notice that El-Mudad had stepped up behind me until he put his arms around my waist. He met my eyes over my shoulder in the mirror and leaned down to kiss my neck. “Relax, my love. This isn’t an audition.”
“It feels like one,” Neil said, surprising me. I always thought of him as being far calmer than me in any situation. I don’t know why; I’d seen him fall completely apart more times than I could count. But he could still somehow fool me into thinking he had his shit together.
“It does. But remember, they’re teenagers. If they get any sense at all that I want them to like you, they won’t. The pressure is on me, not you,” El-Mudad promised. “I’ve waited too long to be with you to let one brunch tear us apart forever.”
A bell chimed from the bedroom. Neil frowned and fixed the collar of his cranberry-colored button down. “Back in a moment.”
El-Mudad tightened his arms around me and leaned in to press his freshly-shaven cheek to mine. “You look so beautiful this morning.”
“You tell me that every morning,” I reminded him.
“I could stop if you want me to.” He kissed my neck
Neil poked his head through the doorway. “Your mother and Tony have arrived, darling.”
I wiggled away from El-Mudad and stepped into my beige, round-toed pumps. “We’ll see you in a few hours then?”
“Don’t be nervous,” he reiterated.
When Neil and I reached the hallway, I said, “I’m still going to be nervous. I don’t care what he says.”
“Oh, I am in total agreement.” Neil’s mouth pulled into a grim line. “I’m actually looking forward to breakfast with Rebecca.”
“Watch it,” I warned.
Mom and Tony waited for us in the drawing room, where my mother already sat on one of the red velvet settees, a drink in her hand. I lifted my eyebrows and tilted my head.
“What?” Mom asked, sipping from her glass of champagne. “They offered it.”
I glanced over at the servant who stood beside the bucket of ice on its silver stand.
Mom’s eyes widened. “Oh, I am so sorry, Neil. I didn’t even think—”
He held up a hand. “No, no, it’s perfectly all right.”
Was it? Because the holidays were agony for Neil. “What happened to dry Christmas?”
“I thought that was going a bit overboard,” he said evenly. “My brothers are coming. Your family will be here. There’s no sense in ruining their good time.”
And there it was. His brothers would be here. My family would be here. If there were no alcohol in a social setting, it would have to be explained. Admitting that he had a problem, even to people who already knew he had a problem, was more frightening to him than a relapse.
That terrified me.
“You’re right,” I said with a shrug. If I forced myself to be okay with it, maybe I would be okay with it.
Because blithely ignoring his problem worked out so well in the past.
“Your mom sure took to this lifestyle quick, huh?” Tony asked, sounding almost embarrassed. I didn’t know what had gone down while they’d been waiting for us, but he had the nervous energy of someone who hadn’t sat since arriving.
Neil laughed. A genuine one, not the uncomfortable politeness with which he usually navigated his weird former-employer relationship with Tony. “Get used to it. This is going to be a part of your lifestyle, too, now.”
“This is a little rich for my tastes.” Tony’s gaze drifted up to the ceiling, and he swallowed.
“Stop pacing a hole in the floor,” Mom told him, and patted the cushion beside her. Neil motioned to the servant standing by.
“Tony, would you like anything to drink?” Neil asked.
“Just coffee.”
“Could you be sure to have a carafe of coffee ready with breakfast?” Neil asked the young man, who nodded and left immediately to do as he’d been told.
“I could get used to this,” Mom said, keeping her voice low so as not to be overheard by the guy who already knew he was employed as a domestic. “Why don’t you have staff on Long Island?”
“We do. Just not staff who wait on us all the time.” Thank God. “I wouldn’t be able to handle this level of helpfulness twenty-four-seven. It’s kind of creepy.”
Neil shook his head. “I’ve never found it so. Then again, I grew up with it. When Elizabeth and I moved into the penthouse, my mother acted like I’d moved into a cave.”
I pressed my hand to my chest as though I’d been scandalized into a heart attack. “Just one housekeeper?”
“And the place is so tiny,” Mom added with a snort of laughter
“Yes, yes, all right. Mock me for having too much money and breeding,” Neil said, feigning resignation. “If you’re finished, we can go to breakfast? That is, if Rebecca isn’t too drunk, yet?”
