by Nora Roberts
Parker rapped her knuckles lightly on Laurel’s head. “Of course I’m okay with it, and if I wasn’t okay with it, you should tell me to go to hell and mind my own business. Want some of this yogurt?”
“No, thanks. Pot stickers.” But she leaned her head on Parker’s shoulder. “I’m glad I didn’t manage to sneak in.”
“Be gladder I’ve decided to be magnanimous and not be insulted you tried to.”
“Best friend ever.”
“It’s so true. I am. He’s a good man. I know he can be bossy because, same mold.And I know he has flaws, but he’s such a good man.” She laid her hand over Laurel’s briefly. “He deserves you. You and I have to make a pact right now, that when you need to bitch about him—or he needs to bitch about you to me—that you and I handle it the way we handle any other bitching about guys. You don’t feel hamstrung because he’s my brother, and I don’t take offense because he’s my brother.”
“All right.”
They hooked pinkies on the swear.
“Now I’m going up, finishing up a couple things.” Parker rose. “You know if you don’t fill in Emma and Mac, their feelings are going to be hurt.”
“I’ll update them.” She pushed to her feet to walk to the third level with Parker.
FULL DISCLOSURE, DEL DECIDED, AND MADE ARRANGEMENTS TO meet Jack for a morning workout. Since the word was full, he told Jack to drag Carter along. He started off with cardio while Carter approached a treadmill with obvious trepidation.
“I try to avoid doing this sort of thing in public. People could get hurt.”
“Start off slow, then kick it up every couple minutes.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“I’ve missed this place.” In solidarity, Jack took the machine on the other side of Del. “Having the home gym right there’s convenient, but you miss the group buzz. Plus the many athletic females in skimpy outfits. I’m engaged, but still breathing,” he said at Del’s look.
“I don’t understand walking on an electric belt when there are sidewalks right outside.” Gripping the bar with one hand—just in case—Carter gestured vaguely. “And they don’t move under your feet.”
“Kick it up, Carter. Snails are passing you. How’s my Macadamia?”
“She’s good.” Brow furrowed, Carter increased the speed slightly. “Staff meeting this morning, and a studio shoot. It’s probably good I’m out of the way for a couple hours.”
“You’ll have your professor room before long,” Jack told him. “Then we’ll move on to Emma’s new space, and Laurel’s.”
“Speaking of Laurel, we’re dating.” He heard the oof from the left and glanced over. “You okay, Carter?”
“Just missed my footing. Um, by dating, you mean each other?”
“That would be my definition.”
“This would be my cue to jump down your throat and demand to know what you mean by taking advantage of one of my girls?”
Del shifted his gaze toward Jack as he punched up his speed. “Unlike you, I’m not sneaking around and hiding it.”
“I wasn’t sneaking and hiding, I just hadn’t figured out how to explain about Emma, for a short period of time. And since I’m marrying into the Quartet, I have certain privileges and duties. If you’re sleeping with Laurel—”
“I’m not sleeping with Laurel. We’re dating.”
“Right, and the two of you are just going to hold hands, admire the moon, and sing camp songs.”
“For a while. Minus the singing. No comments from you?” he asked Carter.
“I’m kind of busy trying to stay on my feet.”To ensure he did, Carter gripped the bar one-handed again. “I guess, off the top of my head, I’d say this is a quick situational change.”
“I thought so at first, now I’m not so sure. It feels like it’s been brewing awhile.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” Jack said, punching up his speed to match Del’s pace. “How did this brewing situational change happen?”
“We had a fight, culminating in her telling me, and demonstrating that, I wasn’t her brother. Which I’m not. So we’re dating, and I’m just letting you know”
“Okay. Three miles?”
“You’re on. Kick it up, Carter,” Del told him.
Carter said, “Oh God.”
SUNDAY MORNING LAUREL LEFT HER KITCHEN WORK TO DASH upstairs for the pre-event briefing. When she found her three partners already in place, she held up a hand. “I’m not late.”And since she’d already had two cups of coffee that morning, grabbed a bottle of water. “Just FYI, it’s raining.”
“The forecast calls for it to stop midmorning,” Parker stated. “But we’re prepared to move everything inside if it doesn’t.”
“The arrangements are pretty simple,” Emma put in. “If it clears by noon, we can have everything dressed outside by one. Otherwise, we can shift it all to the Great Hall, do a big fireplace arrangement pretty quickly, add candles. We’re set either way. We’ll have both suites finished by ten.”
“The grooms are due to arrive at eleven.”
“I’ll shift back and forth for formals.” Mac nodded at Parker. “Both grooms have sisters standing up for them, which makes it nice. I can get some good shots with that dynamic. Doing guys means less hair and makeup time, and each has just the one attendant, so I should be done with the formals by twelve, twelve fifteen.”
“Guests arriving twelve thirty, short cocktail mixer.” Parker read off her schedule. “For the outside ceremony, we line up at one, attendants will walk down the aisle together, then grooms will approach from either side. Ceremony time, twenty minutes. Mac takes post-pictures, caterers pass finger food.”
“Again, it’ll be pretty quick. Fifteen minutes should do it.”
“Figure one forty-five for the grooms to be announced, buffet brunch, toasts. DJ announces first dance at two thirty. Cake cutting three thirty.”
“All the pastries are done for the dessert table. I’ll finish the cake by ten, and we’ll move it into the Ballroom. We’re providing the knife and server. The happy couple has requested the top layer be removed and boxed for them to take home.”
“Okay. Dancing continues at three forty until four fifteen. We’ll transfer the gifts, announce the last dance.We’re clear at four thirty. Any concerns? Potential disasters?”
“Not on my end. They’re both really cute and should photograph well.”
“They went with big, happy geranium boutonnieres to match the cake,” Emma added. “Pretty adorable.”
“They wrote the script for the ceremony themselves.” Parker tapped her file. “It’s incredibly sweet. We’re going to have a lot of crying. Laurel, anything on your end?”
“I just need the cake topper from Emma, and I’m good.”
“It’s done, and in the cooler. I’ll get it to you.”
“Then, we’re all good.”
“Not so fast.” Mac shot out a finger as Laurel started to rise. “Business completed, now let’s get personal.What’s the latest with Del?”
“There is no latest. I just saw you eight hours ago.”
“He didn’t call?” Emma wondered. “Leave you a message or anything?”
“He sent an e-mail with a list of potential movies for tonight.”
“Oh.” Emma struggled not to look deflated. “That’s considerate.”
“It’s practical,” Laurel corrected. “And it’s Del. It’s me. I’m not looking for charming little notes and sexy little messages.”
“They’re fun though,” Emma murmured. “Jack and I sent each other lots of sexy little e-mails. We still do.”
“What’re you wearing?” Mac demanded.
“I don’t know. It’s the movies. Something movieish.”
“But he’ll be dressed for the wedding,” Emma pointed out, “so you can’t be too casual.You should wear the blue top. The one with the scoop-neck that ties in the back. It looks great on you. With the white capris I wish I could wear but would make my legs look s
tumpy. And the kitten-heel slides.”
“Okay, thanks for dressing me.”
“Happy to help,” Emma said with a bright smile that acknowledged the sarcasm.
“We have a betting pool going,” Mac informed her. “Nobody figures you’ll last the full thirty before you get naked. Carter gives your willpower the most credit with twenty-four days.”
“You’re betting on when I’m going to have sex with Del?”
“Damn right.You’re disqualified,” she said when Laurel started to speak again. “Conflict of interest. I give you sixteen days, not because of willpower but stubbornness—in case that might influence you to help me add to my wedding fund.”
“Unfair, unfair,” Emma caroled.
“How much is in the pool?”
“We kicked in a hundred each.”
“Five hundred? Seriously?”
“Six, counting Mrs. G.”
“Man.”
“We started at ten dollars each.” Emma shrugged and chose a strawberry to nibble on. “But then Mac and Jack kept challenging each other. I had to make them stop when we hit a hundred. Parker’s keeping the bank.”
Laurel cocked a challenging eyebrow. “What if we have sex and don’t tell anyone?”
“Please.” Mac just rolled her eyes. “First, you’d never be able to keep it to yourself, and second, even if you did, we’d know.”
“I hate when you’re right. And nobody gave us the full thirty?”
“No one.”
“Okay, here’s the deal—and I should get some say since it’s my sex, potentially. I will not be disqualified. I put in a hundred, and if we get to the thirty, pot’s mine.”
Objections broke out, but Parker waved them off. “You know, that’s fair.”
“You know how competitive she is,” Mac complained. “She’ll hold out just to win the bet.”
“Then she’d have earned it. Get me the hundred, and I’ll add your bet.”
“You’re on.” Gleefully Laurel rubbed her hands together. “At long, long last, the sexual moratorium pays off. I’ve got a cake to frost.” She did a quick boogie at the door. “See you later, suckers.”
“We’ll see who’s the sucker,” Parker said after Laurel danced out. “Okay, ladies, let’s get to work.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
IT WAS STRANGE AND INTERESTING TO GO OUT WITH DEL AS A DATE rather than one of the group. Comfortable on many levels, Laurel discovered, which was probably good. Neither of them had to listen to the other’s life story, because they already knew each other’s life story.
Not the whole cake, she thought, but most of the layers. Which made it all the more fun to take samples of the filling.
She knew he’d served on the Law Review at Yale, and played baseball as an undergraduate, just as she knew that law and sports were two of his passions. But she hadn’t known he’d made a deliberate choice over which to pursue as a career.
“I didn’t know you were serious about professional baseball.” The things you learned, Laurel reflected, on a third date.
“Deadly. And serious enough I kept it to myself, mostly.”
They strolled the park eating ice cream cones while the summer moonlight silvered the pond—an activity she believed to be the perfect cap to a casual dinner date.
“What was the tipping point?” she asked him.
“I wasn’t good enough.”
“How do you know? I saw you in action when you played at the Academy, and a couple times at Yale—and since at softball games.” With the faintest of frowns she studied his profile as they walked. “I may not consider baseball my religion like some people, but I get the game.You knew what you were doing.”
“Sure. And I was pretty good. Pretty good isn’t good enough. Maybe I could’ve been if I’d put everything into it. I talked to some scouts from the Yankees’ farm team.”
“Get out.” She shoved his arm. “Seriously? I never knew that. The Yankees scouted you? Why didn’t I know that?”
“I never told anybody. I had to decide. I could either be a really good lawyer or a decent ballplayer.”
She remembered watching him play since ... always, she realized. Without much effort, she pulled out a mental picture of him as a boy playing Little League.
God, he was cute.
“You loved baseball.”
“I still do. I just realized I didn’t love it enough to give it everything I had, and to give up everything else for it. So I wasn’t good enough.”
She understood that, yes, understood that very well. She wondered if she could’ve made the same sensible, rational choice to give up something she loved and wanted.
“Do you ever regret it?”
“Every summer. For about five minutes.” He draped an arm over her shoulders. “But you know, when I’m old and sitting on the rocker on the front porch, I get to tell my great-grandchildren how back in the day, the Yankees scouted me.”
She couldn’t quite build that image in her mind, but the idea of it made her smile. “They won’t believe you.”
“Sure they will. They’ll love me. And my pocketful of candy. What about you? One regret.”
“I probably have a lot more of them than you.”
“Why?”
“Because you—and Parker—always seem to know what direction you need and want to take. So let’s see.” She crunched into the sugar cone as she considered. “Okay. Sometimes I wonder how it would’ve been if I’d gone to France, stayed there. Run my own exclusive patisserie—while having many passionate affairs.”
“Naturally.”
“I’d design and bake for royalty and stars, and run my staff like dogs. Allez, allez! Imbeciles! Merde!”
He laughed at her broad, undeniably Gallic gestures, and dodged her cone.
“I’d be a terror, and a genius, world-renowned, jetting off to exciting places to make birthday cakes for little princesses.”
“You’d hate that. Except for the cursing in French.”
More than full, she tossed what was left of her cone in the trash. “Probably, but it’s something I think about sometimes. Still, I’d be doing what I’m doing now at the core of it. I didn’t have to choose.”
“Sure you did. Solo or partnership, home or European adventure. That’s a big choice, too. You know, if you’d gone to France, you’d have pined away for us.”
God, that was so absolutely true. But keeping to her theme, she shook her head. “I’d have been too busy with my wild affairs and towering ego ride to pine. I’d have thought of you fondly from time to time, and swirled in occasionally from a trip to New York to dazzle you all with my European panache.”
“You have European panache.”
“Is that so?”
“Sometimes you mutter or swear in French when you’re working.”
She stopped, frowned. “I do?”
“Now and then, and with a perfect accent. It’s entertaining.”
“Why hasn’t anyone told me this before?”
He took her hand, linked fingers while they angled away from the pond. “Maybe because they figured you knew, since you were the one muttering and swearing.”
“That could be it.”
“And if you’d gone, you’d have thought about this, what you’re doing here now.”
“Yeah, I would. Still, other times I imagine I have a pretty bake shop in a small village in Tuscany, where it only rains at night and charming little children come in to beg for treats. It’s a pretty good deal.”
“And here we both are, still in Greenwich.”
“All in all, it’s a good place to be.”
“Right now?” He tipped her face up to kiss her. “It’s close to perfect.”
“This seems almost too easy,” she said as they walked back to the car.
“Why should it be hard?”
“I don’t know. I’m just naturally suspicious of too easy.” At the car she turned, leaned back against the door to look up at him. “When it’s going easy I
know there’s a disaster waiting to fall on my head. It’s just around the corner, a piano being lowered out the window”
“So you walk around it.”
“What if you’re not looking up until—snap—the cable breaks, then you’re splatted under the Steinway”
“Most of the time the cable doesn’t break.”
“Most of the time,” she agreed, tapping a finger on his chest. “It only takes once. So it’s better to keep looking up, just in case.”
Lifting a hand, he tucked her swing of hair behind her ear. “Then you can trip over the curb and break your neck.”
“That’s true. Disasters are everywhere.”
“Would you feel better if I started a fight?” He laid his hands on the car on either side of her, leaned in to brush his lips against hers. “Rough you up a little so it’s not so easy.”
“Depends on the roughing up.” She drew him down for a deeper kiss. “Twenty-four more days,” she murmured. “Maybe it’s not so easy after all.”
“Almost a week down.” He opened the door for her. “And an eight-hundred-dollar pool on the line.”
There was that, she thought as he walked around the car to get behind the wheel. He’d insisted on tossing a hundred of his in on the kitty. “Some would say our tribe’s a little too intimate when they start a pool on when we’ll have sex.”
“Those some aren’t our tribe. And thinking of tribes, why don’t we gather ours for the Fourth?”
“Fourth of what—oh. July. God, it’s nearly here.”
“We could play some ball, eat some hot dogs, watch the fireworks in the park.You don’t have an event that day.”
“No events on the Fourth, no matter how much they beg or bribe. A Vows’ tradition. We have a day off.” She sighed it. “An entire day off, away from the kitchen. I can get behind that.”
“Good, because I already said something to Parker about the gathering of the tribe.”
“What if I’d said no?”
He flashed her a grin. “Then we’d have missed you.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, but her lips twitched. “I suppose I already have an assignment.”