Chapter 14
fourteen
Mateo
It’s amazing what the team did in here. Below the chair rail lining the room, the walls are painted a creamy off white.
Above it, they’ve applied a whimsical floral paper.
The fixtures are all black iron and wood.
The table is one of those resin-filled raw-edge pieces, the legs and chairs an old gold.
Gold mercury glass votives in clusters filled with flameless candles decorate the top.
This is really a step up from the old days.
Nessa is smirking and nudging me under the table as River and Lily enter. When I take them in, I fake a cough to cover my laugh. River’s green shirt is untucked, while Lily keeps tugging on her skirt to adjust it.
“Heard you’d be up here waiting. Looks like we were wrong.” Nessa breaks into a wicked smirk.
“Oh, uh. We were,” River stammers. “But we had to run upstairs to the apartment to make sure things are in order for when my brother comes home for Christmas,”
Lily, pink cheeked, bursts into laughter. “They don’t buy it, darling.”
Kissing her temple and sweeping her hair back, he whispers, “I knew that, but I was trying to not give them what they wanted. I save that for you.” He punctuates the statement by playfully grabbing at her ass.
That move only causes her to have to adjust her skirt all over again.
“Speaking of knowing things.” River pulls out a seat for her beside Nessa. “I swear when I had my accidental front-row seat to your—” River clears his throat.
Lily perks up and takes over for him. “Your supposed one-time-only pre-wedding festivities.”
“Darling,” River says, his tone laced with hesitant devotion.
“What? We all know you walked in on them.”
With a smug sigh, River says, “I guess congratulations are in order. I could tell you were smitten then. Called it when I said there’d be a repeat. Pony up, darling.” He opens his palm, and she drops a bill onto it.
He looks at Nessa, then at me again, and I start to sweat. Will she contradict him?
Before he can go on, the door to the private dining space opens.
“Okay, lovebirds. Enough for now.” Prudence enters with the strong floral and spicy scent of her tea shop following her.
“We need to talk before the others join us.” She eyes us conspiratorially.
“What can we do to scare this man away? Nessa, that’s your territory.
What does Satan hate? Last-minute menu changes?
Mateo, how are the meetings with the bank going? Do you need additional investors?”
As she digs through her enormous bag of items, the usually rock-solid woman’s hands tremble. She mutters to herself, peering over her shoulder at the door.
Something feels off. Yet part of me questions if I’m projecting. Maybe she’s changed with age?
A moment after that thought crosses my mind, River reaches a hand out to her, affirming my concern.
Pru locks eyes with Nessa, her face shifting from red with fury to white as a ghost, then green with nausea. “I knew his ancestors in Massachusetts. I don’t like them.”
Confident that I finally have my moment to one-up Caleb, I say, “There’s nothing to worry about, ladies. If anything, we have the home court advantage.”
This is the meeting I’ve been waiting all summer for, a blessed second chance to prove myself while also telling Merrick Paul off.
Jim Kelly enters, his face fixed in an apologetic frown.
“Caleb can’t make both this meeting and another he and I have scheduled and has requested to combine.
I know this isn’t ideal, but he’s down at the bar having a drink, so we’ll go over a few things up here first, then bring him in to join us.
” His tone is decisive. This isn’t a question but a command.
Beside me, Nessa stiffens. With none of her usual grace, she pushes the chair back and rushes toward the door.
“Excuse me, just need to go to the ladies’ room,” she says with a trembling voice.
Lily meets my eye across the table, and I tip my head toward the door in silent request.
She blinks in confusion. River nods and lifts his chin, then leans over and whispers in her ear. A second later, Lily stands and excuses herself as well.
Once he’s rounded the table, I stand to shake Jim’s hand and make eye contact.
Given the twins’ relationship challenges and my known alliance with Liam, I aim to stroke his ego.
“Finally, I’m with the good twin,” I tease, clapping him on the shoulder.
“Women,” I sigh. “Always need to go to the bathroom together. Am I right?” It goes against my beliefs to say such a thing, but his hearty laugh signals that I’m playing to his nature.
“We can always adjust. Maybe just us gentlemen and a bottle of scotch?” Jim suggests with an oily smirk.
“As much as I love that idea, Lily and Prudence are council members. We can’t really exclude them like that.” I eye River, hoping he understands that I set him up for an assist.
“Plus, Lily and dark alcohol do not mix. Remember the proposal? We only got her to stop calling you Narc a few months ago. Let’s not undo the progress,” River adds.
I sag in relief, grateful for the support.
“Fair point, gents. Please…” He waves his hand toward the table.
As I settle in my chair, Nessa’s phone vibrates from where she’s left it on her chair. When it buzzes for the third time in a row, I finally peer over at it.
Group Chat: Bad Bitches [Stef Carter, Lily Long, Delia Shane, Nessa Rabin]
Delia:
Douche Bag The Turd is here
Stef:
What’s happening? He’s where?
Lily:
Jim just told us. Can you get some dirt for us? prayer hand emoji
Delia:
salute emoji
Stef:
He’s at The Featherweight?
When the ladies return to the table, Nessa has steeled her face and applied deep red lipstick.
She looks gorgeous. It also looks like that tiny bit of her midriff is completely hidden.
I stand and pull out her chair, wanting to show her all the ways I can be a true gentleman.
As I help move her seat back toward our table, I lean down and whisper in her ear.
“The lipstick is a bold power move, but you don’t have to cover up for him. He doesn’t have the right to tell you what to do anymore, Poison Ivy.” I’m about to leave a light kiss on her temple when she goes rigid again.
As I ease back into my seat, I can’t help but catch the smallest hint of a smirk.
“Thanks for your patience,” she says to the table. “Just needed to freshen up a bit. Of course, we want to keep things as streamlined as possible for you. However, given the evening was going to be partially social and partially business, let’s spend a few minutes catching up first.”
Prudence’s usual stoicism is back in place, but there’s a subtle flicker of approval in her eyes.
“Jim,” Lily says, seamlessly jumping into small talk. “When Pete stayed with your boarding team, he came home so well-behaved. Please tell me your secrets.”
Jim’s expression brightens, and he launches into a monologue about tailoring training styles for the disposition of individual breeds.
“That makes a lot of sense,” Nessa says. “It’s similar to the way we approach diagnoses for different types of patients.”
“I thought your job was to talk about masturbating on air.” Jim gives a slimy smile and laughs at his own joke.
Irritated on her behalf, I squeeze her hand and angle forward.
“Have you ever listened to her podcast? Dude, she’s incredible.
And that’s only one facet of what she does.
She’s an ivy league–educated doctor of psychology with a focus on human sexual development.
Her specialty isn’t even pleasure; it’s trauma processing.
” I huff a sharp laugh. “Outside of the podcast, she’s everywhere: an emergency room response unit, meeting private clients, and a monthly virtual meeting for her book research.
Does she talk about the fun stuff too? Hell yeah, because that’s the best way to make conversation about the harder topics more approachable. ”
I squeeze her hand again, preventing her from pulling away to pick her nails, the action meant to reassure her that I’m not letting this stand.
“She’s got to make jokes and puns. How could she not when her last name rhymes with bean and people call female masturbation flicking the bean?
She’s marketing serious work in an approachable and stigma-free way because of men like you and me who benefit from the Madonna-whore complex.
” I brush my thumb over her knuckles, hoping she hears my sincere admiration. She’s a powerhouse.
When I finally shut up, the room is silent, and every eye is wide and locked on me. Though Prudence looks to be doing her best to keep her lips from twitching.
And the woman beside me, the one whose opinion is the only one I care about, watches, jaw slack and a mixture of amusement, awe, and maybe confusion in her expression.
“Did I cover it well enough?” I ask with a wink at Nessa.
“While we’re all here,” I say, focusing on Jim again, “Nessa and I should use this moment to update you on the progress we’ve made for Sunflower Fest. We’ve got all the usual vendors secured, and contracts are coming in.
There’s no shortage of options for new booths either.
We’ve been hitting the pavement and meeting with the folks from Woodbury, Mount Sunhope, and Pikesville as well. ”
I pick up my rocks glass and give it a swirl, building my command of the conversation.
“A few of the local colleges have asked about attending to raise money for fundraisers and charitable events. We plan to review the options later this week. Would love to share the top candidates with you all before we make the final selection.” I break out into a grin, knowing that in a matter of minutes, I’ve both defended my lady and successfully shocked her.
“Good, good.” Jim nods thoughtfully. “If I can do anything else, let me know. Oh, wonderful. Looks like Caleb is headed up. Let’s review the rules of the pitch meeting.”