Chapter Seven
“Devlin, you have to come with.” Prudence stood at Annabelle’s kitchen island having just poured two glasses of wine. “You sure you don’t need anything, AB?”
Annabelle held up her whiskey in reply. “I’m good for now, thanks.”
“I can’t go,” Devlin insisted again. Prudence had been trying to steer the conversation into going to the Atwood family compound for the better part of an hour and Devlin was recycling all her excuses, trying to think of a new way to say no. “Now that I know Gabe and I will be competing for the building, I need to stay here and get everything in order.”
“Grey’s family’s cabin is beautiful. It would be worth it to go just to see it.” Prudence tried a different tactic.
“It is,” Annabelle agreed.
“I’m telling you, though, the cabin is the best place for you to be to get everything done. Just think of it, an entire week dedicated to getting this sale.” Prudence handed her one of the wine glasses then sat in a chair that matched the mid-century modern leather sofa that Devlin and Annabelle occupied in the living room of Annabelle’s condo. “No work, no distractions.”
“Now you’re distracting me!” Devlin exclaimed. “You can’t keep ignoring my question of why you set me up like that at the store with Gabe this morning. I was supposed to be meeting you .”
“Oh, Dev, it wasn’t a set up. Not really, I mean.” Prudence looked sheepish. “Okay, it kinda was.”
“I knew it!”
“Hear me out, though. I was just trying to get you both to a neutral place where you could talk.”
“We already talked on Monday. What else was there to talk about?”
Annabelle leaned in, the ice in her tumbler clinking. “But what did you talk about then? You didn’t turn and hightail it, did you?”
“No, he needed help, so I helped him. I wasn’t going to leave him stranded.” She didn’t mention that her first instinct had been to do just that. “We talked about his house and the remodel.”
“You had to have talked about more than that,” Annabelle said.
“Nope, nothing but business.” Devlin flicked her eyes between the two women. “I don’t know what you’re playing at, but I made it clear that I didn’t want anything to do with Gabe. I’m a grown woman and I don’t need or want you two interfering with my love life.”
Prudence reached out and laid her hand over Devlin’s. “I don’t know why I did it. I heard you loud and clear this fall when you said you wanted to let it go, but then New Year’s happened, and we found out that you didn’t tell us the whole truth. That’s been weighing on me all these months later, that you didn’t trust us. Or don’t trust us.”
“Oh, Pru, I do trust you.” She grabbed Prudence and Annabelle’s hands. “I trust both of you. I shouldn’t have lied, and I wish I hadn’t, but you must know how much I’ve come to rely on you both.” She pulled away and grinned to soften the tone of the conversation as she added, “Then you go and pull a stunt like that.”
“I don’t know what came over me.” Prudence shook her head. “I’d just gotten done planning the shopping trip with Gabe and you called right after, and I did it without thinking.”
Annabelle stood and went to the kitchen to refill her whiskey. “We may have known Gabe since we were all in diapers but—and I’m a broken record because I say it so much—friendships don’t come around like ours and I value them more every day. Pulling stunts like this notwithstanding.”
“You didn’t know Pru was going to do this?” Devlin held up her wine glass and Annabelle brought the bottle back to the living room.
“No, I would’ve either talked her out of the harebrained scheme or made it one thousand times better.”
“I’d like to know what would’ve been better, believe it or not,” Devlin admitted.
“Well—”
“Anyway,” Prudence interrupted, pulling out her phone and showing the screen to Annabelle. “He sent me pictures of what you picked out. You have a good eye. You might not need me when you renovate the new space.”
“ If I can renovate the new space. And yes, I’ll need you, Pru. I just helped pick out the flooring and paint. Your expertise is what makes it all come together.”
“Well, it won’t be an if, especially if you come to the cabin and we can have some solid time to prepare your proposal. It’s just for a few days.”
Annabelle sighed. “If I go, will you go? I wasn’t planning on it, but I could use a break from Sebastian and if this helps you out, it’ll be worth missing work.”
Devlin’s eyes filled with tears as she looked at her two friends who were willing to drop everything to help her out.
“Do I need to kick someone’s ass?” Annabelle asked.
Devlin wiped her eyes. “No, I’m just touched that you’d both help me like this.”
Prudence displayed genuine confusion at this statement. “Of course we would, Dev. We just got done saying all of this! I couldn’t imagine not doing whatever I could to get this done for you.”
“Gabe has been your friend for a very long time—neither of you knew he was going to, or wanted to, expand?”
Prudence and Annabelle exchanged looks before Prudence took the lead. “Gabe doesn’t clue people into his plans until they’re in motion or already done. Take Finnegan’s, for example. I was surprised when he wanted to open the bar, I figured he would do woodworking or something with more manual labor.”
Devlin had always thought Gabe had the look of someone who worked hard physically but was surprised by this last comment. “Manual labor and woodworking? He mentioned that he did his house renovations himself, but I didn’t know he was that into it.”
“Yeah, he rebuilt the stairs at the house, he did the bar top at Finnegan’s, and a bunch of other little projects.”
Prudence added to this list. “He made my kitchen table and let me tell you, he makes sturdy furniture.”
Annabelle gave Prudence a small shove. “I don’t want to know how you know that Pru.”
“You already know because we’ve talked about it.”
Devlin scrunched her nose. “We did already get all the details of that one, AB.”
“Anyway, that leads me to my next topic I want to talk to you two about,” Prudence said.
“You and Grey fucking on a table leads us into our next topic?” Annabelle questioned.
Devlin started to laugh, needing to set her glass of wine down. “I do love you two. Okay, Pru, I’ll bite. What does your next topic have to do with, as AB put so delicately, you and Grey getting handsy in the kitchen?”
“Well, I realized I never asked either of you, I just assumed, but would you please be in our wedding?”
Annabelle squealed and Devlin was glad she wasn’t holding her wine because she jumped at the sound. “Yes!”
“Me too,” Devlin said.
“Oh good, I’m glad it’s official. Annabelle, if you could be my maid of honor and Devlin my bridesmaid?”
A flash ran through Devlin’s mind about the opposite wedding party and Annabelle must’ve thought the same because she asked, “Who did Grey choose?”
“Don’t worry, AB. Gabe is the Best Man.”
Clearly not assuaged by Prudence’s words, she asked again, “But who is his other groomsman?”
Prudence’s eyes shifted. “He asked Sebastian.”
“Are you serious? He’s weaseled his way into my friend group and now I must deal with him at your wedding, too?”
“I’ll be the one dealing with him,” Devlin broke in. “I promise you won’t have to worry about it.”
Devlin’s mind went to who she would be worrying about. The image of Gabe dressed in a tuxedo and reaching under her dress to pull down a garter came unbidden into her mind. The fact that she was wearing white in her vision was not lost on her. What the actual fuck, Watkins?
“It’ll be fine,” Prudence was saying. “I don’t think the wedding will be until later in the summer and I’m hoping it’ll be outdoors, so you should be able to keep as much distance between you and Sebastian as you want.”
“Is me on a beach in Fiji enough distance?”
“C’mon, Annabelle,” Devlin started, needing to break away from her daydreams of Gabe. “This is verging on ridiculous. You and Sebastian need to do it and get it out of your systems. Just give into it.”
Annabelle almost dropped her tumbler. “You have got to be kidding me right now, Devlin. I might throw up at the…the… thought of touching that man. He’s wholly incapable of love or any other emotion other than pure selfishness.”
Prudence raised her eyebrows. “She never said anything about love. Just a quick fuck so you can both move on.”
“You’ve both gone absolutely mental. There’s no way in hell we could function if we…” Annabelle faked a gag and stood. “I need to use the bathroom.”
Devlin smirked at Annabelle muttering “Off your fucking rockers” as she walked out of the room.
She knew Annabelle and Sebastain had history from before they worked together at the paper. “I know those two had at least one run in when you guys lived in Atlanta, but I feel like she’s not telling us the whole story.”
“Me neither. She won’t even talk about some things when I ask.” Prudence turned their conversation back to the subject from earlier. “Is everything really okay? I don’t want my dumb stunt to come between us.”
“Believe it or not, I didn’t have a bad time and if anything, it may have helped us get over being awkward together when we see each other next time, which will probably be for wedding preparations.”
“Really?”
“He was funny and thoughtful and—”
Annabelle walked back into the room, interrupting the apologies. “Okay, Pru. I’ll do everything I can—minus fornicating with that devil—to make sure your wedding is as beautiful as it should be.”
“You’re always the picture of grace,” Prudence told Annabelle, “and I knew this wouldn’t be any different. I’ll let you both know when I’m ready to start planning. I don’t have any idea what I want our wedding to look like.”
The image of Gabe reaching under her dress popped back into her head. Gabe’s calloused hand was rough on her thigh. They were hot from dancing and a bead of sweat showed on his brow as he locked his eyes with hers and inched his hand higher and higher, well past where the garter was. “I don’t believe it,” she almost shouted, trying to erase the picture from her mind. “You’ve never imagined what your wedding would look like?”
“When I was younger, I wanted a big princess dress, a long veil and a whole lot of lace. But now? None of it seems important as long as I’m getting married to Grey. Nothing else matters until those papers are signed. I don’t care about chicken or fish, or fonts, or table assignments.”
“That’s what we’re here for,” Annabelle said. “You’re Hollywood’s darling—the only woman who could snag the most sought-after actor and get him to give up being a bachelor, not to mention all his fame, for his small-town love.” She paused. “At least that’s how the stories go. They want a fairytale wedding to rival Grace Kelly or Princess Di.”
“I guess there’s that.” Prudence looked overwhelmed.
“Don’t worry, we’ll help you plan the whole thing, so nothing gets out of control,” Devlin promised. “A nice wedding doesn’t mean an elaborate affair, and we’ll make sure you get what you want.”
“Thanks, guys. The pressure of his decision is starting to affect me. I didn’t expect there would still be so much publicity.”
“Try not to let it bug you, Pru. Besides, Wyatt Reed has a new movie coming out and it’s supposed to be the big summer blockbuster. They’ll turn their attention back to him in no time.” Annabelle waved away Prudence’s worry.
“I know Grey doesn’t want the spotlight anymore but that’s going to piss him off.”
“They don’t get along?” Devlin asked. “I always thought that was for show.”
“I guess I wouldn’t say they don’t get along,” Prudence explained, “but they both started around the same time and the press just loves Wyatt and seems to be more critical of Greyson.”
“Wyatt is so handsome.” Annabelle’s face took on a dreamlike stare.
“Grey is handsome,” Prudence corrected her. “Wyatt is acceptable.”
“Whatever you say, dear. So, what are we doing about this cabin vacation?” Annabelle changed the subject.
Devlin pondered the idea of the cabin once again. She’d heard worse ideas and the more she thought about it, the better it sounded. “I guess it could work. Emma can handle the shop for a few days and her sister who helped at Christmas will be visiting then, and I know she’d help if she’s needed.”
Prudence almost jumped for joy. “Yes! We can get so much done in those two days.”
“I’ll be more than happy to take a full weekend off work. The cell reception is spotty, if I remember from the last time I was there?” Annabelle asked.
“Yep,” Prudence confirmed.
“Then his royal headache can’t get ahold of me for two days. This is sounding better by the minute,” Annabelle agreed.
“We won’t spend the whole-time writing.” Prudence nudged Annabelle. “You should have some time to work on your next novel.”
“Yes, how’s that going?” Devlin asked. “Have you submitted the last one to any publishers?”
“No, I haven’t,” Annabelle admitted. “I’m just enjoying writing now; I’ll deal with everything else when I’m ready. For now, I’m happy with a mini vacation.”
“I could use a girl’s weekend,” Devlin added, “but it’s not a girl’s weekend if we’re getting in between you and Grey’s alone time.”
“That’s okay, Ga—” Prudence’s eyes widened, a panicked look crossing her face. “Don’t hate me, Dev, I forgot!”
Devlin’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
Prudence looked chagrined. “It didn’t occur to me to tell you that Gabe will be there, too.”
“It didn’t occur to you?” Devlin asked, suspicion filling her voice. “We just got done talking about how you set me up this morning and you’re telling me you just forgot ?”
Annabelle’s eyes darted between the two. “Hey, ladies, we have plenty of room at the cabin. C’mon, Dev, you know she wouldn’t do that”—she raised her eyebrows— “again.”
Devlin sighed and, seeing no hint of deception on Prudence’s face, relented. “All right, I believe you.”
“It’ll be perfect, I promise, no distractions.” Prudence echoed her words from earlier.
Devlin could think of one major distraction. Gabe.