Three
When my phone rang minutes after I spoke to Sam, I was surprised to see Aaron Sutter’s number.
There had been a time, before we reconnected, when we were just exes, that I would have never thought he would ever be in the Friend column.
But it turned out that he wanted me in his life, and I wanted him in mine, so we had both worked at it. I was glad; he was worth it.
“Hey,” I greeted him. “What’s up?”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at home. Why?”
“I just fired the people who were in charge of my art auction at Darwin Manor next month, and I wanted to know if you and Dylan and Fal wanted it before I went out and shopped around for bids.”
“I told you to give us that, even when you were first talking about it.”
“Yes, but it seemed too big for your little company.”
I hung up on him.
He called back twenty seconds later. “What was that about?”
“Little company?” I was indignant.
“Jory—”
“I hate it when you talk down to me,” I said, trying not to snarl.
“I hate it when you hang up on me!”
“So?”
“So?” he growled on his end. “Fine,” he snapped at me. “The account is yours, but if you screw—”
“I’m sorry. When, precisely, have I ever not come through for you?”
He grunted but said nothing.
“I’ll need the deposit transferred tomorrow and all the specifications for the event.” I was using my Stepford wife voice just to piss him off, the perky one.
“Fine.”
“Good.”
There was a silence—our usual one, where we both decided to climb down off our high horses.
“So, are you hungry?” he finally said. “Would you like to have lunch?”
“I can’t. I wish I could. I gotta go down to look at my van and get a rental.”
“Why are you renting anything?”
So, I explained about the man freaking out from road rage earlier and how I had gotten knocked out in the stupidest maneuver ever and then continued on about the most important part, where I told him all about Kevin Dwyer.
“Shall I come collect you?”
“No, that’s okay. I—”
“I don’t mind,” he told me. “And this way, I can check out Dwyer on my way over.”
“What do you mean?” He had my interest.
“Well, we can do some background research.”
“Like google him?”
“More than that. I have people whose only job is to check out other people for me. You know this.”
“Yeah, okay, come get me.”
“Be right there.”
His be right there took him half an hour to reach me, but I did some last-minute packing with all four suitcases on the bed in the guest room—mine, Sam’s, and one for each of the kids.
Sam had said that my clothes and his could go in together, but I had shoes to pack, and jackets, and …
he gave up and packed a duffel bag since I was taking a garment bag for his suit and mine.
In Aaron’s immaculately kept vintage Lincoln Town Car, I greeted his driver, Miguel, who had worked for him for years.
“Nice to see you, Mr. Harcourt.” He smiled as he closed the door behind me.
“Are you still driving this old thing, Miguel?” I asked as he got in.
“We keep upgrading it; don’t let the outside fool you.”
“Oh, no, I get that I’m in Batman’s car.”
He chuckled as Aaron patted my leg in hello and passed me his iPad. There was Kevin Dwyer, MD, and all his stats.
“This is just—”
“Scroll to page two,” he said drolly.
“Where are we going?” Miguel asked from the front seat.
I passed Aaron the card, which he read to Miguel before the two of them started discussing rental places. Miguel didn’t like where my car was and suggested to Aaron that we move it to a place he knew. That was as much as I listened to since I was reading.
Apparently, Sam had been under surveillance when he was in Colombia, and those pictures, classified though they were, were not off-limits to the people who worked for Aaron Sutter.
Sam looked younger but mostly the same, and Kevin Dwyer looked even better, which was amazing.
It was hard to see the way he smiled at Sam in the pictures, touched him, and how close they walked together.
The thing that kept me from losing it though was the look in Sam’s eyes.
The smile did not reach them. The instant I recognized that, realized that I was looking at a lack of caring, I was filled with very unbecoming pride.
Clearly, whatever Kevin Dwyer thought had been between them was not the case.
Sam Kage had never been in love with him, and I knew what I was talking about.
I could say for certain what love looked like on the man.
“You look happy.”
I grunted at Aaron and then looked over Kevin’s relationship history since Sam. Surprisingly, there wasn’t one. It was as though he’d poofed out of existence before he popped back up in Chicago six months ago. “That’s weird, huh?”
“The way he just disappeared after Sam left Colombia?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought that was strange, too, but I have good people and asked them to dig.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes, and if we find anything, I’ll let you know.”
“Okay.” I exhaled.
“All better now?”
I nodded and passed the iPad back to him. “Thank you. It’s cheating, what I just did, but thanks anyway.”
“There should be benefits to being friends with me, yes?”
I nodded and leaned into him, bumping his shoulder. “You’re the best.”
“I keep telling you that.”
I laughed at him as we came to a stop. “Yeah, right. You don’t want me anymore, Sutter. I have baggage now—little people and a cat.”
“I like both of your children, and I suspect if I got Kola a race car and Hannah a pony, they would love me too. Your cat just needs to be shot up with tranquilizers to mellow him out.”
“You want to medicate my cat?”
“I suspect anyone who’s been in your home would want to.”
I smiled as I got out, Miguel holding the door for me. Aaron followed.
“He’s very cute, as well as a trifle psychotic. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yeah, all right.”
“Excellent,” he said smugly, buttoning his suit jacket before pulling on his topcoat and scarf. “Shall we?”
I realized I had no idea where we were. It looked like a car dealership, not a rental place. “What’s going on?”
“We’re getting you a new van.”
“But I like mine. I just need a rental.”
“You like your Nissan thing?”
“Yes, I love it.”
He grunted, and the glass doors of what I could see was a Mercedes-Benz dealership slid open.
“Oh for crissakes, Aaron, I just need a rental.”
But there was a team of people in front of us—a man and three women—and when one of the three asked for my driver’s license, I got out my wallet and passed it to her.
Really, fighting with Aaron—especially in front of other people—was useless unless I was prepared to bolt, which I didn’t do anymore.
“I’m hungry,” I told him twenty minutes later.
“We’ll go get beef sandwiches at Al’s after this, all right?” He offered it like I was twelve instead of thirty-two.
I looked over at Miguel. “You want that?”
“My favorite,” he assured me. “Now pay attention. The lady asked you what color.”
“Black,” I told her.
“How about steel-gray metallic instead?” She tipped her head and smiled at me.
I groaned.
Driving the new Mercedes-Benz R-Class minivan out of the dealership, I was hazy on whether it was a rental or not.
It seemed to be all paid for and registered in my name, but I had been told very firmly that I could return it at any time during the month.
I had a printout of an insurance card in the glove compartment, and Miguel had left to go to wherever my Nissan was to get everything from it and meet us at Al’s.
I wasn’t worried—Sam had a set of car seats in his enormous SUV that we would take with us instead of the set from my van—if needed.
The food had just reached the table when Miguel joined us at Al’s. He had me give my keys to two guys who came to the table, and my guess was that, while we ate, they moved everything.
“It must be nice to have staff,” I told Aaron.
“Of course it is.” He smirked at me.
I let it go, asked him how much the van was, and he answered me with his mouth full of spicy beef sandwich.
“I love the peppers,” he told me when he swallowed.
“Aaron.”
He knocked his knee against mine under the table. “You know, Jory, the back of your van was completely crushed in.”
I looked at Miguel. “It was?”
He made a noise as he was chewing. “Yeah. Somebody plowed into you from behind, huh?”
I didn’t remember that.
“You know a Mercedes is built like a tank, yeah? The kids would be safe.”
When I looked back at Aaron, he waggled his eyebrows at me.
“I can buy my own new minivan if I need to with the insurance money. As soon as I get it, this one goes back.”
“Whatever you want,” Aaron agreed.
Once I was back in the new van, I realized that everything was there—the carved, ivory-colored agate butterfly that hung from the mirror, the car seats, Kola’s gi, two sets of roller skates, a cat carrier, a first aid kit, and all my coupons from the glove compartment.
“And you didn’t have AAA, but you do now. I had the number and your membership card downloaded into your phone,” Aaron said from where he was leaning into my open window.
“I don’t need you to take care of me.”
“I’m well aware.”
I squinted at him. “Did you just buy me a van, or is this a rental?”
“I bought you a van.”
My sigh was long. “I’m going to take it back as soon as I get my insurance money and get a new van.”
“Like I said, if you decide that’s best, that’s fine with me.”
“It’s not fine with you.”
“No, it’s not, but I’ve never had any luck giving you gifts.”
“I can’t fall in love with it. I can’t afford it.”
“You may give me what you get for your van from the insurance company, and we’ll call it even.”
“But it wouldn’t be.”
“But it could be,” he said, his eyes locked on mine. “For once.”
“Aaron—”
“If the roles were reversed, would you buy me a new van? I mean, if I had the kids and had a strict monthly budget, would you do it for me?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“Do what you want,” he said, about to lean back.
I grabbed hold of his forearm. “Don’t be a dick.”
“Then let me do something for you,” he grumbled at me. “I have a lot of money, and I do for my family and friends because I can. I don’t expect you to put out just because I—”