Teagan
Her mom, who was racing around the place, ticking things off her checklist, screeched to a halt. “Wait a minute,” she said, looking confused. “Was that a compliment?”
Her mom gave her a warning look, which turned into a bright smile. “Well, hello there, birthday boy. Welcome to your party!”
Imogen, Josh’s mom, was openly thrilled. “I love bossa nova. And don’t you look wonderful in that cute little stewardess dress.”
Ella flushed at the praise, then stepped back and threw her hands out in presentation mode.
“Let me welcome you to Regis Airlines’ Golden Age of Flight.
Your flight attendants are looking forward to serving you the finest hors d’oeuvres from their carts.
And at the bar, you’ll find the evening’s signature cocktail: the Paper Plane. ”
“This is off the charts, Ms. Emerson,” Josh said. Sincerely. For once. “It’s even better than I imagined. Thank you so much for pulling this together.”
Teagan was glad he looked happy. Her mom would be crushed if things had gone another way. “A lovely party for a lovely young man.” She gave Teagan a pointed look.
No, Mother. She was not going there.
Josh, annoyingly, caught the exchange and smirked at her.
She’d never realized quite how much someone could love themselves until she’d met Josh Regis.
“If you’ll excuse me,” she said, throwing Josh her most withering look, “I’m going to see if the crew are here.
” She was on Quaid duty. Principal Cabrera was on the invite list, so someone had to make sure he was on his best behavior.
“I’ve got to find Britney.”
Great. They both had places to go and things to do. So why were they both still standing here? He put on an innocent smile. One that still looked smug seeing as it was attached to the rest of his face. “Coxie,” he drawled, “did you know that I’m a lovely young man?”
She gave him an adoring smile. “So was Ted Bundy.”
His blue eyes glinted, as delighted as she was to be on familiar ground. Taking each other down a notch. “Why are you here? I don’t remember inviting you.”
“Your mom did,” she parried. “She needed someone charming at the party.” She pointed at a plane at the far end of the hangar. “I think I just saw Britney. Don’t want to keep your Queen Bee waiting, do you? I hear they sting.”
Josh gave her a weird look. Had she just sounded jealous?
No. Not a chance. If she was going to set her sights on anyone at Easton, it would be someone more like Cam.
Not that she would actually consider dating anyone on her crew team.
There was something kind of gross her dad used to say about not dipping your oar into your own boat.
She looked around for Juliet, her unofficial plus-one.
Juliet had taken to spending her free time over at Teagan’s.
Said the “mom vibes” helped her study. Which was both hilarious (because Ella never remembered to remind Teagan to do her homework) and heartbreaking (because if setting fire to an insanely expensive car didn’t grab your parents’ attention, what would?).
She found her behind one of the bars. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have a fishbowl for that?” Teagan asked after Juliet decanted half a bottle of red into an enormous goblet.
“Hey.” Juliet gave the wine a swirl, wafted the scent of the wine toward her, and sighed happily. “I love a fruity bouquet. What?” She feigned being affronted when Teagan laughed. “My nanny trained as a sommelier. I have a very sophisticated palate.”
“Impressive.” Ella stopped an empty trolley in front of them. “And illegal.”
“My parents are socialites,” Juliet protested. “I could write a PhD on parties. This one would be in it as an example of how a party goes wrong when there aren’t any servers.”
Teagan saw the panic in her mom’s eyes. “They are coming, right?”
Ella checked over her shoulder to make sure no one was listening.
“They’re on their way from the other venue.
” Her face crumpled, as if admitting the mistake gave the tears she’d been keeping at bay permission to rise.
“When Josh changed the party plans, I was so busy sorting everything out, I forgot to send them the new address. I’ve done it now, but—” They all looked toward the vast entryway into the hangar. Guests were flooding in now.
The bars were beginning to look like free-for-alls at a frat party.
Juliet cackled. “I once went to a Versace after-party with lots of glasses and no booze. It took about fifteen minutes before the models turned the champagne flutes into shivs.”
Teagan gave her a “not helpful” stare. When she turned back to her mom, she started to back away. She knew that look. The one that said, I’ve had an idea. “No, Mom. No way.”
“What?” Her mom played innocent. “It’ll be fun.
You’d look cute in one of these uniforms.” Cute or not, Teagan knew she would do it.
If her mom didn’t get paid, Teagan would have to withdraw from school.
But even if the two of them flew around the hangar throwing vol-au-vents at people, there was no way they could keep all the guests happy. A fact Ella had already faced.
“Juliet,” Ella purred, putting on a warm-cookies-and-milk smile. “How’d you like to do some research for that PhD of yours?”