Chapter 2
Kate
My cousins Carrie and Marni give me one final wave before heading off in a cab down Fifth Avenue.
I turn around and smile at Eden and Ava as Salem takes a work phone call.
The last of the sun’s rays disappear behind one of the buildings around us, and I glance down at my watch to see if there’s still time for me to pop into the travel agent’s office nearby.
“Are you joining us for an impromptu girls’ night out?” Ava asks, making Eden chuckle.
Nudging her friend, she says, “Impromptu? We’ve been planning this for weeks. As soon as Kate asked us to meet her tonight, we decided we were going to make it a girls’ night.”
Ava waves away her comment and focuses her attention on me. “Yeah, yeah. We deserve a night out. So what do you say, Kate? Want to join us for some drinks at a restaurant Eden claims is to die for?”
Salem looks over at us and nods. “Count me in! I’ll be done with this call in a second.”
Something akin to peer pressure settles into me, but I shake my head, determined to get my secret errand complete before I go home tonight. “I wish I could, but I have a parent meeting. I have to go back to school right now, in fact.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Eden’s eyebrows shoot up into her forehead. “At seven o’clock at night? That school better be paying you well for after-hours service like this.”
Before I can add more to my lie, she turns to Ava and laughs. “Remember how our teachers at school used to practically disappear right after school let out? They couldn’t wait to be rid of us.”
“Do you blame them? We weren’t bad, but they had to deal with the five King brothers and countless other teenage boys. You’d speed out of the faculty parking lot as soon as you could too after a day with them.”
I nod, remembering how devilish Marius and Theo King were back in school. Those poor teachers. They had good reason to want to escape from our prep school as soon as possible once the final bell rang.
Eden laughs. “I would have had a drinking problem if I was one of our teachers in high school.”
Finished with her phone call, Salem rejoins the group as cars speed by us. “You know, Kellen never talks about when he was a teenager. I’d always assumed it was because he thought I’d be jealous, which is ridiculous, but was he as bad as I imagine back then?”
All three of us turn our heads to look at her and nod. “He wasn’t as bad as Marius, but yeah, he was a hellraiser. Always pranking people and doing stupid things,” Eden answers.
Salem rolls her eyes. “Just as I thought.”
“The only King who wasn’t a thorn in every teacher’s side was Ronan,” Ava says sweetly, touching my arm. “You got the good brother.”
Finally, I say, “I think it was probably like their parents when it came to teachers. They all learned what to do after the first four, so by the time Ronan came along, they knew what to expect and how to act accordingly.”
All three women nod, and Eden shrugs. “You’re probably right. I know that’s what happened with my parents, although I think by the time I came along they’d just basically given up on discipline after my brothers.”
Ava throws her head back and laughs. “How can you possibly be that blind? You’re the youngest of all the kids and the only girl. That explains why they spoiled you, especially your father.”
Eden grins like a cat who just ate a canary. “Well, there’s that too.”
“So, where are we headed?” Salem asks, clearly impatient to get girls’ night going.
I look at my watch again and sigh. “I wish I could go with you. Have a good time!”
“We wish you could come, but this is why you’re such a great teacher,” Ava says before leaning in to hug me.
“Next time, I’m right there with you guys.”
Eden and Salem give me a hug, and then the three women set off on their way toward whatever restaurant they said they wanted to try. I turn to walk toward the travel agent’s office, but my cell phone vibrates in my jacket pocket. Fishing it out, I see it’s my sister.
“Hey, Kelly. I’m a little busy right now. Did you get everything straightened out with the dress shop?”
My sister, who will also be my maid of honor at my wedding in a month’s time, sighs. “Yes and no. Yes, they finally fixed the length of the dress, but no, they can’t seem to figure out that I’m not Dolly Parton. I’m still swimming in the damn thing, Kate!”
Ever since the bridesmaids’ dresses arrived, Kelly’s has been a problem. Everyone else went in for their fitting and were finished. My sister has been to that dress shop three times, and still her dress isn’t right.
Then again, if she hadn’t gone on that crash diet to lose fifteen pounds before my wedding day, none of this would be an issue. I consider mentioning that, but she’s been so excited about looking her best for my big day that I don’t have the heart to say anything.
Not that I think she had to lose an ounce for my day or any other day.
My sister’s been under a lot of pressure since she started medical school, and the long hours caused her to put on a few pounds, but she looked fantastic before the weight loss.
The problem was she didn’t think she did, so the diet became all she could focus on.
She’s lost the fifteen pounds and looks great, but it’s wreaking havoc on her fitting into the maid of honor dress.
I thought about joking with the lady at the shop that maybe she could put in some elastic in the back, but she’s a very serious woman and that joke may not have gone over well after all the hassle Kelly has given her.
“Maybe a padded bra?” I suggest before sidestepping a pile of rocks some children probably left in the middle of the sidewalk.
“Hmmm…I never had to wear one before, but since it’s obvious that my boobs and my ass are the parts of my body that lose weight first, some push up bra action might be the answer.”
I keep walking, silently hoping she doesn’t plan to wear something to make her behind bigger. That has nothing but wardrobe malfunction written all over it. I don’t need that on my wedding day.
“Sorry I had to miss your bridesmaid get-together tonight. I would have come if I could, but I’m swamped with school.”
“It’s okay. You’re the maid of honor, so you get a one-on-one briefing,” I say with a chuckle.
“Can we make it Monday night at that seafood restaurant I’ve been seeing ads for all over the place? What is it? Finnegan’s? Fitz’s? It’s something with an F. I’ve been dying for clams and a good crab bisque.”
I have no idea where she’s talking about, but I agree anyway since I have to get off the phone to go into the travel agent’s office. “Sure! Hey, I have to go meet with a student and their parents. Text me when you figure out the name of the restaurant and we can meet at say seven Monday night?”
“Sounds good! I have to get back to work now too. See you Monday night!”
That issue out of the way, I toss my phone into my bag and head inside the building in front of me. I want to set up something special with the travel agent to surprise Ronan on our honeymoon to Aruba.
“Kate, right on time! Come sit down and talk to me about what this surprise for that soon-to-be husband of yours is,” Sharon says with her usual enthusiasm as she waves me over to her desk.
Her office walls are covered with gorgeous posters of every place on the planet, and each time I come to see her, I mentally make my bucket list of places Ronan and I will go on vacation bigger.
One of Venice catches my eye tonight, and for a moment, the fantasy of the two of us floating along the Grand Canal in a gondola fills my mind.
I sit down in the cushy black chair in front of Sharon’s desk and set my bag down on the floor beside me. “I saw something about snorkeling with turtles, and I know Ronan would love that. Can you set that up for me? Just don’t list it anywhere that he can see on the plans so he’s surprised.”
She smiles and begins tapping away on her computer keyboard as I think about how happy he’s going to be when he finds out about the turtles.
Everything about our honeymoon has been arranged by him, which means it’s only the best Aruba can offer, and while I know a few hours snorkeling and seeing turtles might not sound like much, I still think he’s going to be thrilled with it since he loves my surprises.
Sharon and I talk about the wedding and all our plans for much longer than I planned, so it’s nearly eight before I thank her and head back toward my school to call for the car service Ronan set up for me.
I take my time, even though it’s getting chilly, loving the sights of the city at night just as I always have from the first time my parents brought my sister and me to see our first Broadway play.
I’ll never forget how sparkly everything looked that night when we came out after seeing Lion King.
It seemed like Manhattan had lit up a million twinkly lights just for us.
Lost in thought, I trip over that pile of rocks I’d carefully walked around on my way to the travel agent’s office. Thankfully, I catch myself before the hit the sidewalk. Shaking my head, I look at the rocks and smile at my foolishness.
Not two seconds after I recover from my near fall, I feel a hand touch my right arm.
I quickly look to see who it is, but before I can focus on their face, a man yanks me into a darkened spot on the side of a building.
My heart beats wildly as terror fills my mind.
I’ve spent nearly all my life doing things in the city, but I’ve never been attacked.
It’s just not something that happens as much as people outside of New York City think it does.