Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
PETRA
As I navigate the twisting mountain roads leading up to the house Lauren and Josh built overlooking the valley, I try not to worry about how much more I have to do before I drive down to LA tomorrow.
I’ve been so busy that I don’t think I’ve slept more than four or five hours a night since coming home, but that means I also haven’t had time to dwell on the situation with Aleksandr. I haven’t had time to cry since getting off the phone with Sierra on Sunday afternoon and launching into work mode.
And it’s better this way. It’s better to be busy.
Morgan found me a great house on Airbnb, so I’ve rented that for the next couple months.
I’d thought I’d wait until I got down there to find a place, but this is less taxing on me at a time when I don’t feel like I could take one more thing.
I’ve spent the last two days getting everything set up at work: assigning different members of my team to be the official point person for each of the events we’ve taken on, getting Morgan up to speed with all the finance-related parts of the business so she can take care of some of that for me while I’m gone.
It still feels like I’m juggling a hundred more balls, and I’m worried I’ll drop one of them and they’ll break.
But I’m sure once I’m settled in LA, this will all feel more doable.
I pull up the driveway to the beautiful wooden mountain house Josh designed, marveling at the huge windows and their view of the valley, and park in front of the three-car garage.
The second my car is in park, my phone buzzes with a text message. It’s from CeCe, which is funny because I didn’t even realize that I had her number in my phone. It must have been from years ago, back when we had the same circle of friends in New York.
CeCe
Hey Petra! Tony and I miss Stella. Alex is so unaccommodating about us visiting her. Think you could talk to him about that?
A shudder of revulsion runs through me. The way we left things after their last visit, I can’t believe she’d dare ask.
There is something just not right about Tony.
The way he looks at Stella gives me the creeps, and the thought of her having to see them again, much less ever ending up with them, is almost enough to make me hop on the first flight back to New York just to protect her myself.
I don’t respond. Instead, I start a text to my favorite private investigator friend.
Petra
I know you haven’t heard from me in a while, but how would you feel about helping an old friend out?
Alicia
Girl, you’re my favorite person to help out. What do you need?
Petra
Are you opposed to getting dirt on high-profile assholes?
Alicia
Last name, please?
Petra
Gionetti.
Alicia
Like shipping tycoon Gionetti?
Petra
His son, Tony. He’s married to a friend’s deceased sister-in-law’s sister (long story).
I need you to find a reason he would not be a suitable guardian for the deceased sister-in-law’s young daughter.
Or find something on Tony’s wife, Cecelia.
Anything that could be used to prevent them from seeing her or ever getting guardianship.
Alicia
Happy to help. I have a few other priority cases right now. On a scale of one to life and death, where does this fall?
Petra
Not life and death, but ASAP?
Alicia
On it. I’ll get back to you when I have something.
Petra
You really are the best, and the best at what you do.
Alicia
I know. You take care of yourself.
Petra
You too, thanks!
I throw my phone in my purse, relieved to know Alicia is looking into this for me.
After what she was able to find on Ryan back when he was stealing from me and others, I’m confident that if there is something to find here, she’ll dig it up.
And I will have something that can help Aleksandr even if I can’t be there in person to help.
“You’re here!” Lauren says when she flings open the front door and meets me on the wide front porch.
Her red hair hangs well past her shoulders and with her flat riding boots on, she barely comes up to my shoulders.
I wrap her in a hug and she says, “I missed you. First, you desert me for three weeks, and now you’re moving to LA? ”
“It’s just for a couple months,” I tell her as I pull back and look down at her.
She’s wearing a lightweight black sweater dress with a deep V-neck and it shows off her creamy skin and motherly curves perfectly.
“Also,” I tell her, “that dress is sexy as hell on you. Motherhood gave you a great rack.”
A laugh bursts out of her, and in Lauren-like fashion it sounds like it came from the mouth of a fairy.
“I can confidently tell you that big boobs are the only physical perk of having grown two tiny humans in my body. This dress”—she points to the part that wraps around her waist like a belt—“hides many of the flaws.”
“Well, personally, I think you’re even sexier now that you’ve had kids.” I think back to the month the girls spent in the NICU after they were born, and now they are healthy and strong and already crawling. “And it was all worth it for the girls.”
I don’t miss her side-eye. A few months ago, I told her that watching her pregnancy convinced me I never wanted to have children.
I was trying to sympathize with what a terrible pregnancy she’d had, but I’d already decided I didn’t want kids, and even I can admit it was a shitty thing to say.
Especially now that I’ve spent the last few weeks around Stella, and could easily imagine what a mother-daughter relationship would be like if it were with her. Maybe kids aren’t so bad after all?
“What’s gotten into you? Is this because of that little girl you were holding at that hockey game?”
I roll my head back and look at the beadboard ceiling of the porch. Fuck. Sometimes it feels impossible to keep secrets with my girlfriends.
“I saw the video of you and Alex Ivanov locking eyes,” Lauren says when I don’t respond, “and when I texted Jackson and Sierra to see if one of them knew what was going on, Sierra told us that you didn’t want to talk about it yet. So neither Jackson nor I pushed.”
Even after I told Sierra what was going on the other day, she didn’t run back and tell Jackson or Lauren. Interesting.
“Well, we’ve got some stuff to catch up on then,” I tell her as I follow her through the entryway.
“Good,” she says, and it’s then that I notice the voices coming from her kitchen. Obviously, it’s not just Josh in there. “Because, even though I know how you hate surprises, I invited some friends.”
We round the corner and Jackson and Sierra are squealing and rushing toward me. “What are you doing here?” I ask as they envelop me and Lauren in a group hug. Over their shoulders, I see Nate, Beau, and Josh watching us closely.
“You didn’t think you were moving to LA without saying goodbye, did you?” Jackson asks.
“But you don’t even live here anymore,” I say, looking between her and Sierra.
“It doesn’t matter where we live,” Sierra says. “No way we’re letting a huge milestone like this go by without being here to celebrate with you.”
“But I thought you were in Europe or something?”
“Nope, Beau and I are in Blackstone, staying with Jackson and Nate for a while before we head down to Costa Rica.” I marvel at the one-eighty Sierra’s done over the past couple months, going from an uptight planner who had to stick to the path she’d set for herself, to someone who can travel the globe with her snowboarding boyfriend, making up their itinerary as they go.
“Surf season’s starting for Beau and I want to learn to scuba dive. ”
“And we haven’t all been together since Sierra’s birthday,” Jackson says. “Three months feels like forever to not see all your best friends.” She wraps her arms around us for another squeeze, and I’m caught off guard at how uncharacteristically emotional Jackson’s being.
“You okay?” I ask her quietly.
“I’m great,” she says, “it’s just that everything is changing so fast for everyone.”
Josh lures us further into the kitchen with the offer of drinks, and we stand around the large kitchen island grazing on the appetizers Lauren’s set up on the counter. She’s not big on cooking, but she can put together a mean predinner spread and she’s the queen of interesting salads.
I add more dip to a cracker and take in the scene around me. It’s interesting watching the energy in the room—it’s all happiness and love.
Nate has his arm wrapped around Jackson’s lower back and is absently stroking her hip with his thumb.
The newlywed period is treating them well.
I have known them since they were barely twenty, back when their love and their tempers both burned equally bright.
And now, a decade later, I’m confident their seasoned love is the real deal.
They’re going to be the ones we watch to see how it’s done.
Next to them, Beau is feeding Sierra a piece of chicken and as she sucks the barbecue sauce off his fingers, he dips his head toward her ear.
Given how his body is pressed up against her hip, I don’t need much imagination to guess what he’s saying.
I’ve never seen a guy so whipped over a girl as Beau is with Sierra, and I’ve never known anyone who deserved that adoration more than she does.
Josh and Lauren had a whirlwind romance and were married only a few months after they met, but that was years ago, before I knew them.
Since then, they suffered through miscarriages and infertility treatments together.
I don’t know Josh nearly as well as I know Lauren, but I see the protective way he hovers around her, always wanting to make sure she’s safe and cared for.