Chapter 10
LAURA
Bringing my boss to my sister’s engagement party might be a bad idea.
My parents will probably be scandalized at the idea of me banging my own direct boss…at the same time, one of their daughters being involved with a billionaire CEO might be enough to tip the scales in my favor.
Troy picks me up in his car at six. I’m nervous the whole drive to my parents house for some reason, and Troy seems to pick up on it because he doesn’t offer any sarcastic quips or raised eyebrows.
Instead, we drive in comfortable silence.
When we pull into the drive, he rests his hand on my knee and my heart stops.
“What’s our story?” he asks.
“We’ve been dating for a little while. It’s still early, but they don’t need to know this is our very first date. Let’s say…six weeks? Early and fun, nothing too serious,” I say.
He nods.
“I can do that.”
“Thank you,” I confess. “I was dreading this party.”
“Kind of weird of them,” he muses. “To hold it on your birthday. Or, is it a combination party? Engagement party plus birthday?”
I snort.
“No,” I say. “Definitely not a combination party.”
He nods, frowning, as though even he – Troy Dixon, the world’s biggest jerk – feels like my whole family ignoring my birthday in favor of my sister’s engagement is just a step too far.
We get out of the car together, and immediately I regret everything.
Not because Troy looks bad.
Quite the opposite.
The man looks unfairly hot standing beneath the glow of my parents' porch light. His dark suit jacket is gone, sleeves rolled to his forearms, expensive watch glinting when he reaches for the small gift bag he'd somehow acquired without me noticing.
Troy Dixon looks exactly like the kind of man my mother would adore. Successful. Polished.
Wealthy.
The sort of man she wished I'd bring home instead of the musicians, bartenders, and artists that I’ve dated in the past.
"Too late to fake a medical emergency?" I ask.
Troy glances at me.
"For me or for you?"
"Both."
His mouth twitches. My stomach does a weird little flip.
"Come on," he says, putting his hand on the small of my back. "How bad can it be?"
The front door swings open before I can answer.
My mother appears…and immediately freezes. Her eyes land on Troy, traveling up and down his body like she's conducting a detailed inspection.
"Laura," she says in her bourgeois voice. “Who is this?”
Showtime. I’d rehearsed how this would go in my head a hundred times. But now that the moment has come, I’ve forgotten all of my preplanned speeches.
“Uh, Mom…this is Troy."
"Troy Dixon," Troy supplies smoothly, extending his hand.
My mother's eyes widen.
“Oh!”
The way she says that one short word tells me everything. I should have realized she’d known who he is. Half the city knows Troy’s name and net worth.
"Troy Dixon," she repeats brightly. “Well! Wow. Come in! Please!”
She’s more excited to meet my fake boyfriend than she’s ever seemed when she welcomed me home. Ever.
Inside, the house is packed with relatives and family friends. A giant banner reading CONGRATULATIONS ALLISON Mom and Dad have completely forgotten my birthday. And Dad didn’t even bother to say hello to me before schmoozing with my date.
Even though I expected this, it still hurts.
Across the room, I spot Allison. She looks…stunning. Of course. She always does. With the perfect fiance, Doug, attached to her arm.
She spots me and then Troy…and her eyes narrow.
She crosses the room in an instant. Unlike Mom and Dad, her attention is directly on me when she stops in front of us, ignoring Troy entirely.
“Seriously?” she hisses in my direction. “You want to upstage me today of all days?”
“What?” I ask faintly.
My heart is racing. I’m suddenly keenly aware of all of the eyes in the room that had been watching Troy. They all seem to be watching me and Allison now.
“Oh, please,” Allison scoffs. “You show up with Troy Freaking Dixon to my engagement party and expect me to believe that's a coincidence?”
I blink at her.
“First of all, Mom texted me about this party six hours ago,” I say.
“That doesn't matter.”
“It does. You’re insinuating that I somehow arranged to upstage you at this party, a party that I was just told about and barely had time to get ready for?”
“Whatever,” she snaps.
I stare at my sister, trying to understand how her brain got from I brought a date to I masterminded some elaborate plot to steal attention from her engagement.
Around us, the room has gone awkwardly quiet.
Doug clears his throat.
“Allison-”
“No,” she says sharply. “It's always something with her.”
“You've got to be kidding me,” I say.
“Am I?” Allison folds her arms. “Every major event somehow becomes about Laura.”
I laugh at the absurdity. All my life, I’ve lived in my older sister’s shadow.
“Name one,” I shoot back, surprising myself with the boldness in my voice.
Laura seems surprised too. Her mouth opens…then closes.
“Exactly,” I glare.
She flushes.
“You dropped out of college twice. Gave up on medical school. Moved into that crummy little apartment. Still drive the same old truck that you drove in high school. Working an entry level, dead end job.”
I flinch slightly, feeling humiliated as Troy and the rest of the room listen to my failures listed off in rapid succession.
“All true,” I say, taking a deep breath. “But I’m still not seeing how any of that affected you.”
“You always do this,” Allison says, shaking her head.
“Do what?”
“Make everyone feel sorry for you. Make everyone worry about you. Because you couldn’t succeed and do anything worthwhile for attention, you decided to self-destruct instead!”
Troy clears his throat and Allison’s face snaps towards him. He hands her the little gift bag.
“For you and Doug,” he says, pulling me closer to his side. “Congratulations on all of your…happiness. If you don’t mind, Laura and I are leaving now. We’ve got a plane to catch.”