10 Suzy #2
She rolled her eyes fondly and took another sip of water.
Lincoln’s line of Home Team Hotels was another campus-based business, only this time he’d come up with the idea to build affordable college-themed hotels near college campuses, perfect for prospective student visits, parent weekends, and alumni events.
Each hotel was themed to the hilt in the school’s colors, had the school’s mascot available for photo ops at all times, and offered a variety of school swag baskets that could be set up in your room upon arrival.
Most of Sean’s job at the beginning had been negotiating licensing deals and guarding against copyright infringement claims. They’d started with five pilot hotels at some of the bigger US campuses, including Wisconsin (his, Sean, and Josh’s alma mater), UCLA, Rutgers, USF, and Alabama.
The business had quickly exploded, and they now had over a hundred Home Team Hotels in the US and were looking to expand to Europe.
The deal that was giving Sean such agita.
“I stayed at a Home Team at Boston University once.” Gemma wrinkled her nose in an endearing way. “Not really my thing.”
“Oh, Boston University is where Lily went!”
Gemma’s phone buzzed, and she swiftly answered a text. Suzy sipped her water.
“Have you seen Josh lately?” Suzy asked to break the silence. “I need him to introduce me to the talent.”
Gemma pulled a face. Suzy wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t like Coco P. or if she didn’t like Josh, but she couldn’t have blamed her either way.
“What?” she asked.
“I just don’t understand how you all are friends with that guy,” Gemma said. “He seems kinda . . . volatile.”
“You mean because he and Juliet fought? That’s just Josh.” She rinsed out her glass and placed it in the sink. “He’s a passionate person. And besides, those two fight all the time.”
“Okay, so doesn’t that kind of prove my point?” Gemma said.
Suzy felt heat rush up her neck. She didn’t love the fact that this stranger was standing here judging her friends.
But she also wasn’t telling Suzy something she didn’t already know.
Which kind of made it worse. It made her feel embarrassed.
Everyone knew Josh and Juliet had a complicated relationship.
Neither one of them was faithful, so Suzy always assumed it was an open relationship.
But then sometimes one or the other of them would lose it over a look or a touch or a rumor, and Juliet would move out for a week, or Josh would go on some extended work trip and no one would hear from him for days.
Suzy always wanted to ask Juliet about it, but she didn’t want to seem naive or voyeuristic, so she never had.
But she could ask Juliet how she was doing.
Whether she was okay. And she didn’t do that enough.
She opened her mouth to say something, but Gemma cut her off. “Sorry. It’s none of my business.”
Suzy’s internal temperature started to cool.
Gemma seemed like a good person. Even if it was irritating that she and her family were here interloping on her time with her friends.
She’d been there for Juliet earlier, after all.
Plus her daughters seemed well adjusted and cool and had great taste in dogs, and her husband seemed well meaning, if doofy.
It was possible Gemma should be given the benefit of the doubt.
“Listen, I’m sorry about the accent comment at lunch,” Suzy said. “The more you get to know me, you’ll see I have a crappy filter. But I mean well.”
“It’s okay. The more you get to know me, you’ll see I put my foot in my mouth at least once a day.”
Suzy smiled. “Wanna dance?”
Gemma smiled back. “Why not?”
They walked out of the kitchen and were halfway across the great room when Sean stormed in from the backyard, looking furious.
Grant, of all people, was following him, a look of determination on his face and that ever-present bottle of Shizzy’s in his hand.
Suzy and Gemma paused, exchanged a look, and then followed their husbands.
They went down the hallway off the foyer, which led to what Suzy and her friends referred to as Lincoln’s “manly man” rooms—his office and the billiards room, where he also kept his cigars and wine.
Sean and Grant went into the office, slammed the door, and immediately started yelling.
“It’s you! You’re the one who’s here to take my job!” Sean shouted.
“No, no, no. No one said anything about taking anyone else’s job,” Grant replied placatingly.
Suzy’s eyes widened as she looked at Gemma. What the hell was going on?
“You just said chief legal officer,” Sean replied. “Which, oh, hello, is my title!”
No way. The note was referring to Grant? So it was true. This was real. Lincoln was going to replace Sean. Which meant the woman standing next to her, whom she’d just started to like, was now her mortal enemy.
Did it also mean that Sean really was going to jail?
“Maybe I misunderstood,” Grant was saying. “All I know is, Lincoln asked me up here to talk about a job. Maybe we should go ask him about it.”
“Maybe we should!”
There was half a second in which Suzy registered the fact that the men had stopped talking and were coming right toward them before the door opened, and Sean and Grant froze in their tracks.
“What the hell are you doing out here?” Sean demanded.
“What the hell is Lincoln doing giving your job to this guy?” Suzy blurted, flinging a hand toward Grant’s papa bear–like frame. “Did you know about this?” she demanded, turning on Gemma. “Why didn’t you say anything when we were discussing the notes?”
“I didn’t know,” Gemma said matter-of-factly. “Let’s all just calm down.” She lifted her hands in a hold-your-horses gesture. “Let’s go back inside and talk about this like rational people.”
“I’m not sure rational is possible right now, hon,” Grant said pointedly. His face was a bit red, but it was impossible to tell whether it was from anger, drink, exertion, or the sun. “We need to talk to Lincoln.”
Gemma took a deep breath. “So you all go back inside, and I’ll go find him, okay?”
Dear God. Her level-headed maturity in this situation was going to make Suzy blow a gasket.
Sean blew out a sigh, hands on his hips. “Fine. We’ll wait here.”
“Good.”
Gemma turned to go. Suzy noticed she was shaking just the slightest bit. She grabbed Gemma’s wrist.
“I’m going with you.”
She wasn’t sure why, but suddenly she didn’t want to let Gemma Sutherland out of her sight.