Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Mika and I then walked them to the door with their promises they were “all over it” the instant Paloma returned to the city or pulled any shenanigans.
We did cheek touches, but I gave Teddy a hug, before I closed the door to them and turned to Mika.
“Would you like to call Tom over to have dinner with us? Alyona’s made a roast. I’m sure it’ll stretch.”
“I’m supposed to be heading to Hale and Elsa’s. Hale’s cooking his bolognaise tonight.”
Hale could have his own restaurant, he was that good of a cook.
“I didn’t leave with the guys because you know what they were talking about when it comes to Ned, and I don’t. So obviously, I have to throw a fit that you didn’t tell me, and then demand you tell me,” she finished.
Oh dear.
“It was just rumors,” I hedged, because I told her everything.
Except this.
And it actually wasn’t just rumors.
Ned was getting bold. He’d even been seen out with his latest lover, something he used to keep strictly behind closed doors. Partly so his girls wouldn’t be upset about it, mostly so it wouldn’t give his ex-wife, Helena, a reason to make his life a living hell, something she excelled at.
However, considering Jamie and my situation, and how we’d dragged everyone through it along with us, I felt the unaccustomed need to allow Ned his privacy.
Jamie and I had talked about it, of course. But only because we’d been stuck on a ship together, so we were doing a lot of talking (actually, that wasn’t true—I’d been dying to gab to someone about it, and Jamie would be the most circumspect, so I picked him, only to find he already knew).
“Liar,” Mika returned.
I blew out a sigh. “Right. Ned is seeing a woman. Actually seeing her, out in public. As far as I know, it’s gone on for some months.”
“Do you know her?”
I nodded. “I’ve met her, and I like her. She’s the Executive Fashion Editor at Millicent.”
Millicent was a fashion magazine on par with Vogue. It had been named after one of my grandmother’s friends, the New York fashion icon of the 40s and 50s, Millicent DeBonnay. In fact, there were rumors (untrue ones, according to my mother, and she would know) that Walt Disney himself had fashioned a certain very famous witch with much the same name after her, at her request.
Mother had never had a single issue of that magazine in her house, nor had my grandmother, and this was because Grandmother had never forgiven them for not naming the magazine after her. It’d caused a huge rift between Millicent and Grandmother too. In fact, the first time I met Millicent was at Grandmother’s funeral.
She’d been genuinely distraught. However, that was what happened when you allowed something trivial to get between true friendship, and Millicent wasn’t innocent in their rift. She’d rubbed it in Grandmother’s face even knowing it was upsetting to her.
Indeed, Millicent had lost a number of friends due to that honor being bestowed on her.
Sometimes, humility paid. Or you did.
Mika’s eyes widened. “You mean Marlo Winslet?”
“You know her?”
“She approached me about doing a spread, Cadence and I, with me wearing clothes in my wardrobe I’d found over the years, and Cadence working with one of her editors to select and model new fashion. We had lunch to discuss it the day before we had to fly to Arizona.”
What an exciting idea!
“Oh my goodness, are you going do to it?” I asked.
“Yes, because Cadence wants to. Now, seriously, she’s seeing Ned?”
I nodded.
“I love that for him,” Mika murmured.
“She’s a mite young,” I noted.
“No she isn’t,” Mika returned. “Yes, she’s, what, ten, fifteen years younger than Ned?”
“I don’t know her exact age, but I’d put it around there.”
“But she isn’t twenty-two,” Mika pointed out.
“I don’t carry judgment about this, my dear. That’s not why I mentioned it. I want him to be happy and have someone to share his life with. I don’t think Alex would mind either. But…” I tipped my head to the side. “Blake.”
Understanding dawned on my friend’s face.
Even so, Mika declared, “Marlo might not be old enough to be Blake’s mother, but she isn’t old enough to be her sister either.”
“Again, this is not my issue,” I asserted. “Though, as you know, even if he’s going out in public with her, he’s not introduced her to our group. If we’re at an event together, he’ll ask Blake to be his plus one, like Jamie did with Dru before me.”
“Tom says Ned is dedicated to the effort of building the family he neglected when they were growing up,” Mika mused.
“Well, that’s an honorable pursuit. But they’re both grown women now, who should be pleased their father has someone he enjoys spending time with. So perhaps I should talk to Chloe.”
Mika burst out laughing, before saying, “Please God, no. At least give us a few weeks to get over what we all had to do to you and Jamie before we’re dragged into another one.”