“Yeah, okay. When do you need me?” I said.
He gave me the details and I immediately asked my assistant to arrange my flight to Paris and a suite at the Hotel de Crillon near the Champs-Elysees. I added in a couple of extra days to visit the London and Dublin spots as well. It would be good to see how the clubs were doing and check in with old friends.
For a moment I considered calling Serena to see if she wanted to come with me. Maybe this time she’d show up since it was only for a week. But then I realized that she was doing what she’d done then; ghosting me. Now anger more than irritation and concern filled me. It was time to take the hint and leave her alone.
I finished my work for the day, and then sat back with my eyes closed as Doug drove me home. When my phone buzzed indicating a call, I quickly grabbed it to see if it was Serena.
“Pussy,” I said to myself when the caller ID read Evie. I hated the hold Serena had on me and I hoped to hell it would break while I was away.
I poked the pick up button. “Evie, hi.”
“Hey Devin. Listen, my mother and I were just invited to lunch with your mom this week.”
“Oh?”
“My mother seems to think it will be a time to figure out how to wrangle you into control. They think you’ve put me off long enough.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You did tell her what we talked about at my parents’ party, right?”
Evie felt about me the same way I felt about her. We were friends, but that was it. Like me, she’d been ignoring the ever-growing push by our parents to get us married. It was clear though that we needed to take stronger action. At my parents’ party, I’d pulled her aside and talked to her about what we could do to get them off this idea that we’d ever marry.
“Of course, I did. Surely you know by now that what we want doesn’t matter.”
“If you’d tell her about that musician you’re seeing, maybe she’d leave us alone,” I said.
Evie let out a skeptical laugh. “She’d make me marry you so fast our heads would spin if she knew about him.”
“I’ll talk to my mom. I’m heading to Europe for a week or so. Maybe with me gone, things will settle down.”
“You’re an optimist. Or they’re wearing you down. You better not come back with a proposal, Devin. I love you to death, but I won’t marry you.”
I didn’t want to marry her, but her words did make me wonder if there was something about me that women didn’t like. “Is there something wrong with me?”
She sighed. “I didn’t mean it like—”
“No, I know, I’m just curious.”
“Why? Is there a woman you like who’s avoiding you?”
Evie and I were close friends, but I wasn’t ready to share Serena with her. “Never mind. I’ll talk to my mom when I get home.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you, Devin. In fact, I’m certain there are thousands of women who would like to marry you. Some even have the right pedigree.”
I felt like a putz having asked. “I think I’d rather sow my oats a bit longer.”
“Good idea. It will make our moms crazy.”
When I hung up, I called my real estate agent to find out what was up with the apartment I wanted to buy. Clearly, I needed to get out of my parents’ house to create distance from my mother and her relentless attempt to marry me to Evie.
“They’ve got another offer,” he said.
Ugh. Why couldn’t something go right? “Offer them ten percent more, but I want to close in the next two weeks.”
“I’ll give them a call.”
“If they hem and haw, withdraw the offer and find me a rental I can move into when I get back. I’ll be in Europe over the next week, and I want to move to my own place when I get back.”
“Will do.”
When Doug dropped me off at my parents’ house, I immediately went to find my mother. She was in the study with my father. They were looking over some sort of paperwork.
“Oh Devin, good you’re home. Will you be here for dinner?”
I nodded. I’d give them the evening before I rushed off to Europe and then out to my own place. “Yes, I’ll be here, but I’m leaving tomorrow for Paris for a few days, and while there, I’m also going to London and Dublin.”
“Is there an issue?” my father asked.
“They want me to tour the new club location, and I figured I’d make the rounds while there.”
My father inhaled an annoyed breath. “We really don’t need another club. Not in Paris, not in New York either. I know you’ve been looking into it.”
“It’s not a secret that I’m planning a club in New York. Bri is working on it with me.”
“She is?” My mother’s brows furrowed. I wasn’t sure if she was surprised or concerned by that news.
“Yes.”
“Soon you’re going to be too old, too settled for clubs. You need to let them go,” my father stood and went to the liquor cabinet.
“I’m twenty-eight, hardly too old. And as far as being settled, what will it take for you to believe me when I tell you Evie and I aren’t getting married. Not now. Not ever.”
My mother stiffened. “You’ve had your fun long enough, Devin.”
“What year is this, mother? You don’t have a say in who I marry.”
“Of course, we do,” she said. “At least if you plan to run the Roarke business.”
I looked from her to my dad. “Are you saying that if I don’t marry Evie you’re going to disinherit me?” The prospect startled me, and I wondered what I would do without my family money. I had some of my own money as I invested well,
