Sami’s smile is so wide her gleaming white teeth are blinding.
“Congratulations, Ms. Ford.”
“Mrs. Brimley,” Matt corrects, folding his arms. “I thought we agreed you were taking my name.”
“I did legally, but I’m not using it for public consumption. My brand is Sami Ford, it’s who I am. I’m not starting over and Brimley doesn’t sound as sharp as Ford. Sami Brimley is lame.”
“Then why take it at all?” Matt’s voice lowers, which for most people would indicate less aggression. But with Matt, it means he’s ready to boil over.
“Oh man, is that the time?” I say awkwardly as I stand and follow Nat out of the room with Carson on my heels.
“Because you made me take it!” Sami snaps back and it’s on.
“Made you?” Matt growls.
“All right, we’ll leave you two to the foreplay. We can play poker another day,” Brady jokes and walks out of the games room with Mike next to him, closing the double doors as Sami shouts something inaudible.
“That was uncomfortable.” Carson sighs. “Why are they still fighting? They’re married now.”
“I honestly think the fighting is worse since they got married,” Nat murmurs. “Maybe after our wedding she’ll chill out.”
“You guys wanna get something to eat?” Brady asks, his eyes darting back to the fight.
“Yeah, I’m starving.” Nat nods.
“Is Millie home?” Mike asks, lifting an eyebrow at me.
“I could be in for one of Millie’s sandwiches,” Brady agrees.
“Yup.” I chuckle. “My house it is then. You coming too, Nat?”
“Yeah, and I”ll text Liz and tell her to meet us there. She was doing a little shopping.” She winks at Mike who laughs.
“Her and the baby clothes. I told her to wait, she’s been pregnant for a minute.” Mike shakes his head as we walk to the elevator.
“She’s excited. Girls get this way about babies,” Nat says it like she isn’t a girl but might be an expert on them. Half the time I’m convinced she might not be, she acts like such a dude.
When we get to the street, Cap pauses. “I’m gonna jet, see you guys later,” he says as he stares at his phone. “I’ll see you guys later,” he repeats himself and smiles like a complete idiot as he strides away before any of us say anything to him. He’s oblivious to us all.
“Damn, the girls who work at that PR company, man.” Brady glances my way. “Magic vag.”
“No.” I refuse to speak to him about it.
We walk through the park, Mike and Brady acting like idiots as if trying to impress Carson who’s laughing so hard it drowns out the other New Yorkers.
Nat links her arm in mine. “What is the deal with you and Jenny? Spill.”
“I don’t know.” I glance down at her, noting the wide-eyed stare she’s giving me. It’s captivating and forces me to continue speaking, “Honestly, I don’t. She came over last night—”
“That’s why you fled Stan Levisohn’s house before the party even started?”
“Yeah.” I pause, fighting dread. “First, she called her ex from the bathroom—”
“Ex?” Nat interrupts again.
“It’s a whole thing.” I take a deep breath and start at the beginning, “She came home early from vacation to surprise her boyfriend, Ben. Some dick she’s been seeing for like three years. Caught him—”
“Oh shit, poor Jenny.” Nat’s genuinely upset, possibly because she’s lived this version of hell already with that douche bag William Fairfield.
“Yeah. I guess she went off the deep end. Ghosted him. Cut him off from her in every way she could. Friends. Family. Social media. Netflix. Her lease was up so she was moving apartments and Stan helped her out. He had a spot in his building. Moved her if she agreed to go to the wedding in his place.”
“This was the week of the wedding?” Nat stops walking and gives me that soulful stare. The big-sister one she offers me and Rich almost exclusively.
“Yup.” I hate where this is headed. I’ve had this thought already, and getting the speech from someone so common sense as Nat makes it much worse.
“Lori, she’s fresh out of a three-year relationship—” She stops as though she’s caught herself. “As someone who has experienced this very thing, my advice is take it crazy slow with her. Unless you want to be the rebound boyfriend who’s only there for the short term while she works on forgetting Ben the Asshole.” She starts us walking again, not at all giving the advice I’d hoped for.
“I don’t know if I’m up for a relationship,” I lie, and the worst part is I know it’s a lie. I can’t stop thinking about her.
“Anyway.” She laughs, obviously aware it’s a lie. “When are you going to see your grandpa?”
“I’m leaving tomorrow. I want to be sure I’m back in time for the wedding.” I nudge her. “I figure ten days before the wedding should be a safe number of days to be home.”
“You don’t want Sami coming to your grandpa’s and dragging you back.” Nat laughs. She’s surprisingly calm about her wedding, though it’s at the end of this month. “For real though, you inviting Jenny to the wedding?”
“That’s a big step,” I admit carefully.
But the truth is I’ve been trying to work up the courage to ask her. My best-case scenario is Stan makes her and Sukii come. In fact, I might mention it to him.
29 Celebrities are like fish, they start to stink the minute you get them home
Jenny
It’s taken me several days but I am back on top of my workload.
All that’s left is meeting Liam Farringdon at the junket tomorrow and ensuring he plays ball with our plan to save his career. His internet isolation has hopefully worked, and he hasn’t seen all the rumors we’ve been spreading
