She grabbed his hand, gave it a tight squeeze. “Well, thank you for thinking of me. That’s why you’re my favorite of all of Marcus’s friends. The rest of those cretins drink the beer I go out to buy, eat the food I make, spill chips all over my floor, and then thank him for his hospitality. Like I’m just the maid or something.”
“I’m sorry.” He followed her as she sailed into the white-and-steel kitchen to the right of the front door.
“Hmmph! You don’t have to apologize. You’re not responsible for anybody but yourself.” While sliding the six-pack into the stainless refrigerator, she asked again, “So, what can I get you to drink?”
“For now, I’ll just take a water, thanks.”
“You got it.” She pulled out a bottle of water and shut the fridge door, leaning against it with her arms folded over her chest.
A loud exultation of “Yeah!” erupted from the living room area, and Jordan’s head swerved in that direction.
“Here.” She waited ‘til he faced her again, then tossed the bottle at him. “Go on. Go hang out with your friends. I’ll be fine by myself.”
He would’ve offered to stay with her a little longer, but he was out of small talk topics. Not that she noticed. The minute he turned his back, he heard the distinctive sound of a pop top cracking open.
Yeah, she’ll be fine.
He rolled his way into the living room, this area decorated in muted grays and purples, to join the cluster of men yelling at the television mounted on one wall.
“Hey, Jordan’s here!” Marcus, the tallest of the group, announced.
Three of the five other men turned to give him a quick nod, the other two remaining engrossed in the game.
Jordan raised his hand in greeting while settling into a spot off to one side of the matching club chairs, where he could see the television clearly but not be in the way of the revelries. Past experience had taught him, after a few beers, these guys got clumsy. At last week’s get-together at Don’s place, Raymond had turned suddenly to grab a mozzarella stick, caught his size 12EEE foot in one of Jordan’s wheels and sprawled into his lap, to the guffaws of all. Luckily, the beer bottle Ray held was empty, or Jordan would’ve wound up soaked and sticky, as well as embarrassed.
Marcus left the men standing around the screen and took the club chair beside him, one eye still on the game. “Hey. Glad you could make it.” He perched on the cushion’s edge, hands clasped, with fingers interlaced, balanced between his spread thighs. “How’d it go with Cameron yesterday?”
“It went fine.”
His frustration must have shown on his face because Marcus muttered an expletive his sweet wife would never tolerate, if she’d been within earshot. Leaning forward, he whispered, “What the hell happened?”
“She asked me to lunch to tell me the foundation plans to buy the site. It all started out fine, and her news put me in a good mood, you know? But then she started rehashing our old history, who did what to whom and in what order. I wasn’t in the mood, and I let her know it.” He skipped the personal details of their conversation and glossed over his abrupt departure with a simple, “I didn’t stick around after that.”
“So you just walked out?”
With one eyebrow arched, Jordan gestured to himself seated in his chair. “Not exactly.”
“Dude.” Marcus shook his head. “You know what I mean. Was that smart? To leave her hanging like that? In public? I can’t imagine she appreciated being dumped in the middle of a crowded restaurant. You couldn’t just keep your mouth shut and let her vent for a few minutes? I mean, how does your temper tantrum yesterday affect the sale going forward?”
“A. There was no temper tantrum. I didn’t make any kind of scene. I guarantee anybody watching would just assume I had to leave in a hurry but not because I was mad. B. It doesn’t affect the deal at all. Before I left, we agreed to let the lawyers handle all the details until the closing.”
“And then...?”
“And then we’ll face each other across her big glossy board table in her conference room, but there’ll be a dozen other people there with us. I’m sure we can remain civil in a crowd.”
“Yeah, that worked so well for you two in a busy restaurant.” With a grimace, Marcus leaned back to look up toward the heavens. “I shoulda known. I thought you said this was a win-win situation for us.”
“It is!”
Marcus’s head dropped level, and his eyes narrowed.
Jordan held up a hand to stem the brewing argument. “So, okay, we lost the ability to acquire the site ourselves, but the more I looked at it from her point of view, the more I realized it’s much better for her purposes than ours anyway.” Not the total truth, but if he said it aloud often enough, he silently hoped he’d come to believe it. “I’ve already got feelers out for a better space. And the commission I’ll get from the Loughlin sale will put us in a stronger position to acquire something more suited for us.”
“Yeah?” Marcus folded his arms over his chest. “Well, if this is such good news, why do you look like I just shot your dog when you talk about it?”
He uncapped the bottle of water and took a deep swig before replying, “Because dealing with Cameron Delgado is like facing a pack of rabid dogs. When she sinks her teeth into something, she refuses to let go. Years could pass by, and she’ll still bring up crap that you’ve forgotten about—”
Chuck! A crack of the bat onscreen sent the rest of the group into raucous cheers, and both men veered their attention to the television where a player rounded the bases at a jog.
Distracted by the noise and the game, he blurted without thinking, “Cam has a way
