“I’m not whipped,” Nick protested. “Francesca and I had business to talk about.”
I saw Sage smile as she plopped herself down in her chair at the head of the table. “Really? Since when do you call your business partner ‘Pookey’?”
Now I was smiling as I watched Nick blush. Pookey? Jesus, I didn’t think he had it in him.
But 1 guess love can do that to you.
“Hey, Sage, I’ll call Francesca whatever she wants as long as she secures us that review in Mojo.”
Yeah, Nick had it pretty bad for Francesca. Not that he’ll ever admit it. At least, not to us. Especially now that Francesca was officially an employee of Revelation. A little condition Tom had made when he agreed to continue to bankroll Nick’s label. I had a feeling Tom wasn’t just trying to secure his upstart daughter a job, but hoping to remain true to his wife’s last wishes. I think he might have even made Nick use some of the ideas from Maggie’s business plan for Revelation.
It amazed me how Nick always managed to land on his feet. Not only had he gotten financial backing, but his sex-kitten-turned-publicity-manager actually had a talent for twisting arms and getting people to pay attention to Nose Dive’s debut CD.
Not that that was so hard to do, now that the single the band had produced from the CD had hit the airwaves.
It was eerie how “Deeper than the Ocean” had taken off like it had, especially in light of the lyrics, which freaked me out. If I hadn’t seen Les pulled from the ocean that night, I would have sworn Maggie had written that song. All those metaphors about dying for love. Then there was that other song he’d penned about a man who kills his wife’s lover. If I didn’t know better, I would swear Maggie was orchestrating the whole song list from the grave.
Not that I believed in that sort of thing.
“When does the review come out?” Sage asked now.
“Two weeks,” Nick said, smiling. “My distributor thinks we’ll sell a minimum of thirty thousand copies. And that’s only a conservative estimate.”
Yep, it was pretty amazing how Nick had pulled out of this one.
“I guess we should have a toast then,” Sage said, lifting her glass. “To Nick’s first successful CD—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Nick said. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I mean, yeah, it looks like Revelation has a hit on its hands, but I don’t want to jinx things by celebrating too soon.” He picked up his glass anyway. “Besides, we have something else to toast.”
“Oh?” I said, glancing at Nick as I picked up my glass.
He smiled, holding his glass up high. “To being at the beach with my best buds,” he said.
Sage laughed as she clinked her glass into ours. “Nick, I didn’t know you cared.”
Oh, he cared, all right, I thought, smiling as I drank deep. I think I spent more time trying to calm Nick’s nerves after he realized how close we had come to losing Sage. But that may have been because Sage wouldn’t let anyone coddle her, not even her best friends.
In fact, up until last week, when Sage had called to ask us if we would join her at the beach this weekend, she had been pretty reticent about what had gone down the last time we were in Kismet. “I think it will be good for me to be out there. You know, after everything,” she had said on the phone.
I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I realized she looked more relaxed tonight than I had seen her in the past few months. Her face had lost that guarded look.
And I knew I wasn’t imagining it when, after we had all heaped our plates with food, she finally brought up the “V” word. Well, sort of.
“So Tom finally hired a new VP of manufacturing,” she said, her gaze on her fork as she fiddled with the food on her plate.
“Is that right?” I said, studying her expression.
She nodded.
“So are you happy with Tom’s choice?” Nick asked, his eyes on her.
Her gaze flicked up over both of us, then she dropped her fork on her plate with a clatter. “Okay, cut the bullshit.”
Nick and I exchanged a look.“Umm, what bullshit would that be, Sage?” Nick asked.
She sighed. “You guys have to stop treating me like some kind of fragile little doll every time we even come near the subject of… of Vince.”
“We do not!” Nick and I chorused.
“Oh yes, you do,” Sage insisted.“Not that I’ve really let you guys bring up the subject,” she relented. She blew out a breath. “Listen, I’m okay. Really. It’s not the first time I’ve fallen for the wrong guy.“ Then she smiled thinly.”Of course, I usually manage to steer clear of sociopaths.“
“Sage, there was no way you could have known—” I began.
“I know. I know, Zoe. Trust me. 1 haven’t spent six weeks talking to a shrink without finally understanding that I’m not to blame for nearly getting myself killed.”
My eyes widened and I glanced at Nick, realizing that Sage’s having sought professional help was news to him, too.
For a moment, I’ll admit, I felt sad knowing that Sage needed more than even her best friends could give her. But I was relieved, at least, that she was getting help.
Now she reached out, grabbing my hand and Nick’s in each of hers. “Thanks for coming out this weekend,” she said, looking at us before her gaze moved over the living room, pausing on the large windows that practically let the overcast sky and windswept beach into the room. “I was a little afraid he might have ruined Kismet for me.” She smiled. “But I’m glad to be back.”
Then, before we could descend completely into sappiness, she released our hands. “C’mon, eat. I didn’t slave all night over a hot stove to watch my efforts congeal on your plates.”
I chuckled when I saw Nick obediently
