“God,” she laughed. “What haven’t we done on that table?”
I laughed back. “Well, I can think of one thing.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s the middle of the workday, and there’s like fifty windows.”
“We can work around that,” I said. “I think it’s a proper goodbye to that table, in the true spirit of the treehouse days.”
“Would it kill the mood if I told you I’d already promised that table to your brother?” she said.
“Aww, man,” I laughed. “Why did you have to tell me that now?”
She laughed. “The Paradigm Group found an office, and AJ already asked me for the table.”
“Where’s the office?” I asked.
“They’ve bartered for a room in Horace’s theatre,” she said.
I laughed. “Well that should be interesting. What did they barter?”
“Occasional camera usage,” she said.
“That sounds like a really bad idea,” I said. “I don’t know if I want to be in business with Horace.”
“It will be a full circle of sorts for us,” she said.
“Uh-huh,” I said. “As long as he doesn’t put me in another production.”
“Oh,” she smiled. “I’m sure he will. Don’t worry.”
I laughed. “Oh, I’m worried. What the hell has my brother gotten me into?”
At that moment, a delivery truck arrived.
“There is it,” she said. “Our table.”
While two delivery drivers brought in a massive glass top table with an expansive white marble base, Vicki and I scrambled to get the table out of the conference room.
We meshed it up against the side of the wall.
“I’ll text Phoenix to come get it,” I said as I pulled out my phone.
“Where do you want this?” The driver asked.
“In here,” I gestured as I finished the text.
The two delivery drivers set up the table, and brought in the matching leather high back chairs. Wow. It really looked good. The wood floors, white walls and ample windows, looked good with anything. But, this took the office to a whole new level. It looked like something out of a conference room in our old firm back in L.A.
I stood and watched them set it up, and I put my arm around Vicki. I felt a wave of emotion wash over me.
“We aren’t a startup anymore,” I told her. “We’re legit.”
“Long way from the treehouse days, huh?” she said.
“Sure enough, Toto,” I laughed.
Chapter 23
Saturday was long and lazy. But sometime in the mid afternoon, I got an odd call. It was from my old friend River Watson.
“River,” I said. “Wow, how long has it been?”
River and I had gone to college at UCLA together, but he had been a business major that went on to the financial sector. He was the head of our little group of drinking buddies in L.A., the one guy that brought us all together. I was shocked to hear from him.
“Too long, bud,” he said. “Too long. Look, I just wanted to say congratulations on the engagement.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I didn’t know the word was out yet.”
“Yeah,” he said. “That AJ chick, she posted the link on your Facebook.”
“AJ, huh?” I said.
“Yeah,” he said. “Is she single? She’s hot.”
“Uh,” I said. “She’s not single.”
“She’s still smoking hot,” he said. “You’ve got to admit that.”
“I’m engaged, River,” I said.
“So,” he said. “Doesn’t mean you can’t look. Just can’t touch. Those legs, go on for days man.”
He whistled. I was puzzled. I guessed you could tell that from a Facebook photo. Not really, though.
“What are you going through her photos?” I said.
“Uh...yeah, reconnaissance bro,” he said. “So tell me about this Vicki chick? What’s she like? What are you doing?”
I smiled and told River all about Vicki and our firm, and now Paradigm Productions.
“Wow,” he said when I was finished. “You’ve been busy. I respect you, man. All I’m doing is chasing skirts. You’re out there, making it happen for you, bud. Glad to hear it.”
“Thanks, River,” I said. “I appreciate that.”
“Now,” he said. “About that bachelor party…”
I laughed. “Now that, we should talk about.”
I talked to River for a while longer. It was nice to hear from an old friend, especially after what Brent had said. Apparently the entire population of Orange County did not believe I had had a mental breakdown.
“Who was that?” Vicki asked as soon as I ended the call.
I was still laying in bed, and she climbed back in with me.
“River Watson,” I told her as I toyed with her hair. “Old friend from college. Nice guy. Just wanted to congratulate us.”
“That’s sweet,” she said. “Between Jessica, AJ, and Landon, the word’s out about the wedding. I’m getting all sorts of texts and messages from old friends.”
“Did we nix the paper invitations?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “But this is faster.”
“So what do you want to do today?”
“We’ve got that party this afternoon,” I said.
She laughed. “I’m so proud of you. You actually remembered something we had to do.”
I laughed. “I did, mainly because I’m curious what the construction crew on our house wants to give us.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Sedona people are weird. Who knows.”
Her phone beeped with a text.
“Ugh,” she said. “AJ. She says she ran into Jim at Jitters this morning, and he asked if ee were still coming to that party.”
“Yes, yes, we’re coming,” I sighed.
I shot Jim a text, and Vicki texted AJ back.
We spent the rest of the day hanging around the house, on a rare day off. Working on a big case is always exhausting, and we don’t typically get our weekends. But, now that things have slowed, we have a day off. Well, at least until someone gets murdered again in Sedona.
That
