“Cate!” she squeals as her image comes into view. “Oh, my god, you look so cute. Are you going out? I can call back later!”
Bee and I weren’t always friends as children, but now, as adults, she’s the closest person to me. Sadness pricks at my heart. I haven’t been talking to her much lately. Too busy on the job. I used to make it a point to text her on the way to and from assignments, but since I got the promotion to Sandra’s head assistant, I just…stopped.
“I was!” I answer, keeping my smile bright. “But I was…” What can I tell her that won’t exactly be a lie? “…leaving early. I have a couple minutes to chat. How are you?”
“Huge!” she jokes, shifting in what seems to be one of the beach chairs she and Dex bought for their back deck this summer. Bee is seven months pregnant with twins, so I can’t say she’s the slimmest I’ve ever seen her, but her face absolutely glows with happiness.
Envy flashes across my mind, but I remind myself sharply that I’ll have everything Bee has when I’m secure in my career. Not before. I learned that lesson from what happened to my dad.
I give her a little laugh. “You look great too, Bee.”
“Is that Cate?” Dex’s voice comes from somewhere offscreen, and then his handsome face appears, blocking my view of Bee. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a crush on him during high school. The hottest guys always went for Bee.
“Hi, Dex,” I say, waving, and he returns the gesture before disappearing again.
“What are you guys up to?” I ask as Bee readjusts her oversized sunglasses.
“Dex is grilling.” He calls something unintelligible, and Bee laughs. “He says he’s cleaning the grill. I’ll have to wait for food.”
“If I know you, there’s a package of Oreos on the table next to your lawn chair.”
“You’re right!” Bee’s smile is incandescent. “I never wait for food. Not these days. So, where were you headed, Cate? Are you going to some Fourth of July party? Your dress is perfect for it!”
I can’t tell her the truth—that the only plan I have in mind is to walk to the office, check in on things, then walk home. “Yeah! A couple of the girls from the office are having a rooftop cookout.”
“Oooh!” Bee bites her lip. “I wish I could come hang out with you in the city.”
“You know you’re welcome any time,” I promise, even though the thought of having to entertain on top of work nearly makes me break out in hives.
“Maybe when I’m not so pregnant!” she shouts, then dissolves into giggles. Bee loves the summer, loves holidays, loves an excuse to lounge around on the deck all afternoon. When her laugh settles down into a smile, she lets out a satisfied sigh. “Well, I won’t keep you.” Then she peers at her phone’s screen. “Are you doing okay, Cate? Your makeup is gorgeous, but you look a little…tired.”
“It’s just long hours,” I say dismissively, giving her a huge, played-up smile that she can’t help but laugh at. “I’m headed in a great direction, though.”
Bee’s face turns serious again. “Just…remember to take a little time for yourself, okay?”
“I will.”
Dex’s voice, halfway filtered by the phone, crackles across the connection.
“What did he say?”
“He said have a beer for him! And one for me, too. But be responsible, okay? Love you! Talk soon!” Bee blows me a kiss, and I wave frantically right up until the video call disconnects.
I sigh, missing her already, then stand up and smooth my dress.
I might as well stop by the office. It’ll eat up another hour, at least.
Chapter Nine
Jax
I’m a block away from the office, drumming on the armrest with one hand and steering my Aston Martin with the other, when I spot her on the sidewalk in a red sundress that’s just long enough to be flirty instead of slutty, striding along in low heels, sunglasses covering her face. The mere suggestion of the curves of her petite body underneath the red fabric has me hard in an instant.
I don’t know what I was planning when I got into my car this morning. Because I’m a decent human being, I gave my driver the day off. Not my personal trainer, though. Carl showed up at my penthouse at 7:00 sharp and put me through my paces until the session ended at 8:00.
After that, all I had to do was kill time until noon, when I planned to leave for Marie Hantz’s Fourth of July party. We run in the same circles populated mainly with wealthy assholes like ourselves, and every year she puts on a huge production at her home on Meadow Lane in Southampton. I almost always go alone. Marie likes to invite her hottest single friends, and every year for the past four years I’ve taken a different one home with me at the end of the night.