Page 74 of Charmed Forces

Louise shrugged. “I’m an administrator. And I like it. It has good perks.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“The salary’s really good and there’re lots of opportunities to develop your skills further. My boss said I should look into taking night classes if I want to climb the corporate ladder in the company but I don’t think I want to learn anymore about administration. I always wanted to be an architect. And we have a themed buffet every Friday lunchtime for all the staff. Last week, it was Indian food that was so good! And in the spring, our boss gave us all gift cards when we closed a big deal and we also got two extra days off work. Callum and I went to Miami for a long weekend.”

“Get a boyfriend like mine and you can go to Miamieveryweekend,” said Angelica. “And you don’t have to be in the office by eight AM on a Monday wearing flats.”

“I like flats,” said Louise.

“You cannot wear them on your engagement shoot. I’ll style you.”

“You canadviseme,” said Louise, laughing again. “I’ll wear heels but I’m not wearing a tight dress.” She held out her hands for the manicurist who proceeded to clip and file. “Plus, I don’t even know if we’re going to have an engagement shoot.”

“Leave it to me. You’ll have a beautiful shoot. I saw the chicest pant suit that you’d look so cute in. I’ll get it for you on my credit card. Maybe a cute purse to go with it. You don’t have enough purses,” said Angelica.

“You mean,Tom’scredit card, and why would I need a purse for an engagement shoot?” asked Louise.

“Don’t worry about it, honey. Tom will never notice.”

“Tom sounds very generous,” I said. “Have you considered marrying him?”

“Oh, no,” Angelica snorted, with a dismissive flap of her hand. Her manicurist caught her hand and pressed it flat on a towel. “I gotta keep him on his toes first. I don’t want him to think he can tie me down just like that. Plus, I gotta know if the wife title is the right kind of upgrade.”

“Upgrade?” asked Lily.

“Right now I live in an apartment. It’s a fabulous apartment. Beautiful view of the park but if I’m a wife, I want to live in ahouse. A nice one in Bedford Hills with big windows and a walk-in pantry. If I have to be with my guy every single day, I want all the perks that go with it.”

“Tom has a house,” said Louise. “And it’s huge. He has another one in Boston too.”

“Yeah, that he bought with...” Angelica stopped to pull a face and I could easily guess the words she didn’t want to say:his wife. “I wantmyownhouse.”

“Are you planning your wedding yet?” I asked Louise to avoid leaving her out of the conversation.

“Not yet,” she said, “we’re only just talking about whether we want to book an engagement shoot—”

“If,” snorted Angelica.

“And throw a party to celebrate,” continued Louise. “I think we’ll probably set a date for the wedding next year. We were so excited to get engaged that we haven’t talked about the rest of it.”

“You’ll have fun. But don’t stress about any of it,” said Lily. “I didn’t.”

“Just make sure you book the cars first off, like, before anything else. Maybe even before you choose your venue,” said Angelica. “You don’t want to be that chick that turned up at her wedding in a military tank. That was so crazy!”

“Wow,” I said, thinking back to my wedding day and the look on my dad’s face when he realized that a tank was how we were getting to the venue. Thankfully, when it hit the newspaper the following day, I wasn’t in the shot but the ribbons around the gun carriage were. The headline read:TANKS FOR THE MEMORIES.The picture caption read:Not quite a shotgun wedding. My dad bought twenty copies.

“So crazy,” said Lily biting back a laugh.

“Ouch! Careful!” Angelica snapped at her therapist before relaxing in her chair and taking a sip of her drink. She turned to Louise, putting her back to us, and I figured for a while, our conversation was over. So I settled back and relaxed too, allowing the therapist to soak, buff, and cream my feet and hands to perfection.

“That looks great,” I said as the therapist finished the last of Angelica’s gel nails, each changing from light to dark. Angelica flexed her fingers, pouting at the color.

“It does, doesn’t it,” she said. “I have a great eye for detail.”

“You should throw a party to celebrate your engagement sooner rather than later,” I said, leaning over to Louise. “Mine was great. Small, chic, just my family and closest friends. It’s the perfect opportunity to get everyone together.”

“Stop!” shouted Angelica and we all froze. Then she continued, “I love it! No really! Iloveit!I’llthrow you the best party! We have to tell Tom that we need to use the house. What do you say?”

“Soon?”

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