Page 131 of Nothing to Fear

“Dinner?”

“It’s Thanksgiving, honey. You promised you’d come over on Thanksgiving.”

She paused, scrutinizing the middle distance. “I did? Wait, it’s Thanksgiving?”

“Yeah, you didn’t notice the hullabaloo? Try going a few blocks over, there’s a big clue there.”

“I didn’t even…” She hadn’t even known what day it was. “Wow.”

“Yeah, men can do that to us,” Roxie said. “I’ve already sent a car. If you don’t get in it and come here, I’m bringing everyone to your place. There’s like fifty people here, do you cater? Should we bring chairs?”

Oh, God. “No, okay, I’ll come over, except—”

“Tripp’s at Breckenridge House. Think Alice would let her boys out of eating with the family?”

No, and it was actually reassuring to know that. “Okay, let me get changed.”

“Yay! Okay, Fernando says you have no allergies, right?”

“No allergies, but… aren’t you at—”

“Crimson Palace? Yes, but please, honey, you think I stuffed the turkey? With these nails? That would be a helluva place to lose my ruby. Come have some fun, honey. Anything goes here. I was drunk before noon, I’m not even sure which of the guys roaming around here I woke up with this morning… or which one I’ll go to bed with.”

She laughed. “Rox—”

“Dinner’s in an hour.”

The line went dead and her heart sped up. Less than a block from her place, she hurried to get inside. Her keys didn’t want to liberate themselves from—with another yank, she freed them from her purse just a few feet from her front door. The bag at her wrist cut into her, she hooked it over the handle to—the door opened.

She hadn’t even put her key in the lock and it gave under the weight of the bag. Weird, but—no, she sighed. Just classic her since she’d broken up with Darroch. God, she had to be morecareful. What had he done to her brain that she’d forget to lock a door? Her! Oh, her life was a mess.

Thank goodness everyone was more interested in giving thanks than raiding her apartment. Putting her groceries away, it was nice to see something in her empty fridge again. Okay, so it was salad and wine, but something was better than nothing. Damn, had that really been her Thanksgiving dinner?

She tossed her things in the hamper and jumped into the shower, taking Roxie’s threat seriously. The car could arrive any minute and she didn’t have time to prepare as well as usual. Thank goodness there were no men in the equation.

Doing her hair and makeup downstairs, she only had to go up to the loft bedroom—why were there panties on the floor? Had she been so harebrained when waking up that morning? Two pairs on the floor and another hanging out of the drawer.

Damn, she needed to get with it. Thank goodness for Roxie, maybe a friend would help her right the ship.

The phone rang just as she was checking her lipstick.

“Yeah?” she answered, rushing to grab her shoes. “Hello?” No one said anything; the line had to be bad. “I’ll be downstairs in a minute.”

Shoes, purse, and one last look. What was she thinking? Going to dinner with billionaires? This wasn’t her life, had she forgotten that lesson already?

The phone rang again. “Hello?”

“Hello, I’m your driver. I’m downstairs.”

“Yeah, I just—” maybe he hadn’t heard her the first time. “Okay, one second.” Dinner. Locking eyes with herself in the closet mirror, she inhaled. “You can do this.”

Forget Darroch and the past. Forget her job woes and her family troubles. This was a day to give thanks… even when she didn’t have much to be thankful for.

FORTY-THREE

ROXIE DEFINITELY FELL into the category of “friend.” That definition was nowhere near enough. She’d been nervous showing up to these fifty people Roxie referenced. As soon as she walked in, she was hit by the noise of people, music, and the scents of food and liquor.

This wasn’t fifty people. It was way, way more than fifty people. Just as she was about to spin on her heels and leave, Ballard appeared from nowhere to take her arm and lead her to Roxie.

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