Page 75 of Brenna, Brat

“This is the last thing I’ll make at Campbell’s house,” I mentioned. “He’ll probably be glad for me to move my workroom elsewhere.”

“Do you think so?” She breezed over that, although I’d wanted her to tell me that I was wrong. I’d wanted her to say that Campbell would be bereft without my presence in his lower level.

“I’ll move my operation to Juliet’s guest cottage,” I continued. “It will be more convenient, since there’s a separate entrance.”

“Great.”

“Campbell is supposed to get back today,” I went on. Wasn’t she going to ask me about him? Then I could have told her how much I’d missed him, how empty his house had felt, how I’d come home every night to my own little apartment and cried myself to sleep. I’d explain how he was back to texting little jokes, funny stuff but nothing serious, and how there was so much I thought we needed to discuss.“He hasn’t really talked to me about his dad, except to say that things are evolving fast.”

“Sophie had mentioned something about Ghregg Bates,” my sister said, finally taking the bait.

Sophie knew all about it. I’d called her, just like she was always doing to me, as soon as I’d heard Dion’s news regarding Ghregg’s imminent confession. She and my brother-in-law Granger had started to look into things and as I was driving over here, the press had caught on, too. They were reporting that there were rumors of a plea agreement in the Ghregg Bates case, and they also began to (correctly) share that several people currentlyunder suspicion were going to be cleared. Maybe Carrington was right, though, and doubts would always surround her and her brother.

Nicola couldn’t speak about Carrington, but she did about Campbell when I voiced that concern. “People who know him won’t think that. They’ll know that he’s an honest and good person.”

“Do you really feel that way about him?”

“I really do.” She smoothed my hair a little. “I like how you’re letting it go a little wavy.”

“I got tired of straightening it.”

“It’s more like mine, so I approve,” she said. “You’re such a pretty girl.”

“You and Juliet are the prettiest. Or Grace or Addie, or Sophie.” They all were, in different ways.

“What? No, you are,” she told me.

She probably said the same thing to each of us, but it was nice to hear. “I’m going to try to act prettier and not to be a brat anymore,” I said. “I’ve been thinking about it. That’s not a good way to deal with potential clients and I’m tired of hearing it from you guys. I don’t want to be that word.”

“You know that I love you, and so do the rest of us. Sometimes, yes, you have been a bit bratty,” my sister said. “But we all know the real Brenna, too, the one who dropped everything to plan a perfect wedding for Juliet and who sews all those beautiful baby clothes for your nieces. Other moms at the park are so jealous.”

“Really? They like my stuff?”

“Yes, but I was making a different point. We won’t call you that name anymore.”

“You can, if I’m acting that way,” I said. “I just won’t act that way. Mostly.”

“It sounds like a good idea.” She made a few more adjustments to my hair and then looked at her watch. “Have you checked your phone lately?”

“Um, no,” I said. “I don’t know where it is.” Nicola found it for me, and passed it over so that I could see a screen full of notifications. “Juliet has been texting a lot,” I said. “She’s telling me something about an emergency.”

“Oh, no!” Nic put her hands on her cheeks and opened her mouth wide.

I thought that her expression seemed weird, very weird. “What’s going on?” I wondered suspiciously.

“What do you need to do?” she asked. “Read your messages and find out.”

I looked at the phone again. “She’s telling me to go to the Russell House Hotel downtown. That’s where she and Beckett stayed the night before they went on their honeymoon.”

“It’s beautiful,” my big sister said.

“She gave me a room number…now she’s saying I have to get there quick, it’s real emergency.”

“Oh, no!” Nicola repeated, and she started to shove me toward the bedroom door.“You better drive fast.They have valets and you should leave your car with them.Don’t waste time circling around and looking for a spot.” She took my arm and marched me down the stairs.

“Nicola, stop!How do you know about the valets? Sophie and Grace are texting me too, that I have to get there, and now Patrick and Addie—what is going on?” I asked anxiously. “I have to change out of this gown and get going!”

“There’s no time!” she said. She was now practically carrying me out the front door, because she was shorter but still strong. She shoved my purse into my hands. “Go, Brenna. Go!”

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