Page 41 of Devil's Due: Sarge

Not ten minutes after, the first of her friends begin to filter in. Then there are the rounds of, “You remember my daughter, Greer” and “Don’t you look wonderful?” along with “Of course, it’s so good to see you again.”

Death might actually be welcome compared to this hell.

Sylvia’s daughter, Grace, is getting married to an Oxford man who owns a sporting goods company. He makes a million dollars a year, but the company is really starting to take off, so his prospects look even better.

Lucille’s daughter-in-law just gave birth to her first grandchild. Lucille’s been at the house every day since they’ve been home, because Emily, her daughter-in-law, has “interesting” ideas about parenting.

I feel my eyes rolling back in my head.

“What about you?” Sylvia asks me.

And before I remember to filter my response, I say, “I’ve been sleeping with an outlaw biker and we’ve been living at his clubhouse in a small town in the Appalachian Mountains.”Outlawis rather unreasonable. They’re more vigilantes now. But the conversation drops completely as all three women stare at me.

My mom laughs these uncomfortable staccato laughs, throwing her hand over her chest. “She’steasing. Goodness, Greer. You can’t joke like that.”

Shit.“I got you,” I say, pointing playfully at each of them. “I’m in California. Ph.D. program for art conservation.” That should satisfy them for now, though the Lord knows that once they leave us, the pair of them will be lamenting poor Monique. To have a daughter working towards a Ph.D. rather than finding a rich husband to pop out babies with. Because in these circles, the women don’t work—gasp! Heaven forbid! —they lunch, host cocktail parties, dinner parties, and charitable events. I even heard one of the women who’s not here with us today, her name is Janice, she called her grandson ‘pet.’ As in, “Come here, pet, and meet Mrs. Broadchurch and her daughter.”

This is who I’m dealing with.

This is who I have to defend against.

Both Sylvia and Lucille breathe out sighs of relief, the color coming back to their Botoxed faces. My mom throws her head back and laughs heartily. “A biker…” she says, the idea of which causes her to laugh even harder. “Where do you come up with these things?”

“Oh, you know me… I’m tricky like that.”

When we finally return to the mansion, Drew calls me into his office before I’m able to escape upstairs. I follow him inside and wait for him to shut the door and make his way to sit back behind his desk.

“Did you have a good time?” he asks and this question immediately puts me on edge. It’s innocuous, I know. But the fact of the matter is, he’sneverasked me that before. At all. He’s never cared about me in any way.

“It was nice to catch up with Mom.”

He shakes his head ‘yes’ several times, as if my answer pleases him. “Your mother loves having you back and as you know, I like keeping her happy.”

A queasiness develops in my stomach.

Where are you going with this, Drew?

“All her girlfriends have been planning their children’s weddings and she’s always so sad when she has to make up some excuse as to why she’s not planning one for her only daughter.”

“I’ve been busy.”

He pays no attention to my comment. “She’ll be so happy to find out you’re moving home, coming to work with the family. But, Greer, she’ll be ecstatic when we announce your engagement.”

Excuse me?“I’m not engaged.”

Drew turns a pointed gaze on me. “You all but have the ring on your finger.”

“No.”

He talks over me. “Timothy Van Houtton. The man you met with for the art exchange.”

“The man on the waterski?”

“He found you attractive and liked how you handled yourself when the situation got out of control.”

I simply stare at the man, shocked. Heavily, heavily in shock.

“Of course, he didn’t care for you disappearing with the art for so many months and our confrontation was uncomfortable, to say the least. But as I assured him you are trustworthy, he decided to let the indiscretion go so long as he got the artwork back, and when he got it back, I consented to let the two of you wed.”

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