Page 4 of The Hookup
“Ah.” Mimosa but without the alcohol.
“It’s not as tasty as the one you whipped up yesterday.”
“Come over to the bar,” he offered, “and I’ll make you another one.” But Izzy was watching Jacob who had wandered over to the tables where Tobias and Savannah were sitting.
“No thank you, this one will keep me going. Jacob’s insisting that he wants to stay up all night, but I don’t think so.”
“He might surprise you.” The kid looked happy enough, though he was rubbing his eyes now and sitting on Tobias’s lap.
“He’s like one of those battery charged bunnies,” she said. “I’ve never seen him this high before.”
“Looks to me as if he’s fighting his sleep.”
“You could be right,” Izzy agreed. “I’d better go get him. I’ll have one of your cocktails tomorrow, maybe.”
“You know where to find me.”
“I sure do,” she answered, “Goodnight.” For a brief moment he was thrown into a quandary. Should he tell her about Xavier’s bet? But his loyalty to his friend reared its head and prevented him. He just hoped that Xavier would forget about the ridiculous idea by the time he woke up tomorrow.
“’Night,” he said, his eyes fixed on Tobias and his step-son. It was obvious that Tobias was going to make a great dad. Luke couldn’t remember the last time he’d spoken to his father, and was certain he’d never had such close contact as that.
Sitting on his father’s lap?Never. The only reason he knew the bastard was still alive was because his sister would have called immediately to tell him that he’d passed away.
Luke wasn’t so sure he’d be too upset by the news. He could never forgive. Some things were etched on his mind like markings in stone. Hard to shift, hard to erase, impossible to forget.
He preferred to forget, and sometimes, he managed to. Raking his hand through his hair, he looked over at the dance floor and to see Tobias leading Savannah towards the middle of the floor.
He had to hand it to them, they made a nice couple, and maybe they would end up being happy forever. He wondered if his mother had had the same dreams on her wedding day.
Romance was an illusory illness. Some recovered from it, some didn’t.
His sister hadn’t learned a damn thing. Her head was filled with ideas for her second wedding, and she was all loved up and living on cloud nine, again. Amanda constantly told him he needed to enjoy life, to not work, work, work all the time. But, what did she know?
Something knotted in the pit of his stomach, and he steeled himself for the inevitable family gathering.
Chapter 2
“What a beautiful couple,” Kay’s mother remarked, her face lighting up with pride and admiration. For a moment Kay thought she was going to cry.
Her heart lurched. She didn’t want to hear the inevitable questions. “Aren’t they?” she replied, knocking back her champagne. It was the only way to get through this.
Tobias and Savannah were on the dance floor again with eyes only for each other. Everyone watched the beautiful, and so-sickeningly-obvious head-over-heels-in-love couple glide on air.
Kay observed the rapt looks on the faces of her mother and Savannah’s parents. She’d made the huge mistake of sitting with them, and had only done so because she’d seen Xavier at the bar and she was eager to avoid him.
Get me out of here.
As much as she loved her cousin, she couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit envious. She wantedthat.Not rightnow, not today, not this month, or this year, buteventually. Despite what she said to her friends, and to Savannah, and despite her easy-come-easy-go attitude towards men, what she wanted,one day,in the not-too-distant future, was everlasting love, and marriage, and commitment.
She wantedforever,even if she wasn’t yet putting out the right signals to attract the right things.
She didn’t need a rich guy because she wasn’t penniless, but if he was rich, it wasn’t a bad thing. The security she craved wasn’t financial, it was emotional. She was an independent woman with a great career; one which sucked the life out of her, yes, but she partied as hard as she worked to make up for it.
What she needed, wanted and hoped for, was a man to be her counterpart, to support her, and be there for her.
She didn’t need a man to rescue her, she just needed him to treat her right.
Of course, the future couldn’t be predicted, but who, looking at Tobias and Savannah, would wish anything less for that couple?
