Page 68 of Hearts on Ice
Because Meghan had worked sohard on the party yesterday, they agreed to meet at a restaurant, and because of Colby’s phone call with her mother, Declan and Colby were running late. She had brushed off his questions about the phone call with her mother because she hadn’t wanted to get worked up before dealing with his family. While he hadn’t pressed her for more information, she could sense he was frustrated with her silence as he held the door to the restaurant for her.
Evan and Mark made efforts to stand as they approached, but Cecily’s face was tight with disapproval at their tardiness.
“Clearly you don’t dine with children, because it’s impossible to keep them waiting,” she said as Declan held Colby’s chair in the middle of the table, next to Nicole and away from his mother.
“I…don’t. I’m sorry,” she said to Meghan. “My mom called just as we were leaving.”
“No big deal. We went ahead and ordered, so the food should be out soon.”
“That’s not the point,” Cecily said. “We set a time that was agreed upon to accommodate everyone and she ignored it.”
“Well, we’re here now, and no one looks like a skeleton,” Declan said, grinning at his nephew. “You starving over there, little man?”
Tristan’s eyes were wide. “Starving!”
“I know what you have for snacks, so I don’t blame you,” Colby said, unfolding the cloth napkin over her lap, then looked up at the dead silence at the table to see everyone staring at her. “What? I learned the hard way.” She looked over at Cecily. “I know you saw the video. I bet Meghan sent you the link as soon as it was online.”
Cecily had the grace to blush and look down at her own place setting. She couldn’t study a menu because, well, she’d ordered already. The waitress had left menus in front of Declan and Colby’s places and Declan flipped his open, while Colby noted the bottle of wine on the table, and the full glasses around. She reached for the bottle and stopped when Cecily cleared her throat.
Colby looked at the older woman.
“That’s for the table.”
Colby’s first instinct was to withdraw her hand, but damn it, she was part of the table, so she just smiled and poured herself a glass, a little more generously than she might have done if Cecily hadn’t said something. Cecily’s nostrils flared as Colby lifted her glass in Declan’s direction and took a sip.
Oh. Wow. Sweet. Not usually her thing, but she’d get used to it, anything to dull the pain of this dinner.
No, she needed to be nice, for Declan’s sake. So she did as he did, opened her menu to decide.
“So, Colby,” Cecily began, voice dripping with honey. “You aren’t bringing in any money now, are you? You’re just depending on Declan?”
“I have some residuals coming in. And…some royalties once a quarter.” She focused real hard on her menu as she admitted that.
“Oh, yes, the tell-all book blaming Declan for your recklessness. I have to admit I was surprised you would stoop that low.”
The money had been really good, that was why, and the more lascivious the details, the better the editors liked it. She’d wanted to go to Europe with her friends, and that was how she paid for it. She and Declan hadn’t addressed that yet. She’d hoped he hadn’t read it, hadn’t known about it.
“And yet you’re, what, homeless now? You don’t have a car?”
“I have a car,” Colby defended weakly. “Just got it out of the shop, in fact.” With some of those royalties.
Never never ever had Colby been so grateful for a fan’s interruption.
“Colby! Can I have a selfie?”
“Young lady, we’re having dinner,” Mark chided, reaching for the bottle that Colby had left in front of herself, frowning when he found it mostly empty.
“Just real quick,” the young teen pleaded. “With you and Declan. Declan, can you look at her?”
Colby exchanged a glance with Declan, wondering what in hell she meant by that.
“Just one,” Declan said, scooting his chair back from the table.
The girl shoved her head between them, held out her phone instead of asking Evan, across the table, to take the picture, then looked at it and frowned.
“You’re not looking at her the right way.”
“The right way?” Declan asked, peering at the screen when she pushed it in front of him.
