Page 8 of The Fallen Man
Jackson
The Halloween Party
Jackson paused at a stoplight, checked the time on his phone, and saw that he had a missed call from Evan twenty minutes earlier, but at least he would be on time for Dominique’s Halloween party. Max had also sent him several urgent texts saying that Dominique was full-on losing her shit because she was worried that no one would dress up or come to her party and reminding him to show up in the most urgent of caps-locked messages.
It was a completely ridiculous and unfounded fear. Dominique Deveraux was beautiful, rich, and had the contact list to guarantee that whatever party she chose to throw would be well attended. But Dominique, like the rest of his cousins, did not want to have what she called, with a disapproving sniff, a Deveraux party. She wanted a party full of people who liked her, and because she was a Deveraux, she sometimes worried that people didnotlike her. That fear, at least, was realistic. The Deveraux family had more than its fair share of enemies. J.P. Granger was just the most extreme example.
His phone plinged with a text, and Jackson saw it was from Ella Zhao, his cousin Aiden’s girlfriend.
Aiden says Max just showed him a picture of a ring. He cannot propose tonight!! He’s not proposing tonight, right?
Jackson paused, considering. He was aware that Max had been ring shopping. Max was looking for a vintage ring that would be nothing like anything Dominique’s friends would have. The hunt seemed to involve a lot of online scouring and calling of antique dealers. Jackson wasn’t aware that a ring had been purchased, but he didn’t doubt that if Max had found something he wanted,he would leap on it. However, from what Dominique had said, Jackson thought Max was nervous about popping the question right after quitting his job and starting law school because he knew what that would look like to Dominique’s snobby friends. The more urgent question was why Ella was worried about Max asking tonight.
He knew that Aiden and Ella had discussed marriage. He also knew that Ella’s family insisted on a prenup because her uncle wanted Ella to take over Zhao Industries after he retired. As lawyers, Aiden and Ella were more than happy to have a prenup and were having, as far as Jackson could tell, ludicrous amounts of fun drafting and negotiating the document, which included clauses on who got to keep pets that they didn’t have and whether or not Aiden would pay for dressage lessons for Ella in the event that he lost all their money on horse race gambling. Aiden had never bet on a horse race in his life, but that didn’t stop them from negotiating on the topic. It was Jackson’s estimation that the wedding was at least two years away because they wouldn’t want to give up the fun of the prenup. So Ella’s panic couldn’t be about any impending proposal on their end. That just left one Deveraux that Ella could be worried about.
He dashed off a quick text.
Pretty sure Max is holding out until the spring. Have you heard from Olivia?
Evan Deveraux was the oldest of the cousins but the most recent to find a partner. Jackson could not have been happier with his redheaded cousin’s choice of significant others—Olivia Rose West was an equally redheaded darling who loved Evan as much as Evan loved her. But the pair seemed to be moving on a swifter timeline than either Aiden or Dominique.
I talked to her a couple of weeks ago, and she said she was almost certain he was going to ask soon and tonight IS their anniversary.
Jackson found himself nodding. As usual, Ella’s take on thesituation was dead on. He also loved that Aiden had found himself someone brilliant. All of his cousin’s partners were solid additions to the family that made him worry less because they each had someone who would protect them, love them, and keep them from going off the deep end in whatever stylish Deveraux way they were inclined to dive.
He put the car in motion and dialed Evan back, waiting to see if it would go to voice mail.
“Hey!” said Evan sounding cheerful.
“Hey! Just saw that I missed a call from you,” said Jackson.
“I spilled cocktail sauce on my suit,” said Evan. “I was panicking. I’ve got a half-million-dollar diamond ring in my pocket, and then I blobbed cocktail sauce down my front and had some sort of PTSD flashback to my dad yelling at me for getting dirty, and I panicked.”
Jackson tried to pull back a laugh because he wasn’t sure that was something it was OK to laugh at, but Evan had sounded so cheerful that it threw Jackson off.
“Are you OK?”
“No, obviously not. That’s why I’m in therapy.”
“I meant about the suit!” said Jackson as he pulled up at the valet. Evan was clearly in a good mood.
“Oh, it was a tale of trial and tribulation for the ages. Few have suffered more.”
“What?”
“I couldn’t get into the men’s room. So then I called you.”
“What was I going to do about the men’s room?” Jackson couldn’t stop laughing at Evan’s glib retelling.
“I was going to have you bring me a new suit. But now you don’t have to.”
“Ah. I take it you got into the men’s room?”
“No, a bartender took pity on me. I’m now freshly laundered, pressed, and back in the game.”
“Uh-huh. The marriage game?” asked Jackson, getting out and handing his keys to the valet.
“Caught that?” asked Evan sounding like he was grinning. “I rented out the courtyard. I know she’s expecting it, but I still think I’ve got the jump on her. She won’t know where it’s going to happen.”
