Page 55 of Bad Boy for Hire
Elliott gasped. “My T-shirts are posh?”
“Yes. And now we have an author.” Lisa gestured at Lou. “And May, I’m sure we can involve your incredible sense of style as it applies to Zest. Anyway, next summer will be the last traditional Starving Artists Festival. And then the summer after, look out, here I come.”
May kept the smile pinned to her face, but she wasn’t thinking about the future of the Starving Artists Festival. She was considering what her life would look like by next summer. Nine months from now it would be June. She’d be shopping for crocheted baby blankets and onesies by then.
“That sounds awesome. What’s the bad news?” Lou asked.
“This is Wanda’s initiative we’re talking about, so it will require a pantload of funding. And guess who she has tasked with drumming up investors?”
“Griffin,” May answered.
“Yes. Are you happy? I will finally have to work with that tool bag.”
“Does Wanda know you two—” Lou made a lewd gesture with her hands.
“No. God. No. She knows we are acquainted, but that’s it. When she mentioned him, she said, ‘I know you and Griffin aren’t close, but you might want to be considering how intimate this project is.’”
May laughed at Lisa’s Wanda voice. That warbling soprano reminded her of a cartoon woman with tight gray curls and those little glasses they use at the opera. Nothing like Wanda, but still funny.
“So tell her you two have a history and it’s not pretty,” Elli suggested.
“Yeah, Lis.” Lou smiled. “Tell her you have a history and it involved you panting and screaming his name. That’ll fix her.”
“Ugh.” Lisa dropped her head into her hands. “I never should have admitted the sex was so good.”
“No, you should have. It’s nice to know you had it good once upon a time.” Lou laughed when Lisa tagged her on the shoulder.
“This is very hush-hush,” Lisa continued. “So not a word to anyone, especially your menfolk.”
Elliott twisted her lips.
“Okay,” Lisa amended. “Broad brushstrokes only, and tell your menfolk not to share it or I’ll have their balls bronzed and hang them from the rearview mirror of my Mercedes.”
“Deal,” Lou and Elli agreed.
“I assume this concludes our big news for the evening?” Lisa asked the group.
May nodded but noticed Lou chewing on her lip. Since she’d been called out, she was more than happy to return the favor.
“You have something else to share.” May pointed at her.
Lou’s eyes widened. “Nothing as big as your news.”
“I knew it.” May snapped her fingers. “Spill.”
Lou took her time dipping a cracker into the tapenade before she almost sheepishly admitted, “There might be one more thing.”
Lou stood and reached into the front pocket of her jeans. She came out with a diamond ring between her index finger and thumb. “He asked last night.”
“What!” Lisa snatched up the ring. “It’s huge!”
Elli took it next. “It’s beautiful. Absolutely perfect for you.”
May was on the verge of offering her congratulations when she caught Lou’s throat working as she swallowed thickly. When the ring was passed to her, she refrained from gushing over the diamond and instead leveled Lou with a look. “And what did you say when he proposed?”
The other two women froze, like it hadn’t occurred to them there was any answer other than yes. May knew too well that life had a way of twisting and turning without warning. If Lou wasn’t ready to say yes, she wasn’t obligated.
But then Lou’s face split into a smile. “I said it’s about damn time!” She plucked the ring from May’s palm and slid it onto her left ring finger. “I didn’t want to overshadow my book news with engagement news. And then there was May’s news, and, well, this felt like upstaging.”
