Page 30 of RomeAntically Challenged
At her feet was Diesel, a board-certified English bulldog and emotional support companion who was a favorite with the kids.
“Did you bring the necessities?” Beckett wanted to know.
Annie handed over the box, and Diesel didn’t move an inch, but his eyes tracked the box’s every move. “Did you text Lynn?”
“She’s on her way.” Beckett opened the pink pastry box and froze. Over the lid she said, “Limoncello pies with chocolate ganache? This must be some problem.”
Annie slipped off her purse and hung it over the couch arm. “Do you think I’m a pushover?”
“What did Clark want this time?” Beckett guessed with a startling confidence that had Annie wishing she’d told Clark to fuck off earlier.
“He invited me to the wedding,” Annie said, and someone growled. Annie wasn’t sure if it was Diesel or his owner. “He actually called to tell me he dropped, not the money he owes me, but an invitation to the Clark and Molly-Leigh dream wedding in the mail. Can you believe that?”
“That you seemed so surprised concerns me,” Beckett said.
Well, damn, clearly the answer to her earlier question was a resoundingyes, Annie was the queen of pushovers.
Beckett was about to go after the pie when Annie slapped the box shut—on Beckett’s hand. “You know the rules. No nibbles until the meeting is called to order. Plus, I’m the one who’s been pied, I get the first nibble.”
“You already used Clark pieing you off, you can’t use it again. Not when limoncello pie with chocolate ganache is in play,” Beckett argued. “Double jeopardy, against the rules. Sorry.”
Beckett went to open the lid again, and again Annie smacked it closed. “That is nowhere in the rules, and if you’d like to add it to the rules, then it will need to be voted on. When everyone is here.”
“Fine.” Beckett sighed and put the box in her lap, Diesel still tracking the package. “You might as well sit down then, because you look beat and Lynn was finishing up saying goodbye to her dreamboat. Plus, you look beat.”
“I feel awful.” Annie plopped down on the couch and leaned her head back against the pillows. Her eyes burned as she closed them. “I barely slept at all last night.”
“Girl, if a man is keeping you up all night and you don’t get your cookies, then I shouldn’t have to tell you something’s wrong.”
Something was more than just wrong; it was broken. And Annie was afraid that something might just be her.
“The boutique screwed up the wedding dress,” she said, her heart giving a painful squeeze at the reminder of just how fragile life plans could be.
“Oh, honey, your grandmother’s dress?” Beckett said. “I know how much that dress meant to you.”
“It’s still in one piece—it just won’t ever fit my pieces.” Annie tried to shrug it off but just couldn’t.
“We can fix it,” Beckett assured her. “I am the MacGyver of broken possessions. Between my dad’s clumsiness and my brother’s outbursts, I have learned that there isn’t anything duct tape, fishing line, and a pocketknife can’t fix. Just this morning, I handed Thomas a piece of paper and asked him to write down what we needed at the market. When he said he didn’t have anything to write on, I told him to use the wall.”
Annie laughed into her hand. “Oh no, please tell me he didn’t.”
“Do exactly as I said? Yep.” Beckett looked heavenward as if seeking divine intervention. It was a look Annie had come to know well whenever Beckett relayed her family’s day-to-day dealings. “I now have ‘tampon’ written in marker on my kitchen wall.”
Annie burst out laughing; she couldn’t help it.
Thomas was Beckett’s teenage brother and full-time responsibility. Diagnosed with Asperger’s when he was six and Beckett was still a kid herself, Thomas had come to rely on her for a lot of things. Then, a year later, their mom left for work, and somewhere between dropping Thomas off at day care and her office, she decided to relocate to Las Vegas—alone.
They still lived with their dad, who also had Asperger’s, although he was higher functioning than Thomas. A brilliant musician who scored a lot of television shows and movies, he could take care of himself. Taking care of his son, though, was often beyond his capacity.
Which left Beckett. She had forgone college to become a personal concierge, a job with enough flexibility to work around her brother’s and dad’s needs. Even with all that on her plate, she found time to be a good friend.
“Your stories make my life seem boring,” Annie admitted.
“I’ll trade you one night of boring for a night of Hayes family fun.Jeopardy!starts at seven if you want to feel unfit to hold a high school diploma.”
“Or you can suffer through dinner with my mother-in-law, who comes in tonight for her end of summer stay,” Lynn Vu said, plopping down between Annie and Beckett. “Tonight Ken and I get to tell her the good news, that we’ve decided to put the baby thing on hold so I can go back and finish grad school.”
“Why take on more debt when you’ll be home with the babies,” Beckett said in her best mother-in-law impersonation.
