Page 63 of Things We Fake
“I think so. Sorry they disturbedyou, Mrs. Vicars.”
The woman snorted and slammed her door shut.
I turned to Cam. “I thought we’d do this another time, but meet my friends. That’s Lily in red, Nikki in black, Ange in mauve, and Jesse in denim. Ladies, this is Cameron Jones.”
Lily was the first to stand, followed by Nikki and Ange.
Ange chuckled. “Nice to meet you, Cam.” She gave him a once-over worthy of a county fair judge examining prize livestock.
Lily and Nikki were staring at him as if they expected him to vanish in a puff of smoke.
Jesse, still sitting on the floor, screwed up her face. “Have we met?”
Cam smiled, walked over to her, and offered her his hand to stand.
“We have, but we were never introduced.” He turned up his thousand watt smile. “Probably you’ve seen me when I visited Sebastian. I actually ran into you coming out of his apartment a few years ago. I had a beard back then.”
Jesse turned the color of bleached linen. “You have me confused with someone else. I’ve never set foot in Sebastian’s place.”
I narrowed my eyes at her, but before I got nosy, Lily interrupted.
“We’re here to take Sue to dinner. Want to come along, Cam?”
The gleam in her eyes promised interrogation techniques worthy of the FBI. Poor Cam. He didn’t know what he might’ve gotten himself into. My friends were even more protective of me than my family.
“I wish, but I’m waiting for a conference call from Australia. Time zones are murder.”
“Another time, then,” Ange said, not bothering to hide her disappointment.
Cam gave them all a charming nod. “It was nice meeting you, ladies. Talk later, Sue.” He gave my hand a quick squeeze, then disappeared into Sebastian’s apartment.
Jesse strode straight into my living room, the others in tow.
“Well, well,” she said, plucking the bottle of wine from my counter. “You finally got a decent vintage. Got a package from home?”
“I did. Anyone else want a glass?”
“Me!” came the unanimous answer.
I opened the cupboard and began handing out wine glasses, forgetting about my ring.
“Holy crap, where did you get that?” Nikki gasped, nearly dropping her wine.
Suddenly, I was surrounded. The girls crowded around me, lifting my left hand to the light.
“Err, I got it from Cam. He bought it this afternoon.”
Nikki beamed. “It’s perfect for you.”
“Where did he get it?” Ange inspected the ring as if she were some kind of expert.
I almost expected her to pull a jeweler’s loupe out of her purse.
I cleared my throat. “We picked it out together at Tiffany’s.”
“No way.” Jesse reached for my hand to get a better look. “That had to cost a mint.”
“Yeah... It did.”
