Page 42 of Lavender Lake
My brow furrowed in thought. “Few years ago. When I was in Paris.”
“Paris?” Declan asked.
I nodded and went back to eating.
Hadley sniggered.
“What?” Declan demanded. “What do you know that we don’t?”
“You tell them,” Hadley said to me.
“We were out one night, the four of us—Wyn, Poet, Hadley, and me. And we met these guys that were having their last night in New York. They were flying back to Paris the next day. Well, it was one of those crazy New York experiences and by the time the sun was coming up, the four of us had an offer to go to Paris with them.”
“I think I know where this is going,” Declan muttered.
“Hardly,” Hadley laughed. “I was in a relationship, Poet was too afraid to go, but Wyn was between nanny gigs, and Salem was jobless. She’d just gotten fired from the coffee shop.”
I shook my head. “Dog walking.”
“Oh, right. The dog walking stint.” Hadley nodded.
“Anyway. Wyn and I went with them. We stayed a week. Lived to tell the tale,” I said with a smile. “Saw Paris on the backof a scooter. Ate like a local. And to this day, I still don’t speak French.”
“Neither does Wyn,” Hadley said, causing us both to laugh.
The two men at the table did not look amused.
“You went to a foreign country with strangers?” Declan asked me. “That’s dangerous.”
I raised my brows. “It was a once in a lifetime experience. And you used to rope calves for a living. You really want to lecture me on dangerous activities?”
Bowman laughed. “She’s got you there.”
I looked at him. “No lecture from you?”
“Nope. I’m all about the experiences.”
“They didn’t even pay for their own plane tickets,” Hadley said with a smirk. “Salem has the kind of charisma that makes grown men start wars.”
“Stop it,” I said with a laugh.
“It’s true. And you know it.” Hadley shook her head. “That night was unreal.”
So was that entire week, but by the way Declan and Bowman were looking at me, I decided not to expound.
“Does your dad know what you did?” Declan asked.
“Yes. I told him after the fact.”
And the moment he’d started scolding, I’d put the phone on silent and let him talk until he realized I wasn’t listening. And then after he hung up, we didn’t speak for six months.
“I’m sure he loved that,” Declan replied.
“Lecture, lecture, lecture.” I snorted. “But then when I finally got a chance to defend myself, I called him a hypocrite.”
“Why did you call him that?” Bowman asked.
I shrugged. “Because he is one.”
