by Mia Sosa
Freedom required a woman to be successful in her own right and to own a place of her own. Gayle should have left Mimi’s father, but with nowhere else to go, and more than two decades of playing the role of the happily married socialite as her only vocation, she’d resigned herself to a loveless marriage.
Mimi refused to let that happen to her. Having a place that was hers alone was a big part of her protection plan.
“Are you serving real food at least?” she asked.
Gracie narrowed her eyes. “Real food?”
“You know, something that’ll actually stick to my bones. It’s okay if you’re not. I’ll just be sure to scarf down something before I get there.”
“Yes, I’m serving real food. And I’m planning some adult games, too.”
Oh, boy. Knowing Gracie, they’d spend the evening playing charades. “Um, Gracie, do you want me to handle the games?”
“No,” Gracie said with a self-satisfied smile. “I’m all set. I think we’ve had enough of your party games to last a lifetime.”
“Are you kidding me? Look me in the eye and tell me Pin the Cock on the Donkey wasn’t hilarious. And preparing it wasn’t easy, you know. It’s hard finding cutout dicks in all shapes, colors, and sizes.”
Gracie snorted. “Okay, I’ll have to admit that was fun, but no I’ll handle it. Besides, you’ll be busy.”
“Doing what, pray tell?”
“Making nice with Daniel.”
Mimi’s eyes bulged. “He’s coming to your housewarming?”
“He is. And this will be a great opportunity for you to smooth things over with him.”
Mimi groaned and dropped her forehead to the table. Not only was he messing with her work life, now he was mucking up her social life, too.
Damn you, Daniel.
* * *
Daniel peered at Gracie and Ethan’s new home through the windshield of his car. It was a nice house, some might call it charming, with a wraparound porch and plantation-style shutters. Sandwiched between two similar homes on a cozy street in Chevy Chase, turning leaves scattered across its lawn, the house screamed domesticity. They’d moved to the burbs. Expensive burbs, but the burbs nonetheless. Daniel shuddered at the thought of living outside the city.
A few guests mingled on the porch, wineglasses in hand. His gut churned, warning him that being here was a mistake. Ethan didn’t like him. Mimi did nothing but tease him. And Gracie tolerated him because he was a member of LTN’s board and their parents were longtime friends. So coming here was like going into the lion’s den, getting mauled, and then being passed around to the remaining dens in the vicinity.
So why was he here? Much to his annoyance, the thought materialized before he could deny it: Because Mimi will be here, you idiot.
And there it was. The truth. The sad, pathetic truth.
Sure, he could live without being Ethan’s best friend. He had three men at Cambridge who would always have his back. But Mimi? Mimi’s disdain affected him in a way he couldn’t begin to explain. He refused to believe her dislike of him sprang solely from her deep-seated belief that he was an egotistical bastard. But if it did, his behavior in Puerto Rico would have done little to change her opinion of him. So what he needed was a second chance. Hence, his arrival at the lion’s den.
When he walked in, Gracie greeted him with a smile. “I’m so glad you came, Daniel.” She carried a wineglass in one hand. With the other, she linked arms with him. “Come, we’ll find you some liquid courage.”
He grinned. “Do I need it?”
“I suspect you do.”
“Why? Is Ethan planning to kick my ass?”
“Ethan is the least of your worries.” She drew him close so she could whisper in his ear. “She’s in the living room.”
He pretended not to hear the heads-up.
Gracie gave him a tour of the main level of the house, picking up a glass of wine for him along the way. She never lost her step or broke her concentration as she picked up discarded plates and smiled at guests who’d already made themselves comfortable. All the while, she treated him to random information about each room like a parent who couldn’t help sharing pictures of her newborn. It wasn’t a large crowd, but there were enough people in various parts of the house that energy flowed through it.
Eventually she directed him to the kitchen. They’d spared no expense there, appointing the room with a stainless steel refrigerator the size of a small car and counter appliances he’d never seen before. If he’d had any foodie tendencies, the professional chef’s kitchen would have made him salivate. But he had no such inclinations, preferring to enjoy the experience of eating food rather than cooking it.
Gracie heaped various hors d’oeuvres on a plate. “Here. If you’d like more, help yourself.”
He popped a bite-sized crab cake into his mouth. “Thanks for sheltering me, Gracie, but you don’t have to babysit me for the duration of your party. I’ll be fine.”
“Is that what I was doing?” she asked with an innocent smile.
“I think so,” he replied.
Gracie’s husband appeared at her side and cleared his throat. “There’s my lovely wife.” Ethan kissed Gracie’s forehead and drew her close. She basked in his attention, her adoration mirroring Ethan’s.
Daniel placed his plate on the kitchen counter. “Ethan.”
“Daniel. Thanks for coming. A friend of Gracie’s is a friend of mine.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I’d wondered if you’d be okay with my being here.”
Gracie’s eyes widened and she peered over his shoulder. “Excuse me, gentlemen. There’s someone I should say hello to.”
With Gracie gone, both men laughed at her obvious ploy to get them to talk, and the tension between them eased.
Daniel spoke first. “I’m happy for you. You two are obviously meant for each other.”
“Thanks for saying that. I agree one hundred percent.”
Daniel held out his hand. “Are we cool?”
Ethan took it. “Yeah, we’re cool.”
A voice behind them broke the moment before it became awkward. “What the hell are you doing in the kitchen, E?”
“Came to replenish my plate, Mark. Didn’t know you were keeping tabs on me.”
Mark Lansing had been the best man at Gracie and Ethan’s wedding. Daniel had met him the night before the couple got married.
“Oh, hey. Daniel, right? We met in Puerto Rico.” He stuck out his hand. “Mark Lansing.”
“Yeah, nice to see you again.”
Mark smiled to himself as though he were remembering a private joke. “Good times in Puerto Rico. Good times.”
“Don’t let Gracie see that smug look on your face, Mark. She’d like to believe Karen is a real-life Jane the Virgin.”
Daniel had no idea what they were talking about.
Mark saluted Ethan. “Duly noted. Just hurry up and give me backup. Individually, those women are fine, but get them together and it’s like someone dropped me in the middle of a Mad Max reboot. And if that’s not enough, Mimi’s gearing up for the games portion of the evening.”
Ethan’s eyebrows shot up. “Now this should be entertaining.”
The men walked single file into the living room, where Mimi stood behind a sofa table shuffling index cards.
Mark joined Karen, Gracie’s sister, and wrapped his arms around her. Ah. So that’s what they’d been alluding to. He hadn’t known they were together. And judging from Mark’s possessive hold on her, and the way Karen melted into him, it wasn’t casual or new.
He turned his attention to the far more interesting person in the room. Mimi wore skintight jeans and a fitted white shirt. The deep V of her top taunted him. Each time she moved, he caught a glimpse of the lacy white bra underneath. She’d done something different with her hair, too. Her usual bangs were gone, held away from her face by a fancy hair clip. Without her bangs to frame her face, her features stood out prominently. Her lips, painted bright red, obli
terated his ability to do much more than stare at them.
She motioned for everyone to join her. “Gather around, ladies and gentlemen. Gather around.”
A few guests who’d been chatting on the porch entered the living room and settled on the comfy chairs that filled the room.
“As I’d suspected she would, Gracie wanted to play charades. Using my supernatural powers of persuasion, however, I’ve convinced her to let me handle the games. So we’re going to play Two Truths and a Lie instead.” Not surprisingly, Mimi captivated the audience with her dynamic personality.
Although a few guests groaned at the announcement, Mimi didn’t let their lack of enthusiasm deter her. “Ah, ah, ah, don’t despair, ladies and gents. It’ll be fun, or enlightening, at the very least. I promise. Now, this won’t be your typical Two Truths and a Lie. Your index card will give you the required topic, and I’ll be monitoring your cards to make sure you’re playing along.” Mimi pointed two fingers at her eyes and then directed them to the crowd, letting everyone know she’d be watching them. “You get one opportunity to pass on a topic. You’ll share two truths and a lie. Other guests can ask you questions to try to trip you up. The person who figures out the lie wins a small prize and goes next. Got it?”
“Got it,” some of the guests responded. Others chatted with their neighbors, either smiling or grimacing at the prospect of having to share personal information about themselves.
“Anyone want to volunteer to go first?”
Gracie separated from Ethan and jumped up from the sofa. “I do.”
Mimi rubbed her hands together. “Excellent. My first victim.”
Gracie wagged a finger at her. “Be nice.” She wove her way through the few guests standing between her and Mimi. With a playful flourish, she drew one of Mimi’s index cards and read it. Her eyes went round as saucers, and then she looked at Mimi and shook her head. “Pass.”
Mimi read the card over Gracie’s shoulder and laughed. “Oral is such a broad topic. I thought for sure you’d be okay with it.”
Gracie shook her head. “Another, please.”
Mimi handed her friend a different card, and they shared knowing smiles.
“Okay, I can work with that one,” Gracie said. “The topic is the future.” She cleared her throat and tapped her lips as though she were thinking about her three statements, but Mimi’s anxious face told him Gracie knew exactly what she would say. “Okay. Statement number one. I’m expecting.”
Ethan leaned forward and his gaze roved over Gracie’s face and body. A few guests gasped.
“Statement number two. I don’t love my husband.”
Mark burst out laughing. “Well, hell, Gracie. We all know that’s not true.”
Karen jostled him with her shoulder and placed a finger over his lips.
Gracie rolled her eyes at Mark and continued. “Statement number three. I’m pregnant.”
Ethan shot up from the couch and reached her in seconds. The other people in the room might as well have not been there for all the attention he paid them. “Graciela, sweetheart, we’re going to have a baby?”
Gracie’s eyes glistened, and she nodded. “Yes, Ethan, I’m pregnant.”
With a look of awe on his face, Ethan smoothed the hair at Gracie’s temples and leaned in to kiss her.
The guests erupted into applause, and a collective aww filled the room.
Mimi threw the remaining cards in her hand in the air, and they came down like confetti. “So much for the game. This calls for champagne.”
She walked toward the kitchen, and Daniel figured this was his shot to speak with her alone. “I’ll help you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Fine.”
“So I’m guessing you were in on that back there?” he said behind her.
With brisk movements, Mimi readied a tray of champagne. “I was.”
Beside her, he removed the foil over the neck of the champagne bottle. “That was really sweet.”
Mimi stopped fussing with the glasses and straightened her shoulders. “It really was. I’m so freakin’ happy for them.” She wiped her eyes. “Eyelash.”
He laughed as he unwrapped another bottle. “Right. Can’t have anyone thinking Mimi has a heart.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, c’mon. You pretend you’re this hard-ass, but I’m starting to suspect you’re really a softy inside.”
“You’re an expert at pretending, so you should know, huh?”
“Pretending? What do you mean?”
“Look at you, Daniel. Your hair’s never out of place, your clothes are never wrinkled. I mean, I’ve never seen anything but a smile or a sly grin on your face.”
“You say all that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It is. It’s unnerving. No one can be happy one hundred percent of the time.”
“I’m not. I just don’t shit on other people’s days because I’m having a bad one myself. So, listen, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about what we started in Puerto Rico…”
“Oh no, Daniel. That ship has sailed.” Pointing to her crotch, she continued, “The porthole is closed.” Then she pointed to his crotch. “There she does not blow.”
Daniel barked out a laugh. Did she just make a joke about not giving him a blow job? That did it: She was his dream woman. “Are you done with the maritime references?”
“The last one was a literary reference.”
“Wait. Are you saying I have a Moby Dick? Dating me sounds like a no-brainer then.” He popped the champagne bottle, smiling inwardly at his impeccable timing.
“It’s. Never. Going. To. Happen.”
He focused on her plump lips as she enunciated each word. Ah, this woman. He loved playing in the sandbox with her. “Why. The. Hell. Not?”
“Because it’s against the rules.”
Rules? What the hell is she talking about?
CHAPTER FIVE
In the span of a few seconds, Daniel’s expression went from mild amusement to confusion.
Mimi loved catching him off guard. She filled the champagne glasses as he shadowed her. “Let me break this down for you so we can move past it. I have three rules for dating. One, I don’t date people I’ve met through my friends.”
He scrunched his eyebrows. “Why not?”
“Because when shit gets ugly, I need an easy exit.”
He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s a cynical way of looking at a relationship.”
“I don’t recall asking for your opinion of my dating rules.”
He waved a hand in front of himself. “Do continue then. This is fascinating.”
She placed the champagne bottle on the counter and held up two fingers. “Two, I never date men with personalities similar to my father’s.”
“Let me guess. I remind you of your father.”
“Ding, ding, ding.”
He beamed at her. “Tall? Charming? Irresistible?”
“Yes, yes, and yes. To most women. Too many women, unfortunately.”
She hadn’t meant to be so candid, but she couldn’t retreat now.
His playful smile slipped. “I’m starting to feel like I never had a chance here.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. My dad’s also egotistical and dismissive of women.”
“That’s not me.”
“I’m not surprised you think so. He’s delusional, too.”
He pressed his lips into a firm line and clenched his jaw. “You think you’ve got me figured out, don’t you? That’s your thing, I suppose. Slot everyone into your preconceived boxes, so you don’t have to do the heavy lifting of actually getting to know someone.”
Though he’d hit a nerve, she donned a bored expression and waited for him to continue.
“Well, I don’t date judgmental women, so I guess we’ll never know what could have been. Out of curiosity, though, what’s the third rule?”
She held up three fingers and
waved them in front of his face. “I never mix business with pleasure.”
Because her father had screwed with her head on this point, encouraging her to do the exact opposite. “If you insist on having your own career, then use your assets to your advantage,” he’d said. Just the kind of advice a young girl always dreamed of getting from her daddy. “Men are idiots that way,” he’d explained when her face had twisted in disgust. So, yeah, the idea of blurring the lines between her personal and professional lives terrified her.
The man who’d made a pass at her during her first internship out of college had taught her a related lesson: If she wanted to avoid harassment in the workplace, she would always have to downplay her femininity. Nothing like a work colleague’s hand slipping under your skirt to get that point across.
“What does your ‘no mixing business with pleasure’ rule have to do with me?”
“Did you forget about the consulting package, Daniel? You’re a potential client now.”
“Oh, c’mon, Mimi. Ten hours of your time hardly qualifies as a long-term client relationship.”
“Because the notion that I’d be able to get your long-term business is laughable? Is that what I’m hearing? Dismissive of women much?”
“I didn’t say that. I didn’t think you’d want my business. And if you’d like me as a client, you have a funny way of showing it.”
“You’re a lost cause. I’ll work on the rest of the architects at your firm.”
He pushed himself off the counter and faced her. “Good luck with that. I’m the CEO. If you want our business, you’ll have to woo me, too. And I have to say, so far you’re doing a terrible job.”
Then he picked up the tray of champagne-filled flutes and left the kitchen. And he had the nerve to whistle on his way out.
She finished the glass of bubbly in her hand in one gulp. Holding the stem in a death grip, she imagined it was Daniel’s neck. Screw yoga. When she was pissed, her imagination calmed her just fine.
Gracie’s sister, Karen, rushed through the swing door with an empty champagne flute in her hand. She dropped her head and blew out a breath.
