“And here I thought I was going to meet a one in a trillion woman.”
Roman gives me a questioning look.
“Or perhaps she doesn’t exist.” Carl continues with a smugness I don’t appreciate.
“My daughter definitely exists,” Miles says, scooting in with Diana at his side. “Wedding planning is hard work on top of a full-time job.”
“Of course,” Carl says with mock seriousness. “But who is this delightful creature?”
Diana freezes. She comes on to us all the time, but something about what Carl said bugs her. Miles takes her hand, showing off the giant diamond on her finger. “This is my lovely wife, Diana.”
“I thought you were divorced.” Carl’s eyes narrow. “Exactly how out of the loop am I?”
“We decided to give it another go,” Diana says. “It’s excellent so far. So excellent we haven’t had time to make proper announcements.”
“Well, since I won’t be meeting the amazing Sophia, perhaps we should talk business. Since you four are about to be married and will be hard pressed to start a family, how is this going to change things?”
Dear god. This is about to be a terrible dinner.
Carl digs into every facet and by the end, Roman has excused himself twice. When Carl orders dessert, Roman apologizes and says he needs to head out since he’s not feeling well. Carl asks about the food and then demands to know if we took him to a place that’s less than five stars.
Gunner rolls his eyes. “We’re treating. Be happy for that alone.”
“Perhaps I should sell a few of my stocks. I’m not sure how well you can expand a business if you all are distracted by domestic affairs. That seems to be the case. At least at this dinner. A part of me wonders if this marriage is even real. Or is it just a clumsy attempt to drum up more business – the high-end kind since no formal announcements have gone out. I didn’t even receive an invitation.”
“We made an agreement that it would only be close friends and family. Nothing to do with work.” I say clearly.
Carl puts a hand to his chest. “I assumed we were friends.”
“Acquaintances. We’ve never met your wife,” Nick says.
“Don’t have one. I prefer to live the fun life – meaning getting what I want and moving on. Something I thought Gunner and I both understood.”
“I did until Sophie came along. She’s better than having a different model on my arm every week.” Gunner shrugs. “She’s worth more than I deserve.”
Carl is fucking up again and again. He seems to realize it after dinner. He offers to meet up at the end of the week instead if that works for our schedule. We agree to get back to him, then head home.
Diana stops me, rubs my biceps with a slight smile, then shakes her head. “What is wrong with Sophie? She yelled at me.”
“Why didn’t you share the plans with her like you did with us?”
“She didn’t need to be more stressed,” She pouts. “I was handling it.”
“She thought it was forgotten and it started a fight. She’s not a child. This is her wedding and she deserves to stay in the loop. Not knowing doesn’t help any with her stress.” I say simply.
Miles crosses his arms over his chest. “A fight?”
“Not now.” I point at him.
When we get home, I see Roman sitting with Sophie. She’s still all bristled, but Roman is using his soft voice, the one saved just for her. “I’m sorry, Bambina. We thought she shared it with you after Nick talked to her.”
“She didn’t.” There’s the same tone. “And now I feel like some bitchy little girl being all unreasonable just because I want to know what’s going on with my own wedding.”
“You’re not. I’ll take off Friday after lunch and we’ll go to city hall and fill out everything we need to, okay? The marriage certificate will be approved and then everything will be legal. I’m sure the guys will join us too.”
“We will.” Gunner agrees.
Sophie looks up at us, then at Nick. She’s still seething. Nick scratches the back of his head. “I’m sorry for my tone.”