She’s a pretty blonde, petite and slim. She was a U.S. national figure-skating champion and was on her way to the Olympics when an unfortunate accident ended her competitive career. She’s one of the warmest and most genuine people I know, and I still don’t understand how she fell for someone as undemonstrative as Dane. I’m certain the pink diamond the size of a quail’s egg on her finger isn’t it.
“It was nice of Vanessa to invite us over,” she says. “Dane was rather…umm…worried.”
“Why?”
“He doesn’t like to be out of town, leaving his wife and daughter behind, obviously,” Vanessa says.
“Oh, for God’s sake. It’s only for a day or two, right?” You’d think he was going to be stuck in a Siberian salt mine for the next couple of decades.
Sophia smiles. “He’ll be back tonight.”
“You’ll know how it feels when you meet the right woman,” Justin says.
“Oh no,” I say. “I’m never letting myself get pussy-whipped. It’s embarrassing.”
“Uh, language?” Vanessa says.
“Sorry,” I say. Ryan does like to parrot what he hears.
Vanessa shakes her head. “You’re being ridiculous, trying so hard to be un-whipped. Is that why you wrote in your bachelor auction date proposal that you plan to take the winner to Vegas and”—her gaze flicks over to the kids—“do bad things?”
I frown at her, surprise and annoyance tugging at me. “How do you know that? You aren’t going, are you?” Justin would never let her bid on some other man.
“Not participating, if that’s what you mean. But I am helping Elizabeth organize things. When I read it, I thought you had to be joking. But she told me you were actually serious when you sent that in.”
“Yes. I take dating very seriously,” I say, although my mood is deflating rapidly as I remember why I had to write such crap for my date plan.
“What’s wrong?” Justin asks. There’s no hiding it from my brother.
“It’s Georgette.”
He hisses, while Sophia and Vanessa wince.
“Didn’t she die of an overdose? I thought I read that somewhere,” Sophia says.
“No, she’s alive. And out of rehab, and apparently clean, if you can believe that. She came to find me at the Sterling Medical Center…wearing a mink bikini.”
Justin starts to laugh. “A what?” Vanessa says, sitting up straighter. “Okay, tell us everything. Start from the beginning.”
So I do, including the part about Evie’s refusal to rescue me from Georgette’s gold-digging clutches. Laying it out like this makes my anxiety spike. This fucked-up shit with Georgette is too damn real.
Justin’s the first to open his mouth. “Restraining order, bro. You need a restraining order.”
“Doesn’t do much if you’re dealing with a determined stalker,” Vanessa says.
“Do you think it would be self-defense if I accidentally threw her out of a window?” I ask.
Vanessa considers. “Nooo… I don’t think that would fly.”
“But she would,” Justin says.
“Maybe Elizabeth can just ban her or something?” Sophia suggests.
Vanessa shakes her head. “Georgette’s parents are huge supporters of the foundation. She’d never do anything to humiliate them like that.”
That’s the problem with being nice: caring about what others think. “I can’t let her win me. I’d rather eat dog sh—uh, poop.”
“Don’t eat dog poop, Uncle Nate!” Ryan says. “Mommy said it’s unsaintly.”