“Harley. How long have we known each other now?” Suze asks.
“Two years, one month, eight days, and probably around fifteen hours.” I sigh. I know what’s coming. Suze always refers to how well we’ve grown to know one another in what could be deemed a relatively short amount of time for a friendship as close as ours. We didn’t go to school like Reed and Griffin did. We didn’t grow up together and go through teenage hormones, first crushes, and first jobs together. But I did catch her cheating husband for her. And ever since then, our friendship has morphed into something next level. Nights spent laughing and crying together while her divorce was finalized, kids’ parties, and school plays when her ex, Curt, let them all down again.
I’ve been there for her through it all. And she has done the same back with me. And then Maria came and made our duo a trio. And it’s just gotten better and better. I may not have known these two women for decades, but I love them like sisters, and they know me better than anyone else.
“I know you don’t think this is a good idea. But I’m telling you. Reed won’t totally get over his past until someone comes along and shows him a brighter future. He’s capable and intelligent, and a downright pain in the ass most days with his ridiculous jokes. But living with him, I’m seeing this whole other side to him. He’s caring and thoughtful. He buys dream houses as birthday gifts and then gets his balls bruised.” I laugh and shake my head at the questioning looks I’m getting. I wish I could show the girls that video of Reed and Freddy the goat, but I promised it would be for my eyes only.
“It sounds as though he’s grown on you. I remember when you used to complain about him visiting Griffin at work all the time and trying to lure you into conversation.”
I roll my eyes at Maria. “He still does that.”
“Yet you don’t complain about it anymore.” She arches a perfect brow as she brushes her long, dark hair over her shoulder.
“I…” She’s right. I haven’t complained about it. Not in weeks. “That’s because he does useful things now, like bring me Griffin’s coffee if I’m late. We’re sort of friends, I guess. He helps me. I help him.”
“By setting him up with a woman you’ve met once?” Suze crosses her arms as she frowns.
“She. Was. Lovely.” I glare back. “She’s perfect for him.”
Why don’t they get it?
“You’reperfect for each other,” Suze fires back.
“Exactly, perfect for each other—Hang on, what?” I stare at her, my mouth dropping open. I look at Maria for support, but she’s nodding in agreement.
They’re in on it together.
“What planet did you both wake up on this morning?” My voice rises in exasperation. “He’s Reed.”
“We can see who he is, can’t we, Maria?” Suze says, her eyes never leaving mine. “The question is, can you?”
“What are you talking about?” My eyes dart between them. This isn’t some cryptic crossword in the back of the paper, but they might as well be speaking a foreign language for all the sense they’re making.
“We think you would be good together,” Maria says. I snap my eyes to hers. “Great, actually. We’ve seen the way you are with each other. I saw you both coming back from dinner.”
“We were pretending,” I groan, wanting to laugh at the absurdity of what she’s suggesting. “Maria, it’s got to look real. For as long as Reed is preparing for this election, it has to look real. We’re just good actors.” My shoulders relax. She’s just reading into things from seeing us out in public together. If even her and Suze are convinced there’s something real there, then I must be delivering an Oscar-worthy performance. Because as much as I don’t like to think about Reed naked with other women, the idea of me and him is just… It’s just weird. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want him to be happy after all this faking it ends. He deserves that.
“There’s deceiving the outside world, and then there’s deceiving yourself,” Suze says.
I shake my head. “Stop. Both of you. I’m flattered you both think there’s something real there. It means other people will see that, too. And that will help Reed. But honestly, you’re barking up the wrong tree. In fact, it’s not even a tree you’re barking up, it’s a…” I scan Maria and Griffin’s large kitchen. “… It’s an incredibly shiny new gadget.” I jump up from my seat and rush over to the kitchen side. “Maria? What is this?” I squint at the contraption.
“Um, an egg incubator.”
I turn back to her, my eyes bugging out.
“It only arrived this morning. Griffin hasn’t seen it yet,” she adds quickly.
I rarely see Maria flustered. She is the queen of elegant calm. But now she’s biting her bottom lip and fiddling with her giant blue diamond engagement ring that sits like a boulder on her finger.
I turn back to the machine. “There’s an egg in it!”
She walks over to join me and smiles as she gazes through the clear viewing panel on the lid. “I know. Earl found it this morning when he visited. It fell from the bird box down the side alleyway.”
Earl was The Songbird’s doorman. He was here for years and is loved by all the staff. He knows everyone and would keep an eye on Griffin and his brothers when they were kids playing in the hotel while Griffin’s dad was working. Even though he’s retired, he can’t keep himself from visiting. And we all love seeing him when he does.
“You’re lucky it didn’t smash.” Suze comes to join us, and we all peer at the small, white, delicate shell.
“I know. I think it would have if Earl hadn’t insisted the door staff put some old matting down beneath the box just in case something like this happened. I love that we have the pigeon roosting box down the side alley, and it does help to keep the birds from soiling the hotel’s sidewalk carpet if we encourage them to roost there instead of on the window ledges above the front entryway.”