Page 26 of Stone Promises

“You too, Ethan. Thank you for having me.” My eyes quickly take in the massive great room lined by floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city. “Hey, can I borrow a hundred-dollar bill to scrape the gum off my shoe that I stepped on in that deplorable contraption you call an elevator? I mean, seriously, this building should be condemned.”

“You always were a smartass, Schaffer. I’m glad to see some things haven’t changed.” He takes my elbow and escorts me into the kitchen. “Mallory, this is my wife, Charlie.”

She looks familiar. About my age, maybe a bit younger. I wonder if we went to college together. “Nice to meet you, Charlie.”

I extend my hand to her but she hugs me. “It’s nice to meet you, too. I’ve heard a lot about you this week.”

She has?“You have?”

“Oh, yeah,” she says, nodding. “My brother-in-law here has you on a pretty high pedestal.”

Ethan clears his throat. “You’ll have to excuse my wife and her unfiltered mouth.”

Charlie swats him. “You love my mouth,” she says.

He pulls her in for a kiss. “Very true. Must be that Stone men love smartass women.”

“Must be,” she says, her striking red hair flowing around her shoulders.

Pedestal? Stone men love smartass women? Am I missing something here?

I can’t get over the feeling I know Charlie from somewhere. “You look so familiar; did you go to Berkeley?”

“Nope, I skipped college and went straight to life,” she says.

“Charlie’s mom was Caroline Anthony,” Ethan says. “Caroline was an actress and Charlie looks a lot like her, that’s probably why she looks familiar.” The way he says it is like he’s said it a thousand times before, matter-of-factly, but in a protective kind of way.

Oh, geez. She’s Caroline Anthony’s daughter?Charlie looks a bit perturbed by the mention of her mother, so I don’t ask her about it. Maybe she feels the same way I did when Melissa was bombarding me with questions about Chad.

“Mallory, this is my best friend, Piper Mitchell,” Charlie says, indicating the woman sitting at the bar. “And this is her fiancé, Mason Lawrence.”

I look at the stunning couple, immediately recognizing Mason as a professional football player. What, iseveryonehere famous or uber-freaking-rich? Suddenly I feel very insignificant. And very out of place. “Uh, hello. Nice to meet you.” I shake Piper’s hand and then Mason’s. “My dad is a huge fan,” I say with a shaky voice. “He will be beside himself when I tell him I had dinner with you.” I feel a little faint and quickly take a seat on the couch as everyone falls into comfortable conversation.

Chad sits next to me on the end of the couch. “Are you okay, Mal? You look a little pale. Can I get you something?”

I shake my head. “I’ll be okay,” I whisper so only he can hear. “I mean, as if you being a movie star isn’t enough, but now—this penthouse, the daughter of an Oscar-winning actress, a guy who plays football for the Giants? I guess I’m just a little overwhelmed, that’s all. And way out of my league.”

“We’re all just regular people like you, Mal,” he says.

I look at him like he’s gone off his rocker. “Right,” I say. “Just ask those girls downstairs, or the hundreds of people that swarmed you at the club the other night.”

“That’s just part of the job,” he says. “It’s not who we are. We want to get together and have a good time with our friends, just like everyone else. That’s all this is, a good time with friends. Okay?”

I look around at everyone. I guess he’s right. Watching them talk and drink and laugh, they do all seem fairly normal despite the fact that the collective wealth in this room could eliminate a big chunk of the national debt.

I see a woman come down the hallway with a baby in her arms. She walks up to Charlie. “He’s all clean. Thanks for letting me change him,” she says.

“Are you kidding?” Charlie hands the woman a drink, leaning down to kiss the baby. “You can have that job whenever you’d like. You’re a lifesaver.”

Chad stands up and holds his hand out to me. I let him pull me up off the couch. He walks us over to the woman, not letting go of my hand. It reminds me of the times he held my hand when we were young. Only with more sparks now. “Mallory, this is my publicist, Kendra.”

“Hi, Mallory,” she says, smiling at our entwined hands. “Sorry, I’d give you a hug, but my hands are kind of full.”

“Here, let me,” Chad says, taking the baby from her. I’m surprised at the emptiness I feel when he pulls his hand from mine.

Kendra gives me a hug. “So, you’re the one,” she whispers in my ear.

I have the feeling tonight is some elaborate hoax that everyone is in on but me. Maybe I’m being punk’d. I look at Kendra as she releases me and she gives me this incredible, ear-to-ear smile. “Doesn’t he look like a natural?” she asks, motioning to Chad.

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