Page 17 of The Show

“And you’ll look beautiful, as ever,” he replied, taking Dylan’s hand and kissing it before turning to Lauren and me. “Aren’t I lucky to be walking in with three beautiful ladies? I hope the boys have arrived though, I can’t contribute much to this dress chat.”

Lauren laughed, looping her arm through his. “You’re doing okay, Deck.”

The cars drove off along the drive which curved around the house, and toward the entrance where everyone else’s cars would arrive; the one usually used for service personnel, instead of through the family entrance we’d used.

Dylan peered around Decker as we walked up the front steps, where two of the Shepherd staff were flanking the door, waiting for us. “Hey, did you hear Nancy has gotten Adele singing Happy Birthday to Gramps?”

“What? Holy Shit!” Lauren squealed, nearly tripping over the heavy hem of her dress in excitement, “Seriously? The actual Adele?”

Dylan nodded. “Yes, apparently.”

“This party just got a lot better.”

“Hey,don’t be mean! It’s Grandpa’s birthday,” Decker tutted.

“Tomorrow is. Tonight will be entertaining rich people and watching Nancy network her ass off. I don’t even think Gramps couldn’t give a shit about tonight. There’s too many of these events as it is,” Lauren grumbled.

“That’s why us girls have a date with the tequila bar,” winked Dylan.

“Hell, yes!”

The door was opened for us as we reached the top of the steps, and the four of us walked into the enormous double height entryway, across the checkered floor and past eight Redwood-wide marble pillars. As we got to the middle, we noticed Lauren and Dylan’s grandmother slowly walking down the split staircase, which swept across to either wing of the house.

“GiGi!” Lauren and Dylan cried in unison.

“Hello, my darlings!” she cooed back, hugging them as she reached the bottom step. “Don’t you look beautiful.”

Summer Shepherd was much more formidable than her name suggested. Supporting a husband building a behemoth of a company, raising four children - losing one of them - supporting eleven grandchildren, not to mention the great-grandchildren, tended to do that to a person. However, she was always warm and welcoming to everyone who came into her house, including me. I was pulled into another big hug.

“Hello, Lowe. In fact, you all look beautiful. You too, Decker, dear.” She kissed his cheek as he leaned down to let her. “The boys are outside.”

His eyes lit up in the way that meant he’d found his safety net – one which could support all the sports chat he’d ever need.

“Great!” he kissed Dylan’s cheek, then took off to find them at such a speed it was a surprise there wasn’t smoke coming from the heels of his dress shoes.

Summer looped her arm through mine. “Come on, let’s go and join them for cocktails before the hordes arrive. Lowe, I want to hear all about your business; Lauren says you’re starting one on your own? You should talk to Lucien about it.”

I snorted quietly. Speaking to one of the greatest businessmen of all time about my tiny little communications firm was not in my upcoming plans, even though I knew he’d actually give me his time if I asked him to. Instead, I nodded, as we all walked through the front vestibule together, and out of the huge open expanse at the back where we stopped on the veranda and took in the sight below.

I’d spent a fair amount of time here as a kid, and even more after Brick died. It had always had a slightly magical vibe; specific spaces built for their grandchildren with hidden glens and high tree-houses, plus the lagoon pool – the one out of sight from the main house - as well as the more majestic adult pool directly below us, currently adorned with delicate blue and white flowers.

It looked nothing like I remembered.

An enormous blue and white striped open-air marquee tent had been erected at the far end of the lawn on the edge of the lake; torches and twinkle lights barely visible in the sunlight adorned the pathways and trees, ready to burn bright for when the sun went to bed in a few hours. Wait staff were rushing around in the distance; three of them carrying troughs filled with ice, ready for the champagne to be added. The wait staff I was interested in, however, were the two with the tray of full glasses and canapes making their way over to the small gathering at the bottom of the veranda.

“Wow, GiGi, it looks incredible!” Dylan cried. “Has Nance done this!?”

Summer chuckled. “She had a lot of meetings in the summer house, but I think the credit should go to Melanie.”

“Who’s Melanie?” I whispered to Lauren.

“She’s the head of the events division at the company,” she whispered back, then tugged on my arm, pulling me in the direction of a waiter carrying a full tray of filled champagne flutes. “Come on, we need a drink.”

We grabbed a glass and joined Decker, who already had beer in hand, and was having a heated discussion with Lucian over something to do with sports. However, I wasn’t up to date enough with any team or player to be able to identify exactly what had Lucian throwing his hands in the air, his champagne sloshing out and narrowly missing my dress.

“Oh, Lowe, my dear,” he cried, pulling me into his side and kissed my head. “I’m so sorry. But really, it’s Decker’s fault. He doesn’t believe The Lions can ever win the World Series.”

Decker shook his head before grabbing a couple of canapes from the tray of the passing waiter and throwing them in his mouth. “I didn’t say that exactly. I said it would take years.”

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