Page 97 of Sunsets & Slow Dances

“Oh, I was…I thought that some kids had broken in. I was doing my rounds, and I heard some…commotion.”

“Nobody broke in, George. We have a key.” Nadia showed George the key we’d used. Then closed the door behind us and locked up.

“Well, what business do you two have in there?”

Seriously? Was he seriously asking that?

“Scavenger Hunt business.” Nadia pulled the paper out of her pocket. “For Miles and Zoe’s bachelor/bachelorette party. Which we have to get back to because we won.”

Nadia took off walking, and I followed her.

When we got to the stairs that led up to the pier, I asked, “He didn’t actually buy that, did he?”

She glanced over her shoulder with a glint of trouble in her baby blue eyes and a smile that could start a war or end one. I opened my mouth and almost said,I love you. Thankfully, I stopped myself. Tonight was not the night to make any sort of declaration. There were some things I needed to take care of first. But after that, I planned on putting all my cards on the table, and I really hoped I had a winning hand.

35

NADIA

“How are you feeling?”Ashley leaned over my shoulder as I touched up Zoe’s makeup.

I’d always loved makeup. In high school, I even had a YouTube channel and thought I was going to be a beauty influencer. Unfortunately, that hadn’t paid the bills. I wasn’t very consistent when I went to college, and then once I graduated, I spent most of my time caring for my mom when I wasn’t teaching. Not that teaching really had me rolling in the dough.

“Good,” Zoe smiled, appearing to be as calm as a cucumber.

“You look fucking hot!” I enthused.

She looked as if she belonged in a bridal magazine. Her long, dark hair was styled in vintage finger waves. Her green eyes popped with a bold winged liner and thick, black mascara paired with a red lip that flawlessly pulled off her Old Hollywood look, which was perfect considering she was marrying into new Hollywood.

“Dress time,” Daphne, who worked as a TV producer for years, announced. She was in charge of keeping the day on schedule.

Zoe stood, and Ashley and Daphne both helped her into her dress. As Ashley began to run the steamer over it to get all the wrinkles out of it, I heard raised voices out front. When I pulled back the curtain, I saw news vans, cameras, and reporters lined across the street from the Opera House trying to get a scoop on the wedding of the decade—or at least the wedding of this news cycle, which was approximately 24 to 72 hours.

“The stalkerazzi have descended,” I alerted her.

Both Zoe and Miles had hoped to keep their wedding an intimate affair. They knew that would be difficult, considering Miles's notoriety. It also didn’t help that he’d just been nominated for an Academy award, Golden Globe, SAG, Independent Spirit, and Critic’s Choice awards for Best Actor for playing the role of her late husband.

Even I had to admit the story was clickbait worthy. If Zoe weren’t my friend, I would be drooling over and rabidly devouring any headline about that couple. As a pop culture connoisseur, I would want to know every single, tiny, minute detail about their love story. Since she was my friend, I wanted everyone to get a life, leave my friend alone, and give them the privacy they deserved.

She sighed. “I don’t want to think about that. Distract me. What happened to you last Saturday?”

“Me?” I asked, playing dumb.

“You and Callum were MIA for like an hour after you sent the text that you had completed the scavenger hunt.”

I could feel my cheeks heating. “Were we?”

Zoe pointed her finger at me. “You guys hooked up! Didn’t you?”

There was no point in denying it. But I also didn’t have to come right out and admit it. “I plead the fifth.”

“Pay up.” Daphne held her hand.

“I’ll Zelle you.” Zoe motioned down at her dress, indicating she had no money on her.

“You bet whether or not we hooked up?” My eyes bounced between my two friends like a ping-pong ball.

Neither denied the accusation.

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