Page 96 of Lyrical

“Only because of my age. Otherwise, everything’s as uneventful as can be.” Huh. I must’ve given her a weird look because she was laughing again and pulling out a compact from her purse. “Do I have a bunch of oregano stuck in my teeth? That bruschetta was loaded with it.”

“Oh no. Sorry. I was just confused when you mentioned being high-risk because of your age. I didn’t realize they’d changed it to, what, under thirty-five now?” Geez, they should actually raise the age, considering women were living longer and healthier and were no longer worried about frickin’ rats carrying around bubonic plague.

She put her hand on my arm. “Aw, you’re sweet. I needed that extra boost tonight. I’m forty-three. Had my first—my daughter, Ava—at forty-one.”

Holy shit. I figured her to be ten years younger.Andshe was four years older than me. I swore in that next second Perry took over my mind. “Do you think I could get your number? I know you’re going to be a little busy in the next few weeks, but possibly we could talk in the next several months? I’d love to ask you some questions.”

She took a pen from her purse and scribbled onto a napkin. “Of course. Are you newly pregnant?”

“Um, no. Just considering it.” Holy fuck, did I say that out loud? I should’ve said, “Just curious.”

After thanking her, I went back to my table, still making sense of my reaction and the desire to talk to her further. Perry would call it a sign that I’d even approached her at all, but I didn’t know what the hell it was.

I sat down next to her and took a sip of wine. “You were over there a while,” Perry said. “The point was to go through as many people as possible.”

“I know. She was just interesting, and I lost track of time.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I hope she’s also contagious.”

I laughed, elbowing her. Then I noticed Cassie staring at us. Shit. Did she hear any of that? Of course she did, and she’d interpret it any damn way she wanted.

The next couple hours flew by, and so did the rest of my wine. I was very much enjoying the show. I hadn’t expected it to be so humorous. They’d either given more clues to solve or called up people from the audience to question. Of course, Perry got picked on quite a bit. Everyone loved to mess with a bride-to-be.

She took it in stride, but she wasn’t her usual boisterous self. I don’t think she’d even made her sister blush once. And she’d barely touched her dinner, claiming it made her gag.

Towards the end, I wasn’t even that surprised when she pulled me aside and said, “I’m not feeling too hot. I think I’m going up to the room for a while.”

I wasn’t surprised, but I was bummed. This was her party, after all. “They haven’t even announced the murderer yet.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. Maybe I’m coming down with something. I probably caught whatever you had that night at The Groove.”

“A period? Because I wasn’t sick, and that was weeks ago. I was just tired and stressed.”

“Well, better for me to feel this way now than at the wedding, right?”

“Yes, definitely. Okay, I’ll come back up with you.”

“What? Absolutely not. I need you to stay and win this thing. Then you can give me the prize.”

“Perry, but if you’re not feeling well and you need something—”

“I’ll be fine, Jills. I’m just an elevator away. I’d rather have you around here so you can represent me. My understudy can’t disappear too. I’ll probably sleep it off and be back down later, anyway.”

“All right, fine. Just feel better, okay?”

“Deal. Oh, and don’t forget—you can catch more flies with vinegar than honey.”

“It’s the other way around.”

“You know what I mean, Jills. Be extra nice and maybe you’ll get something you can use against her later.” She winked, reminding me more of herself before heading off to the room.

A few minutes later, Cassie came back to the table with a tray of pink shots. “Where’s the bridal girl?”

Everyone looked at me. I was the only one Perry told, besides Sam. “She’s really sorry but had to go up to the room for a little while. Probably something she ate that didn’t agree with her. She’ll be back down later.”

At least I hoped she would. After rounds of “awws” and “that’s too bads,” the loudest coming from Cassie and her stuck-out bottom lip, she began handing out the shots.

“I got pink especially for her too. I heard her mention it was her favorite color. I guess you’ll just have to do her shot, Jillian.”

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