Page 60 of Love and Other Champagne Problems

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Sender: Aaron Astor

Subject: Touching Base

Hello Margot,

I hope you’ve been well since my last email. I’m sure your schedule has kept you busy, as has mine. Can you believe that in just two weeks, we will meet face to face? I confess, when I think about it, I get a little nervous. You’ll find me much less eloquent in person, I’m afraid. I hope you can forgive me for that.

I’ve gone ahead and sent my flight information to your father. I’m looking forward to meeting you. Please let me know where our meeting location will be, and I’ll be there.

Fondly,

Aaron

Having any meal with my parents was a rare occasion, much less breakfast. My parents were two busy workaholics who prided themselves in having no time for anything outside of their scheduled meetings. Their lunches always related to business. Their dinners, if not also under the pretense of business, were held in the private of their homes with not even their daughter bearing witness. Before today, I had been convinced they didn’t eat breakfast.

Perhaps that was why their eight o’clock invitation the next morning had been so jarring.

No, I knew why. It had been the invitation itself.

“Oh, I haven’t been here in years,” my mother said as she cut into her chive and smoked cheddar pancakes of Pierre’s. “The atmosphere is different from how I remember.”

My father, who wasn’t known for his creative palate, played it safe and ordered the bacon topped porridge with soft-boiled eggs. He stirred his spoon through the mixture before deciding he needed more cracked pepper. “Isn’t it?” he asked with obvious disinterest. He hadn’t looked at me once.

I’d barely been able to take my eyes off him. I’d thought seeing him again, in the broad daylight, would invoke rage, but it didn’t. No fear, either. Instead, all I felt was unease.

My mother hadn’t been speaking to either of us in particular, it seemed. She just spoke to hear her own voice. “A bit stuffier,isn’t it? Ironic, given the view of the bay, but the dated furniture most certainly isn’t helping the atmosphere.”

This time, my father simply hummed as he lifted a spoonful of porridge to his mouth. He seemed quite well for how much he drank last night.

My parents sat across from me at the square table at Pierre’s, their shoulders near touching from how close the chairs were. We were hours before my avocado toast would be served, so I settled with eggs Benedict with a side of grapefruit, though the dish sat untouched in front of me. It was impossible to have an appetite in their presence, especially since we’d been here thirty minutes and they hadn’t announced the reason for the impromptu family meal.

I had a few guesses, though. My father’s arrival to my hotel room was one of them.

“How’s Ms. Nancy doing?” my mother asked me after she chewed through her bite of pancake.

“She’s still kicking.”

I’d been watching my mother’s expression, and saw her lips quirk unpleasantly before she brought her water to her lips. “Has she mentioned anything about… well, you know.”

I played dumb. “Mentioned anything about what?”

My mother cleared her throat once. “Never mind.”

Being at Pierre’s instead of the country club’s dining hall meant Sumner was not present to catch the eye of. The thought of him caused something in my lower stomach to shift.

He’d left me in bed last night, but when I’d woken this morning, I’d been in my suite fully alone. At least,until I’d walked out into the living area and found Sumner asleep on my couch.

He had covered himself with one of my suit jackets I’d left out, his legs curled up to strain to fit on the small sofa. I’d allowed myself only a moment to gaze at him, knowing the soft feeling that’d unfurled in my stomach was too dangerous to let bloom further.

Sumner’s lips had been parted as he slept, unflinching even as I laid a throw blanket over him. I should’ve woken him, but I couldn’t. At that moment, I couldn’t bring myself to face him.

“We’re hosting an event next Saturday evening,” my mother told me. “Plan to attend. And, Margot—I heard about your most recentescapadeat the tennis courts the other day. Things always get back to me, you know, even if they take time.”

Honestly, I was shocked it’d taken this long for her to bring it up.

“I’ll be sending something to your room. Wear it for the event.”

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