Page 127 of Love Among Vines

“I could use your help, actually. I can set up for an event just fine?—”

“Really? Didn’t you mention that all of your glasses were smashed?”

“Well, besides that. I can set up an event, but I can’t make it glamorous. I would really benefit from an artist’s opinion. I have a catalogue from the event planning company. They need to know about décor by tomorrow.”

“Why didn’t you say so? Let me at it.”

She collapsed into the chair behind Rett’s desk and picked up the catalogue. “What’s our budget and the guest list like?” she asked.

“Three thousand for décor. Food’s already set. That much I could handle. I’m only expecting about two hundred people.”

Jade balked.Onlytwo hundred people? How did he even know two hundred people? She lived in one of the biggest cities in the country and was barely on a first-name basis with more than ten people.

“Perfect.” She picked up a highlighter and began perusing. Penny curled up at her feet, and Rett went off, presumably to fret about something else.

She marked off items from the event planning company. Sparkly gold tablecloths, loud feather-centric centerpieces, bejeweled bottle sleeves, and antique-looking glassware. An art deco archway. Gold, glam, and pearls everywhere. After a few cuts, she calculated her total.

Boom, totally glamorousandslightly under budget. She stood up to find Rett, and Penny followed like a shadow. He was nowhere to be found. Probably schmoozing with the customers.

She trudged up the stairs and through the back room. No sign of him. She pushed through the doorway into the gift shop.

There he was, chatting with two customers. But something wasn’t right. His arms were crossed, and his body was tense.

Instantly, she went on high alert. Was someone being rude? She would summon her inner New Yorker and toss the troublemaker out of the building.

She looked at Elaine, who seemed similarly uncomfortable. Even the cashier behind the register looked wary. Who or what were these new arrivals? Business inspectors? The Health Department, maybe?

She stepped closer. They appeared to be a couple. The woman was blonde, tall, rail-thin, and dressed like she was a personal assistant to Lisa Vanderpump. She had a fresh blowout and her shoes would have broken Jade’s ankles.

And then there was the man. Something about him looked familiar. She narrowed her eyes. Holy shit. He looked just like a slightly older Rett. The same green eyes and skin tone. Rett was a little bit taller, but he certainly didn’t have the air of superiority that seemed to waft off the other man like a toxic fog.

Wasthisthe girlfriend-stealing brother? She straightened her shoulders and marched toward them.

CHAPTER FORTY

RETT

“You wantto stay at the house?” Rett clarified.

“If it’s not too much trouble,” Alexa simpered.

“I forgot how the hotels fill up here in the fall,” Chris said. “You don’t mind, do you?”

Oh, he very much minded. Having his brother and his cheating ex under his roof? He’d rather be drowned in a vat of bottom-shelf merlot. But he could only imagine what his parents would say if he turned his own brother out into the cold.

Nails scrabbled over the hardwood behind him, and he turned to spot Penny and Jade. Thank god. Jade’s eyebrows were drawn together and her mouth was scrunched up.

“There you are,” he said to her. He held out his arm, and she slid into his side like she had been specifically made to fit there.

Alexa went rigid, and her smile was frozen in place as she took in Jade and her paint-splattered overalls.

Penny, who had historically jumped on every new person she had encountered in the last week, cowered behind Jade.

“This is Chris. My brother.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Jade.” She reached over and shook his hand.

Chris flinched, and Rett suppressed a smile. He could feel the tension wafting off Jade.

---