Page 115 of Wingwoman
HOPE
“Dude.He’s so in love with you.”
Bonnie merely smiled as the cork popped off the champagne bottle and went flying, punctuating Max’s thought.
“Thanks, Bonnie,” I said, taking the bottle from her and pouring a little bit of champagne into each of the three flutes she had set out.
“Don’t thank me. Thank that man of yours who set all this up.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks. Of all the gifts Josh had given me, this was the best. Time with my girls. Time to regroup with the women I missed so desperately back in New York.
I wanted to do something for him. I wanted to give him something equally meaningful… I just didn’t know what yet. I didn’t have his resources.
“I’m going to let you girls relax while I gather some of our best items from the back. Anita’s and my favorites aren’t always on display.” Before Bonnie could walk away, she leaned down and gave my shoulder a squeeze, adding, “And I agree with your friend there. I’ve never seen Josh this enamored with a woman.”
“See?” Max squealed, beaming. “He loves you!”
Even though I rolled my eyes, my heart skipped a beat at the thought.
I glanced over at where Bonnie slipped behind a curtain into the back part of the shop.
“He is not,” I whispered. Then I looked to Carrow, the friend who was even more jaded than I was, expecting to be met with a confirming nod.
Instead, she merely lifted her brows. “Oh no,” I groaned. “Not you too, Rowe.”
Carrow leaned forward, lifting the champagne flute delicately between her fingers. “He tracked down your two best friends and flew us to Texas so we could be here with you.”
My mind went immediately to his money issues and I inwardly cringed. Half a million was a lot of money… even to a celebrity, right?
“I could have flown you guys down here. It’s not like I need emotional support shopping for dresses.”
They both gave me a look that implied I was dumber than a pile of bricks. “What?”
“Girl,” Max said. “He didn’t fly us down here just to buy dresses with you.”
I looked around the shop, confused. “Uh… then what the hell are we doing here?”
“He knows how nervous the whole contract makes you,” Carrow whispered. “And he called us because he wanted you to have people you knew at the rodeo when you two were officially announced.”
“It’s really sweet. And goes way beyond some surface level shopping spree,” Max added.
“He… he told you about the contract we have?”
They both nodded.
“He asked us to sign an NDA and then told us everything,” Max whispered.
“Well…” Carrow added. “Not everything.”
“What did he leave out?” I asked.
“He didn’t tell uswhyyou agreed to the plan.”
“And believe me,” Max said with a snort, “we asked.”
“Everything made sense except for the fact that our extremely logical friend threw everything to the wind and went along with all this in the first place,” Carrow said.
Warmth spread through my core. “And he didn’t tell you why I said yes?”
