Page 55 of Wingwoman
“Is this the friend you’re bringing to dinner tonight?” Vivian asked.
“What?No. What kind of psycho brings a straight, male friend to a bachelorette party?!”
Josh booped his finger on the tip of my nose with a quiet, “So you admit we’re friends?”
Jaw clenched, a snarl rumbled at the back of my throat. He knew damn well I signed an NDA and legally couldn’t tell Viv or my dad he was actually a client. “Fine,” I hissed and swiveled back to Viv and Dad. “We’re friends. Happy? But he’s not the friend coming tonight. That’s Maggie…”
Oh, shit. Maggie. I never texted her back. I yanked my phone free and started typing a response to her.
Hope:
Trust me. You look great! You’ll fit right in.
Unlike me who, in this outfit, will stick out like a sore thumb.
“Who’s Maggie?” Dad asked. “I thought you didn’t know anyone in Austin. Now, I’m hearing you have not one, buttwofriends.”
He fixed Josh with a withering scowl and for the briefest moment, I saw a crack in Josh’s demeanor. The slightest flinch at the thought that someone might not be falling at his feet. Then as quickly as I saw it, it vanished.
I hadn’t heard that protective note in my father’s tone since my freshman year of high school when senior Luke Williams asked me to prom. The age gap alone was enough to set my dad’s teeth on edge, but when Luke came to pick me up with a lit cigarette dangling from his lips, Dad nearly blew a gasket and chased him off our porch.
Admittedly, I didn’t really like Luke much. I’d only said yes to prom because it was, well,prom. And because most of my life, Dad never seemed to care who I spent my time with.
Even though that night exploded into a fight between my father and me, secretly I’d never been happier that my Dad finally stuck up for me.
I was feeling that weird sense of fatherly protective warmth again right now. With Josh.
“Maggie’s a friend I met on one of my first night’s here. I told you about her, Dad.”
“And this guy? He afriendtoo?” The word friend might as well have been spat with acid.
Vivian linked her arm through my dad’s and snuggled into him. “Oh, come on, Rick. She’s been here for almost two weeks. She was bound to meet a couple people her own age. I just had no idea it would be Josh Gabriel! You know, I took my girls to see you live once as their Christmas gift. Gosh, it must have been nine… maybe even ten years ago now?”
Josh seemed to pale at the mention of his concert. But always one to cater to fans, he gave her a polite nod and a smile that I’d come to learn in the past week or so was forced. “I hope I gave y’all a good show,” he said with a tip of his chin.
“Oh, the best,” Viv said. “You were all my girls talked about for weeks. And with every breakup, your music would blare from their rooms on repeat!” With a sigh, she rested her cheek on Dad's shoulder.
I had to admit, standing there with Dad and Viv, something about this felt different than his other marriages. He looked calmer. More at peace with Viv than with the other women.
And in return, Viv looked at him with adoration.
I cleared my throat, sensing that Josh was itching for a change in topic. “What about you, Dad? What are you getting into tonight? Big bachelor party planned?”
“Oh no,” he said. “Not for me. Not this time.”
Uh-huh. Sure. I’d heard that before.
“Really? No bachelor party at all?”
He shook his head. “Someone has to stay home with the dogs tonight.”
I blinked, taken completely aback. “You have dogs?”
“Three,” Viv said, pulling up a picture on her phone of two little fluffy white dogs and a larger black and white mutt. “Elsa and Anna were mine before I met your dad. And Rick found Ollie here in the middle of the road. He stopped traffic until he could coax the big guy into his car.”
“Anna and Elsa,” I repeated absentmindedly. My dad had adog. Three dogs. What the actual hell? I had begged him to get a dog my entire childhood.
“And Ollie!” Viv chimed in.
