Page 48 of Marry Me, Right Now

“I promise, my parties are usually slightly more reasonable.”

Looking around her fortress of paperwork, I chuckled again. “You’re always writing in your notebooks, but this tornado of tree slices is getting out of control.”

She suddenly looked serious. “Sorry – did you want me to clean this up?”

“No! I’m just joking. Take over as much space as you need. And for the record, if you ever leave things lying around, Carol will never throw anything out unless it’s in the garbage. She might set it aside somewhere obvious, but she’ll never toss anything accidentally, especially papers.”

“Good to know. I’ll try to be tidy, but sometimes I brainstorm, and things get messy.”

“What sorts of things?”

She sipped her wine thoughtfully. “Sometimes notes with friends on their projects. Since I’m in the arts without being an artist, I can offer a different perspective, and can be useful for problem-solving. I’m apparently very handy for bouncing ideas off of.”

I laughed. “I’ll bring you into the office the next time the marketing department gets stuck on something.”

Mia giggled. “I’m pretty sure I’d be a little out of place in a corporate office.”

“Not at all.” As always, it was tricky to stop myself from holding her hand. “Mia, you’re doing an absolutely fabulous job at this whole wife thing,” I said with a grin.

“A job? What, you just hired her off the street?” I spun around to see George in the foyer holding a white box. I guess I didn’t hear him knock, so he just used his key.

I laughed quickly, and Mia followed along immediately. “This wife business is pretty serious, and we’ve been trying to joke about it all week. What’s up?”

He came over immediately, his eyes darting to the papers everywhere. They were all about wedding details, and he seemed disappointed. “Mother asked me to deliver this personally.” He handed the box to Mia.

“Oh. Thanks,” she said. “Should I open it now?”

“Yes.”

She lifted the lid carefully as I came over to stand beside her. Nestled inside a bed of white satin was a pair of delicate rose gold and diamond earrings, and a small gold hair clip in the shape of a rose.

“She said to look at the back of the flower thing,” George said.

Mia turned it over, and there was a small blue crystal. She laughed immediately. “Something blue. That’s so cute!”

“Oh right,” George said, obviously not really caring beyond getting his mission accomplished. “She wasn’t sure if you had something borrowed, so that clip is just on loan. It once belonged to our Great Aunt Edna. But the earrings are a gift.”

“Wow. Thank you so much.”

He shrugged. “I’m just the delivery guy. Mother uses couriers for everything except jewelry. She’s never trusted them with heirlooms.”

“Thanks, George,” I said, hoping that he’d leave quickly.

“Yes, thank you,” Mia said, setting the box on top of her papers so that she could stand up and give him a hug. “I really appreciate it.”

I could tell that he was instantly uncomfortable with her sincerity, which was likely her plan. “Yeah, no problem. I’ll see you both on Sunday.”

He left quickly, and a few seconds after the door shut, Mia giggled. “Did you see him reading this stuff? Did he think he was spying by barging in like that?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I think he’s pretty sure he knows what’s going on, but there is no evidence anywhere, so he has no shot of proving anything.”

“Unless he’s bugged your condo.”

I laughed so loudly she seemed surprised. “Listen, George isn’t very technical, and likely not clever enough to learn. I know that’s terrible to say, but it wasn’t just laziness that made him leave school early, and never find a decent career. He has had every opportunity, but he doesn’t try. For him to actually figure out how snooping devices work, and go to that much trouble – there’s just no way he’d bother.”

“Maybe he thought you were having a last fling with your floozies. Maybe he was hoping the whole cheerleading squad was here.”

We both laughed, and my hand automatically reached to the back of her neck, stroking underneath her hair. “Not likely.”

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