Page 1 of The P Arrangement

ONE

DELANEY

Throwing back morewine than what was considered ladylike, I tried to forget about what I had to do later tonight.

It didn’t work.

But part of that could be because I was only allowing myself to have one glass before I broke the news to my friends that I wasn’t staying for dinner.

I probably shouldn’t have come to the restaurant at all because I wasn’t in the best mood for socializing. But I’d promised my friend I would come to dinner so she could introduce me to her new boyfriend.

It didn’t help that I had to watch my two friends, Rayne and Vivian, be blissfully happy with their partners while I sat alone at my end of the half-circular booth.

Rayne Thompson and Vivian Stern were my partners in the Women in Law project, started by the Minneapolis mayor, Nadine Evans. As a lawyer herself, she had started Women in Law to educate girls and young women from elementary to high school about being a lawyer.

Rayne was a prosecutor for the county, Vivian was in the private sector, and I was a family court judge. Nadine was an associate of mine, and when she’d approached me, she had explained she was looking for a variety of careers people could pursue with a law degree to let the young women know there were many possibilities.

Since the project had started, Vivian, Rayne, and I had become closer, which was why Rayne wanted Vivian and me to meet Cade.

When I’d first met my new friends, Vivian had been single, and Rayne had been having troubles with her then boyfriend. Now, Vivian was living with Dominick, and a month after breaking up with her ex-boyfriend, Rayne was already in a serious relationship, judging by the “necklace” she wore around her neck.

Both women appeared to be in love with their partners. I was very happy for them, but it reminded me how alone I was. Not only was I the only single one, but I was also the oldest of the three, and after being married for over ten years and now divorced, I sometimes wondered if it was too late for me to find a happily ever after.

Most of the time, I was content with where I was in my life, but there were times when I was reminded of what I’d had.

And what I had lost.

“What do you do for work, Cade?” I asked to get my mind off of feeling sorry for myself.

Cade sat with his arm around Rayne and smiled down at her, and she beamed back up at him. The relationship had seemed to come out of nowhere, but it was obvious how the two of them felt about one another.

“I am a manager at the Iron House,” Cade said. “But Rayne’s brother, Beau, and I are going to be opening up our own restaurant hopefully within the next year. I’ll run the place, and Beau will be our head chef.”

“It’ll be a lot of work, but I think Cade and my brother are going to love having their own place.”

“Congratulations,” Vivian said as she leaned into Dominick.

“That sounds very exciting,” I said. “You’ll have to invite us to your grand opening.”

“Of course you’ll be invited,” Rayne said, pushing her hair off her shoulder.

Vivian touched her neck as she looked at our friend. “Rayne, is that new?”

Rayne stiffened, and her eyes widened as Cade smirked. “Yes.” It practically came out as a squeak, and I had to purse my lips so I didn’t laugh.

When it came to my two friends, they were opposites. Vivian was reserved when it came to her feelings, to the point some people thought she was cold. Whereas Rayne was a person who was almost always in a good mood, and every emotion she felt showed on her face.

“It’s beautiful,” Vivian told Rayne.

Vivian had loosened up since dating Dominick, but she was still blunt sometimes. In this case, she was bluntly clueless.

Dominick put his mouth to her ear, and I was close enough to hear him say, “Baby, that isn’t a necklace.”

Vivian frowned and, in a voice much louder than her boyfriend’s, asked, “Then, what is it?”

Dominick shook his head with a laugh. He was also the opposite of Vivian. Almost scruffy and tattooed. He looked like a bad boy next door to Vivian’s clean-cut, professional style.

“It’s a submissive collar,” he said in a hushed voice.

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