Page 8 of Picture Perfect

She giggles. “Hey, I’ve had to deal with a hungover Delia a time or two. She can do it for me, too.”

“You deserve a pleasant night out, Autumn. How about I take you out on one of our yachts? Catered dinner, moonlight dancing, the whole thing.” I can hear my brothers now.Sounds like a date.To clarify, I add, “You know, one friend treating another to a nice night. How about it?”

Her sigh is long. “That sounds wonderful, Rowan. I’m in.”

Suddenly, I’m a little nervous.Odd. “How’s tomorrow night?”

“But you’re so busy with work.”

“I can move some things around. Come on. Let me cheer you up.”

“You’re on. Tomorrow night. And in that case, I better find the funnel, because I do not want to be hungover for that, and I’m not wasting good Riesling.”

I chuckle. “I’ll meet you at the club at six. We can be out for the sunset. Hopefully, it’ll be as good as tonight’s.”

“Yeah. I’ll see you then. Goodnight, Rowan.”

“Goodnight, Autumn.” I smile at the ceiling, proud that I’m doing a favor for a friend. No matter what my brothers might think, that’s all it is.Not a date.I roll my eyes and vow never to tell my brothers, and try to sleep.

4

Autumn

While I dress for my outing with Rowan, I can’t help but think about our past. I have known him practically my whole life. We grew up in Somerset together, and he was one of the good guys who parents didn’t worry about. In high school, we regularly studied together late into the night, and when I came home after curfew, my parents hardly said a peep about it, because they knew I was with Rowan.

He could have been such a player back then.I laugh at the thought and fasten my necklace.

Rowan Cargill doesn’t have a player bone in his body. He is charming and affable in a way that you know you can trust. The man is completely without guile. I assume that was why he went into corporate law instead of criminal.

That lack of guile might also be why I’ve never seen him as anything other than a friend. In high school and college, brooding loner types drew me in. Not so much the bad boys, but the guys who were a little broken and a bit moody. I always wanted to fix them. It was nice to feel needed.

Mark was a brooding loner type who had somehow gotten sucked into a frat, which was where Rowan had introduced us. Rowan was already dating Stacy, and soon, Mark and I were an item, and that was that. The four of us became couple friends, and we had dinners at each other’s houses regularly. It all seemed perfect. Until it wasn’t.

If I could go back to that night and warn myself about Mark…I sigh and grab my clutch and keys. Can’t turn back the clock. But I can move forward.

On the way to the yacht club, a flutter of nerves passes through me. It’s weird—I can’t figure out why exactly. I’ve been to the yacht club thousands of times, and I don’t get seasick. But when I pull up to the club and see Rowan’s blue Mercedes in his employee spot, the flutters hit me again.Maybe I’m coming down with something.

Rowan finds me in the hall outside the dining room, and I am overcome by the urge to hug the life out of him. “Are you wearing a new cologne?”

“No. Same one I always wear.”

“Hmm. Smells different. I like it.”

“Thanks. Ready?”

I smile. “Yes. Whisk me away from the memory of a sweaty college bar, please.”

He chuckles and puts his arm out for me. I take it, and we hurry to the yacht. It’s one of the club’s charter boats, and he helps me carefully step onto it in my heels. “Watch your step. If you fall into the water, I’ll be forced to laugh. A lot.”

“Gee, thanks.”

He had decked the boat out with a string quartet playing pop hits and a table for two.

I turn to him. “You didn’t have to go to all this trouble, Rowan. I would have been happy with some pizza rolls and a canoe.”

He laughs. “I doubt that would have washed the taste of Pinkston’s out of your mind.” Pulling my chair out for me, he quietly says, “You look great, Autumn.”

“Thank you.” We sit and a server comes to us. I still cannot believe he did all of this to cheer me up. The live music is a pleasant touch.

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