Adjournment (The Fate Series) (23 page)

“Well Sidney here is in a pretty serious relationship,” Simon causally announces.

With wide eyes I turn to look at him.

What the hell is he talking about?

“Sidney, you are?” my mother asks. “Who is he? Why isn’t he here with you?” She continues firing off questions.

I turn my head toward her, a deer in the head lights look stuck on my face. “I—ummm—I.” I start to panic.

“He is away promoting his new movie,” Lexi jumps in.

He is?

I look at her with a thankful smile.

“He’s an actor? I thought you had rules,” my mother leers at me.

“Well, he is Brett Davis. I mean, how can you say no to that?” Molly’s laugh is forced since she’s just caught on. 

That bastard!!!

He was setting me up the entire time in the pantry.

“And it’s serious?” my mother asks with a raised brow. Her gaze drops to her plate as she cuts the food.

This is the look of disapproval in case you don’t know.

“I—umm,” my mouth is dry from the labored breathing I’m experiencing.

“Well exchanging I love you’s sounds pretty serious to me,” Simon answers for me. 

Extending my foot forward I bring it back, slamming my heel into his shin.

“For fuck’s sake, Sidney,” he growls, leaning over to rub it.

“Simon McAllister, language!” Judith gasps.

I turn to look at him, a sweet smile on my lips. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were so close. Perhaps you should move to another seat?”

His scowl quickly changes, his eyes softening, his lips sinfully beautiful as they curl into a smile. My breath catches in my throat and again the rest of the room falls dark as he holds me here.

“You kicked me on purpose,” he says it more as a statement than a question. His eyes sparkling with amusement.

My pulse begins to beat through my body. “I’m aware.”

Sitting up, he doesn’t say anything else, and I let it go as well. “So, he is promoting? He won’t be here this weekend then?” Judith picks the conversation back up.

“Unfortunately not.” I frown like I’m disappointed.

I am disappointed though. If he was here I wouldn’t be sitting next to Sherlock Holmes.

“I don’t know why you gave your maids the night off.” Judith shakes her head, as she walks her dish out to the kitchen.

We don’t have maids.

“Well, the kids are home. I’m sure they won’t mind cleaning up the dishes.” My mother glares at me.

Fine.

“I would be more than happy to fill in for…”

What was the name we used to use for a maid?

“Juliet,” Simon whispers next to me.

“Juliet!” I shout.

Mom rolls her eyes at me from behind Judith. I suddenly remember why we named her Juliet. Whenever we talk about Juliet we are referring to Judith.

“That woman should have been fired a long time ago. You always talk about what a pain in the ass she is, honestly I would have let her go years ago.” Judith hands Simon her plate.

“You’re telling me.” I smile at her.

Squinting at me, she turns and walks over to one of the seating clusters.

“Having fun?” He rinses off a dish before handing it to me to load into the dishwasher.

“Aggravating your mother? Always. I forgot how much fun that is.” I bend over to put the dish in the rack. “I still don’t know why she hates me so much.” I stand up and watch her sitting in her seat all stiff and proper like.

“She doesn’t hate you. You just remind of her someone.” He hands me the next one.

My head jerks back. “Who could I possibly remind her of?” I ask looking back over at her.

She sits next to my mother, her hands moving around as she tells her what I’m guessing to be the latest gossipy news in their clique.

He gives a hummed “I don’t know” response before speaking. “She just always says you remind her of someone.”

“Probably my mother. She used to be a lot tougher, until your mom broke her.” I sigh.

“Probably. You don’t seem to be one to break easy.” He bumps my arm with a dish.

So why does it feel like I’m crumbling around you?

We continue to clean up in silence, and I watch as Lexi is being initiated into the family by listening to my uncle’s relive the good ole’ days. 

By tomorrow her ass will be in the pool.

Molly and Morgan are both being buttered up for something by Dean and Chase. Molly’s eating it up—she tries to say she hates Dean, but she’s a liar. I’m not sure what it is about them, but they know how to get a smart woman to rethink her “not on your life” answer.

Our poor mother is still having her ear chewed off by pain-in-the-ass Judith, while our father is in his office working out some last-minute kinks on the final analysis for his new client’s account. Although we girls know that it’s really Mom who does the final review. Dad is the face of the company and for all other purposes, the brain. However, our mother networked their computers together a long time ago; it’s really her who does the final review of the numbers.

Don’t get me wrong, our dad is good at what he does, which is chatting up the clients, spoiling them, etc. But it’s actually Mom’s brilliance with numbers that seals the deal. She can simply look at the numbers and figure the answer out. When we were kids we would ask her crazy complex math problems, and she could get it within seconds without using a calculator. Well, that is until the day she realized she was doing our homework for us. This is why she’s out here being mind-fucked by pain-in-the-ass Judith, because Mom will fix it all later when he falls asleep. 

“Madness, wait until you see the new carpet we are having installed in the vestibule. Very expensive but very worth it, I must say. It is said to clean easy which is always good for the maids you know,” she says in an uppity tone.

It’s odd that Judith calls her that nickname now since she’s changed everything else about her. She makes me want to stab myself in the eye with… whatever is close enough. How my mother has been able to stand her for all these years is beyond me.

“Oh, that sounds lovely. My maids would be upset if we had carpeting, though. Allergies and whatnot—you know. Not to mention it’s much easier to mop than shampoo, faster too. We’re all about efficiency here, after all… we wouldn’t want our maids working about while guests are here.” She smiles back, taking a sip of her wine.

Remember how I said we have no maids? Well, we don’t. My mom used to hire a cleaning company to come in and do it if she couldn’t threaten us to do it when we were younger. But maids? Let’s not get too crazy. Most of the parties have either been catered by my mother or a professional chef she’s hired. It all depends on how much time she has or what it is. She’s actually been here since last week cleaning and getting things ready. But as far as Judith or any of her friends know the maids will never be seen because that’s the way she wants it.

I forgot about these little things, these little pieces of her that she holds onto as though she’s two people in one body. She’s the socialite of Manhattan when we are there but here she can peel it all away and be herself.

Well, as long as pain-in-the-ass Judith isn’t here. It must be exhausting having to play two different people all the time…

Walking over to get more wine from the mini bar, I can hear the sounds of the waves crashing outside calling to me. The light breeze moves the long draperies that run down each window onto the floor. After pouring my wine, I walk out onto the stone veranda that runs down the side of the house. Bending over to lean my arms against the wrought iron railing to admire how relaxed everything is… for now.

A small glimmer of hope rises inside of me, and I begin to feel like I can make it through this weekend.

The next two days will be an insane cluster of people getting the yard ready; the tent company, the florist, caterers, the band, and whatnot. But I have a good feeling about this.

The room goes silent behind me, so I turn my head to see what caused the lull in conversation. 

“I would like to accept the invitation to the bowling tournament on behalf of my team. Wherever she is right now. We are ready to crush you all… again.” Simon’s voice is audible even over the crashing waves in the distance. Turning myself back around, I lean against the banister.

I know when he comes out by the prickly feeling that starts to spread over my skin.

“I’ll be right in,” I mutter, hoping that’s enough to make him go back in.

“Admiring the view?” He walks over next to me.

“Funny, that was going to be my opening line. But I went with I’ll be right in, instead.” I give a breathy laugh, before taking a sip of wine.

Did I just flirt with him again?

“Well I was, now I’m watching the waves by moonlight with you.” His words surround me, teasing my ears as they float past them.

“Glad you’re here?” His straightforward question catches me by surprise.

“I—I am actually. I’m not the same girl I used to be. I think I can handle all of this.” I nod with a new found self-confidence.

He’s silent for a few seconds before turning around to leave.

“That’s a shame, I really liked that girl,” he says, then walks back inside.

Yeah, well, she’s gone, and you have only yourself to blame… is what I feel like saying, but I don’t.

Feeling my thoughts begin to spiral out of control, I manage to get a hold of them. I debate on staying out here hidden away from all of them for just a bit longer, but I know what that will bring, and I really can’t stand to listen to Judith scolding me on how “the world doesn’t revolve around me”. Walking into an empty room I grab the bottle of wine and head down the hall. 

Simon’s just being his normal self. Just focus on winning the game.

The bowling alley is a double lane alley—nothing crazy big—but it always kept us occupied on rainy days as teenagers, especially when you spend the entire summer out here and not just holiday weekends.

Simon turns as I approach the wooden floor and flashes a relieved smile at me, then moves out of his seat for me so I can change shoes.

“May the best team win!” Dean smiles, he extends a hand to Simon but quickly pulls it back running it through his hair when Simon goes to shake it.

“Real mature, Dean,” he says erupting in laughter at how childish his brother is acting. “And don’t worry, we intend on winning.” Simon pats Dean on the shoulder.

“Boys, boys. It’s clear that Morgan and I are going to win,” Chase pipes up, joining the conversation.

Unless they’ve been practicing in secret for the past ten years, I doubt it.

“You’re kidding, right?” Dean gives him a look. “You two have never come close to winning. Even if you took all the energy you use to annoy one another and the rest of us and focused it on bowling, the best you could still hope for would be beating a hundred. Maybe that should be your team goal for the night.” Dean’s laughter causes him to bend over at the idea of those two winning.

I don’t blame him. They really do suck. I think their highest combined total was one ninety.

Did I mention it’s combined? Because it is…

He’s insane to think he’s going to come close to Dean and Molly, never mind beating Simon and me.

“I find it hurtful that you kids are counting your mothers out of the winners circle,” Judith adds walking over to us.

The room falls silent for a second before everyone erupts into laughter at that idea.

“Mom, if you were half as good at bowling as you are at talking you would have it all over Dean and Chase, however you still wouldn’t come close to beating Sidney and me.” Simon manages to get out while kneeling on the ground, laughing.

“You two think you are so great. We’re going to wipe the floor with you. That’s a promise,” my mom joins in while we type our names onto the scoreboard.

It’s a very rare moment when Judith is normal and not a pain in the ass. It’s only happened maybe three times in my life.

This being the third.

“Wipe the floor with us? Judith, do you hear her? She thinks you know how to mop.” I begin to laugh in my chair.

She spins giving me an evil glare while everyone else around us laughs.

Lexi, Grams, and my uncles sit back to watch—they all know better than to get involved.