She shoves it into my hands, and I read the words with growing delight. “‘Freudian sips.’ Thanks, Lana. This is great.”
Lauren nudges her with an elbow. “Told you she’d love it.”
“I do.” And I’m absolutely not jealous I was left out of their latest girls’ trip. They did invite me, but I had too much work. “Thank you.”
Dean holds out his hand. “You want to fill that one instead?”
“Yes, please.” I loop the handle over his fingers, then claim the seat closest to the window. Sliding a hand into my messenger bag, I extract a packet of paperwork.
Before I can dive in, Lauren holds up a hand and glares at it. “God, I need a manicure.”
“Let’s make an appointment at the spa.” Lana looks at me. “Did Tasha finish training the new nail tech?”
I nod. “I just emailed you the link to her personality profile and screen tests.”
Lauren makes a face. “I don’t need to film her. I just need her to make my fingernails look less like I shoved them in a blender and hit ‘pulse.’”
“I’m checking your calendar right now.” Lana pulls out her phone. “Lauren, it looks like you could do Thursday at three. Who else needs a mani/pedi?”
Cooper elbows Gabe. “We should get in on this.”
Lana ignores them and looks at me. “Mari? How about it?”
I hesitate. It’s dumb, but I feel like an afterthought. Besides, I have too much going on with the Griffin fiasco. Is now a good time to be glamming it up? “Maybe next time.”
“Suit yourself.” Lana clicks away on her phone as Dean returns and starts passing out drinks.
Determined to focus on business, I set my pile of paperwork on the table. “I know we’ve got our hands full planning episode arcs,” I say as I hand the stack to Lana, “but I wanted to quickly touch on the new benefits plan.”
Lana grabs a copy and passes the stack to Lauren. “Ooh, did we end up covering massage therapy?”
“Not on the health plan, but we’ve got that new massage therapist coming in a few weeks,” I remind her. “That’s one of the perks we promised to cover for community members.”
Dean slides into the seat beside me. “She agreed to that salary, by the way. She’ll send the signed contract in the morning.”
“Perfect.” I lay my health plan packet on the table and glance over at Patti and Colleen, who are hustling behind the coffee bar. I need to remember to print packets for them. “Okay,” I say to my siblings. “If you take a look at—”
“How was dinner the other night?” Lauren grins and props her elbows on the table. “We’ll get to the health stuff in a minute. I want to hear about Griffin before he gets here.”
I’m teetering between annoyance at the interruption and being flattered by her interest when my brain catches up. “Wait. Griffin’s joining us?”
Lana smiles and lifts her mug. “We’re bringing him into the loop since you gave your blessing for the mixer.”
Cooper looks up, a muffin in each hand as he straddles the chair beside her. “This mixer thing—is it just a big beer extravaganza, or will you have other stuff?”
He sounds casual enough, but I study his face for signs of strain. Coop may seem like a goofball, but I know how hard he works to maintain his sobriety. “We’ll definitely have booze-free options,” I assure him, though I’m clearly not the one planning this. “Griffin makes ginger beer and grape soda, plus his own specialty root beer.”
All eyes swivel to me, and I’m not sure why. Did I drool when I said Griffin’s name? I don’t think so, but I lift my mug to my lips and do a covert slobber check.
“So, dinner the other night.” Lauren leans in, flashing a look Entertainment Weekly dubbed her shark smile. “Tell us about it. Did he cook?”
“Soup and bread,” I say, keeping things simple so we can move on. “So, you’re thinking the event will be—”
“Come on, Mari.” Lana blows on her mug, framing her perfect face with a halo of steam. “What’s he like? He’s so quiet on set that we haven’t gotten a good sense of how to spin him.”
I remind myself we’re producing a reality TV show. They’re not probing because they think I kissed him. And definitely not because they have any reason to think I may have contributed to his divorce.
I concentrate on keeping my serene shrink mask in place. “He’s smart.” It’s the first word that pops into my head, which surprises me. “And kind. Also, a really good dad.”
“Interesting.” Lauren kicks Gabe under the table. “I know we promised to keep his kid out of it as much as possible, but what about playing up the dad angle?”
Gabe lifts an eyebrow. “And who exactly is he parenting, if we can’t show the kid?”
Lauren shrugs. “Maybe he has pets? Besides, it’s not like we can’t show the kid. We’re just not including her in any central storylines.”
As the two of them spiral off on a production tangent, Lana and Cooper start spit-balling ideas for the mixer. No one’s looking at me, which gives me a moment to recall Soph’s plea for a parrot. I love how Griffin handled that, despite being caught kissing just seconds before. I’ve never dated a single dad, but watching Griffin with his daughter warmed me in ways I never imagined. The rest of the man, on the other hand…the heat when he kissed me felt like—
“Hey.” I turn to see Dean assessing me with his trademark frown. “You okay?”
“Of course.” I pick up my new mug and pretend to be fascinated by the typeface. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
He studies me some more. “You were in your office awfully early the other morning.”
Crap.
My walls are soundproof, so I’m not worried about that. But big brother knows all our habits, including mine.
“Sometimes I like to get an early start on my day,” I point out. “It doesn’t mean something’s wrong.”
His hazel eyes hold mine a few beats longer. “Whatever you say.”
I turn away, determined to get things back on track. “Can we talk about this mixer? I’d like it if we were all on the same page before bringing in someone who’s not part of the production team.”
“Agreed.” Lana’s easy smile is a reminder of her years spent charming Hollywood royalty. “I had an idea I wanted to run by the team.”
Coop grabs another muffin. “Let’s hear it.”
“Okay, so.” Lana tosses her hair, practically bouncing with excitement. “You know how we found that crazy bunker on the edge of the property? What if we held the mixer there?”
Gabe cocks his head. “Interesting. Really lean into the crazy cult angle.”
I stifle a sigh. “Could we please stop using ‘crazy’ as an adjective?” I hate to be a hard-ass, but it’s kind of my job. “It’s ableist and perpetuates mental health stigma.”
“And offensive to crazy people.” Coop grins. “Present company excluded.”
I ignore him for now, recognizing when to pick my battles. “Are we sure the bunker’s safe? I don’t remember if we had it inspected.”