“So why are you telling me this? Also to get me prepared?”
“No, this was just to torment you.” Damn. She was throwing my own words at me.
I tried another angle. “Have you asked Josie if she wants a party?”
“She does, believe me.”
“Okay.” Okay. If Josie did want it, I’d be a jerk to say anything against it. Did she also want a stripper? Shit, I needed to focus on something else. The thought made me want to punch the table or crush my cup.
“Any chance whatsoever I can skip this... milestone?” I asked.
She smiled sweetly. “You’ve said that about every milestone I’ve coerced you into having. And in retrospect, you’ve always been happy I did.”
Prom, graduation, graduation trip. I’d wanted to skip all of those. Tess was one year older than me and had moved out of the Winchester house by the time I was a senior, but guess who’d come home to visit the weekend of my prom? Tess.
She’d practically shoved me out the door. I hadn’t asked anyone to go with me, and I still didn’t have many friends aside from Josie, but I ended up having fun. Same with graduation.
“I’ve always hoped you and Josie would get together,” she went on. “I’m happy for you two.” Guilt kicked in again.
Tess glanced at the screen of her phone and sighed. “I need to go or I’ll be late for my morning meeting.”
“Tess, I’m grateful you want to organize the wedding, but I can hire a wedding planner. You have a lot on your plate.”
She and Skye were setting up their own lingerie business, and it took a lot of work. They both still worked full-time in the fashion industry, so they did everything in their spare time. So far, they had a small online shop, but their aim was to open a brick-and-mortar store soon.
“I’m never too busy for family.”
“Thanks.”
I had no clue why that still got to me after so many years. Maybe because I had felt like a stray dog in the few months after Mom moved to England and before Amelia and my cousins moved to New York. They’d given me so much, and I was trying to give back every chance I got.
Which was why I wanted to talk to Tess about something that was still a touchy subject.
“How is the financing going?” I asked her. She and Skye were pitching to investors for their business. They were as bold as they were hardworking. New York was a playground for the fashion industry, but also fiercely competitive.
“We have offers and are now assessing.”
“You’ve already decided which of the investors you want to take on?”
“Not yet. I’ll—wait a second. You have that look.”
“What look?”
“The corner of your mouth is a little lifted. Like... you’re not curious, just want a confirmation. Which means you’ve already got your way.”
“I might have set up precautions.”
“Like what?”
“Might have done thorough background research on all investors.”
In my defense, it wasn’t unwarranted. One of the business partners they worked with early on had scammed them. I was still pissed that he’d gotten away with it, but one of these days, it’d catch up to him. He’d get what he deserved.
She kissed my cheek. “Thank you for looking out for us. I just can’t believe we messed up so badly.”
“Tess, it happens.”
“Really? How many people nearly lost their business because they trusted the wrong people?”
“Many. I can make you a list. It’ll be at least ten pages long.”
“You’re just trying to make me feel better. Is that so I don’t grill you anymore?”
“I thought you were late for a meeting.”
“Ha! You’re deflecting. I knew it. My spidey-senses are spot on. Something’s not right here. I’ll get it out of you at the next family council.”
I was a dead man. Family council was a fancy term for lunch in one of my meeting rooms, where the five of us gathered to talk about the charity, but more often than not talked about personal matters. I had a feeling I’d be the focus for the foreseeable future.
I arrived at work later than usual. Our building was on the Upper West side. We were surrounded by tall structures and narrow streets, but I hadn’t bought this building for the view, more for the practicality. My company took up six floors, and I’d rented out the rest.
Cole was already there, looking over the plans for our next project. Usually, I was all business at the office, but time was of essence now. I waited until I was alone with him and mentioned, “I heard Ryker’s on bachelor party duty.”
He snapped his head up from the iPad. “He told you that?”
His bewilderment told me he was in on it.
“Tess did.”
He chuckled. “Then you probably already know more than you should.”
“Get me out of it.”
“You’re joking, right? That’s your night, buddy. And by extension, our night. Not skipping it.”
“Cole—”
“Trust me on this. Come on, we make a good team.”
“I don’t feel like you’re on my team right now. More like you’re banding against me.”
Cole flashed me a shit-eating grin. “Sometimes we have to. For your own good.” He clapped my shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ve got your back.”
That was exactly what worried me.
That afternoon, I held one of our bimonthly meetings, where we reviewed our progress and goals.
“To sum up, we’re on the right track to meet this month’s goals, but we can be more aggressive. I’m sure that if we put our mind to it, we can achieve 110 percent.”
“Always pushing for more,” one of the managers said, shaking his head.
I leveled a stare at him, and he held up his hands in defense. None of the other twenty attendees said anything. I commanded the respect of my team because I was demanding, but not unfair. I wanted us to be the best. I was proud of the business and liked what I did.
Our projects were mostly commercial buildings, though we’d done a few residential buildings just outside the city. It was a dynamic industry. Some things hadn’t changed since my father had done business, but a lot had. At the core of it was building things that improved people’s quality of life one way or another, no matter if they spent their free time there, went to work or lived there.
We were one of the biggest real estate developers in the country, and New York was our main playground. Headquarters was here, but we were working on setting up another office in Miami. I dismissed the meeting after outlining the operative steps to achieve the extra goals.
My head wasn’t in the game afterward. I needed to talk to Josie about the wedding. I didn’t want to do it over the phone, and I’d intended to give her room to breathe for a few days. I had a hunch she was already overwhelmed by everything. I didn’t want her to feel pressured.
I’d been there for her through highs and lows over the years, but this time I couldn’t really be there, because I was the cause of everything. This was already putting a strain on our friendship.
I told myself that this strain would only last for a few weeks while we got used to this, and then everything would go back to normal, but deep down, I didn’t think it was possible.