She stifled a groan. The last thing she needed was a night of fun with his mother. “I’ll try my best.”
“There is no try. Only do.” His tone was stern, but she heard the hint of teasing.
Blair rolled her eyes, but she felt a stab of nostalgia. He’d been so horrified to learn she’d never seen Star Wars that he’d insisted on a six-movie marathon to make up for lost time. That was back at the beginning of their relationship, when they used to have fun. She couldn’t remember when that had changed. “Whatever, Yoda. See you later.”
As she hung up, she mulled over the fact that they hardly ever said I love you. Megan and her husband said it to each other often enough to make everyone sick . . . but still sort of happy for them. And then there was that other issue. She and Neil had sex once a week, which was more often than they professed their love. But it had been that way for a while, and she hadn’t had a problem with it yesterday morning. Why did it suddenly bother her today? That damn Garrett. He was ruining everything all over again.
Her chest felt tight, and she sucked in several deep breaths. Cold feet. That’s all this was. It was normal to feel nervous right before such a life-changing experience. She would have called Megan to talk about it, but the last thing she wanted to hear about right now was Megan’s super-happy, crazy-in-love domestic life. It would only make things worse.
Libby. Blair could call her other best friend, Libby.
She pressed the speed dial number and instantly had second thoughts. Megan, Libby, and Blair had been best friends since kindergarten. Even back in grade school Libby was notorious for sleeping late, so there was a chance she would wake her up, but her friend answered after the second ring.
“Hey, Blair!”
“Why do you sound so awake? And chipper?”
“I just dropped Noah off at Megan’s dad’s office . . . well I guess it’s his office now too.”
Blair blinked. “Why were you taking him to the office?”
“He and Josh are only in town from Seattle for a couple of meetings and the wedding, so they’re sharing a rental car to save expenses. Noah and I went out to breakfast this morning, so I dropped him off.”
Megan’s father’s engineering firm had recently merged with Josh and Noah’s firm in Seattle. Somewhere in the middle of Josh and Megan’s whirlwind courtship, Noah and Libby had become friends. Close friends from the sound of things, which wouldn’t have been so strange if Noah weren’t a serial womanizer and Libby didn’t hop from man to man. “Did you finally break up with Mitch?”
Libby was quiet for a moment, but she definitely sounded less happy when she asked, “Why would you think I broke up with Mitch?”
“Libs, you know this is like a record for you, right? How long have you been together? Six months?”
“I’m not getting any younger, Blair. I turn thirty in a few months.”
If it had been anyone else, Blair would have figured she was bemoaning her biological clock. But she knew her friend too well for that. “Libby, tell me you’re not talking about that damned wedding pact slash curse again.”
Libby let out a groan. “You think whatever you like, Blair Hansen, but there’s no denying that you’re turning thirty in a few months too, and you’re getting married in five days.”
Blair released a loud sigh. “Libby, please don’t tell me that you plan on marrying Mitch because of the pact. We made that pact when we were nine. Hell, you’re the only one who still takes it seriously. Megan and I forgot all about it. And I don’t want to hear another word about the nonsense that fortune teller told us twenty years ago. Yes, she was right about Megan, but any idiot can win the lottery once. Seriously, not another word.”
“And yet you will both be married by your birthdays.” She sounded shorter than usual.
“That’s purely coincidence, Libs.” She softened her tone. “Look, I love you, and I know a lot of the time we don’t see eye-to-eye, but I would really hate for you to get married for the wrong reason.”
“Because you’re getting married for the right reason.”
It wasn’t a question, nor was there any malice in her tone. So why did it hurt so much? Maybe because she had called to get reassurance from her friend and there was no way she’d confess her concerns now. “I don’t want to fight with you, Libby. Especially not this week. I need you.”
“I’m sorry,” Libby said, her voice softening as well. “I’m here for you. Whatever you need.”
“Your friend is all set to photograph the wedding?”
Libby laughed. “Yes, and I’ve already talked to your assistant about it this morning. Barry’s going to do a great job, Blair. He was my intern, and he’s fantastic. In fact, I won’t trust anyone else to photograph my own wedding when the time comes. Plus I’ll take photos of my own at the reception. Relax. I’m going to be personally taking care of this for you.”
Out of the three of them, Libby tended to be the most irresponsible, but she took her career very seriously. There was no way she would let Blair’s wedding photos turn into a disaster. “Thank God. With all the other issues—”
“What other issues?” Libby asked a little too eagerly.
Why had she said that? She was only feeding Libby’s odd obsession with their weddings. “My wedding isn’t cursed.”
“Of course it’s not.” She paused. “You’re cursed.”
“Libby! What did I tell you?”
“I have to go, Blair,” Libby said, sounding distracted. “Noah’s calling me. I’ll talk to you later.”
Before Blair could ask her anything about her odd friendship with Noah, she hung up.
A little over an hour later, Blair walked into the office wearing a black long-sleeve, scooped-neck blouse, white pencil skirt, and nude pumps, her damp hair pulled up in a neat French roll. She stopped to check in with Melissa, who assured her that Mrs. Norfolk was already in the conference room and drinking her latte.
“Has Mr. Norfolk’s attorney shown up yet?” When Melissa shook her head, Blair asked, “And we’re sure someone’s coming?”
“Yes, he called about ten minutes ago, saying he was almost here. His plane got delayed by the weather too.”
Blair sucked in a deep breath at the reminder of Phoenix. More and more pieces of last night had come into memory, and while she was thankful that nothing had happened between her and Garrett, she couldn’t ignore the part of her that was disappointed over it. But right now she needed to deal with her meeting and deposition. Her guilt could rear its head later. “Great. Well, I’m off to see Ben.”
“Good luck! Maybe I should order out for a celebratory lunch.”
Blair put a hand on her stomach to soothe her nerves. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. This could be about anything.”
Melissa flashed her a grin as Blair headed for the staircase that joined the two floors.
When she stopped next to Ben Stuart’s assistant’s desk promptly at 10:44, she glanced up at her with a questioning glance. “Can I help you?”
Ben appeared in his office doorway and motioned toward her. “Hey, Blair. Why don’t you come in and tell me all about the wedding? I haven’t talked to Neil in ages.”