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Stanton showed me into the dining room where my mother already had the seating chart splayed out across the long oak table.
“I’m glad to see you’ve recovered from your migraine,” Mom said as she hugged me.
“Oh. Yeah. Nothing a little sleep couldn’t help,” I lied. Charlie had stayed the night just to ensure that if I needed anything she could get it for me.
“Good.” She gestured to the seating chart. “It’s a mess.”
I looked down at the names laid out on the chart. “It’s not a mess.”
“Liar,” she said with a laugh. “There are so many people that decided to RSVP late. There are only a couple of empty seats at the tables, which is wonderful, but Don Moriarty will be bringing his new wife and it turns out Sheila is coming, too.”
“Oh no…second wife and half-her-age third wife are going to be in the same room together?”
“If we’re not careful, they’re going to be at the same table.”
“We either need to put them on the opposite sides of the room or see if we can change the decor to medieval suits of armor. I’d pay good money to see Sheila chase the new toy around the room with a claymore.”
Mom laughed. “You’re terrible.”
An hour later, we had it all sorted.
“Now that that’s finished,” Mom closed the binder, “I can ask you why you turned down Walker.”
I blinked. “How did you know that?”
“I called him and he told me,” she said.
“Mother,” I said with a sigh.
“Don’t Mother me. Tell me why you didn’t accept his offer for dinner.”
“Because I already told you I wasn’t interested,” I explained.
“Not that excuse again.”
“It’s not an excuse. It’s the truth.” I leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you Saturday at the event.”
“Do you want to ride with us?” Mom asked.
“No, I’ll take my own car.”
As I was driving home, I realized I didn’t want to go there. I missed Bones.
I called him.
His phone rang and rang. I thought it was about to roll to voicemail when he finally answered.
“Duchess,” he greeted.
“Hey,” I said, suddenly feeling embarrassed. “What are you doing?”
“Working on my motorcycle.”
“Oh.”
There was silence on the other end, as if he was waiting for me to say something.
“I was wondering if I could take you to lunch,” I said.
