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I was going to do it whether my mother approved or not.
“I’m taking her home,” I said. “I hope you get your killer horses under control.”
I’m going to ask her to marry me.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Fiona
The Carrs were having a party, and in their style, it was a grand one. They mostly attended parties other people threw. For some reason, I always assumed they didn’t like the hassle of cleaning up after their guests went home.
But what was throwing me off wasn’t the fact that they were having a party; it was the people they invited to the party.
Firstly, Mason was here with his family. I had met his wife, and we get along really well. His children are fantastic as well; I could see why he was depressed when he wasn’t with them. Now, he seemed to radiate with happiness.
Some top executives from work were there too. They mostly floated from one end of the room to another, talking with the elder Mr. Carr because the junior Mr. Carr, Christian, thought it was funny to invite me to the party and not show up himself.
He claimed to be in a meeting, one he couldn’t say no to attending, but he forgot that I was responsible for planning his day. There was no way I’d have missed him having a meeting. Which left me with two options:
One, he really had a meeting with someone who called him on the phone so they could talk, or two, something fishy was happening. Melissa’s niceness was tuned up all the notch to distract me from it.
It wasn’t that Melissa had reverted back to being mean to me. She seemed to believe now that I was worthy of her children. Both Allison and Christian. Allison seemed to believe that I put my foot down to her mother once and for all, even after I told her that if anything was down, it was my back.
I almost died. I didn’t think of it in that light, but everyone who heard the story thought I did, which made Melissa want to be even nicer to me. It pulled us together.
“You should have this,” Melissa said, handing me a yellow glass. “It helps calm the nerves.”
I shook my head at the offer. “You seem more nervous than me. Is something going on?”
“Where?” was all she said before turning on her heels and walking away with the yellow glass still in her hand.
If I wasn’t concerned, I was now. There was no way something wasn’t going on. Melissa was acting really weird, and I haven’t yet gotten a read on Mr. Carr to know if something was off. He was still chatting with the board members, smiling like he was fond of doing.
Mason was also having fun, clinging to Cherie like he was scared she’d walk off if he let her out of his sight. It’s a miracle he still managed to show up to work. He acted like he couldn’t function without her whenever she was present.
Another point of concern was this wasn’t a laid-back party. It was a very formal party. Everyone was dressed elegantly, but I didn’t know the occasion. A birthday? Anniversary? Was someone getting awarded tonight?
Nothing came to mind, and whenever I brought it up, everyone looked at me like I was going crazy. And who is to blame them? I, who was a part of the family, didn’t know what was going on.
And not to sound like a bragger, but I did look better than everyone else in the room in my pink gown and white stilettos. I was the life of the party, dress-wise.
Party-wise, the life of the party was the cousin who was currently bussing it down on the dance floor. I had been introduced to a whole lot of them, including cousins, aunts, and uncles. I didn’t remember the Carr family being this large.
I pulled out my phone to call Christian.
“You should dance with me,” Mason said, standing beside me.
I spared a look behind him to find Cherie talking to Melissa. When I looked their way, they pretended to be more engrossed in their conversation, subtly sneaking looks my way. Something was definitely going on, and no one was telling me anything. The only thing I was sure of was that it wasn’t bad.
There was no way that something terrible had happened, and no one was telling me about it. They looked like they were having the time of their life. An emotion I’d have shared if I wasn’t thinking about Christian and where he could possibly be.
Mason led me to the dance floor, and we swayed to the music because we realized that none of us were dancers. We were both consoled by the fact that we totally matched how many times we stepped on each other’s feet.
“Where’s Christian?” I asked Mason. “He should have been here by now.”
Someone cleared their throat behind me, and Christian stood there with a pleased look when I turned.
“May I cut in?” he asked, and Mason was all too eager to step away.
