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Chapter Eleven
As Diamond was expecting, over dinner, Pax brought up the guy in the tree, but her dad was unaffected.
“That’s Fitch. He’s been our personal paparazzo so long, he’s almost like a family pet. He wouldn’t hurt a fly, and he won’t ever come out of that tree or cross the fence line. Be careful about what you do outside, and he’s got nothing on you.”
“So, it doesn’t bother you that there’s a guy with a camera basically camped out in your tree day and night?”
“Nah.” Her dad waved his hand dismissively. “Fitch has a bunch of student loans, and a sick mother. He’s slightly autistic, but high functioning, and he just needs the money to pay bills. In reality, Fitch is probably the worst paparazzo in existence. He never leaves the tree, so he’s never seen anything earth-shattering enough to scoop a big headline. If he can honestly make a decent living snapping pictures that document which famous so and so comes to visit or one of my daughters leaving the house without make-up, or me getting a new car, more power to him. Truthfully, I almost feel sorry for the guy. If there was a big story to break, I’d rather it goes to him than some random sleazoid with zero regard for people’s private lives or feelings.”
Pax grunted, uneasy over the idea of trusting a wack-a-doo in a tree, regardless of how harmless he seemed. “Besides Fitch, I was surprised I haven’t seen any others. I was expecting a whole gaggle of them, to be perfectly honest, especially after the story that broke last week. Is it usually this quiet?”
“Basically. I’m not famous, and neither are any of my girls. Our only claim to fame is a woman who has been gone for four years. As crass as it seems, we’re old news, for the most part. Oh, last week was pretty bad, and it might get bad again if word gets around that Di is in town. She’s bound to be a hot story after last week, but the truth is, we’re kind of boring. I make jewelry for a living, and my girls have grown into more or less, good normal girls. They aren’t like those crazy reality show heiresses, spending money like it’s water, clubbing every night and flashing their bits as they get out of the limousine because they are too damn drunk to care, or to wear panties for that matter,” her father ranted, rolling his eyes. “They’re just normal twenty-somethings, going to college, going on dates, living their lives. Nothing much to see here.”
“It’s true, you have raised some lovely and well-adjusted women, sir, and that’s no small feat in this day and age. My hat is off to you.” Pax meant every word he said, but now he was wondering if it would be as easy for Diamond to hide in plain sight in Rojo as it had been in Aubergine, and if hiding was even possible now that her family was back in the public eye for the time being. Before he had time to examine the issue, Martin raised his glass in a toast.
“To my darling youngest daughter Emmy. I’m so proud of you, baby girl, and I can’t wait to see where life’s journey takes you next. Just know that wherever that may be, I’ll always have your back.”
Cries of congratulations and the clinking of glasses drowned out Pax’s earlier train of thought, as he reveled in the beautiful family before him. In the back recesses of his brain, Martin’s speech was haunting him. If their life was really that laid back and uneventful, did Diamond really need to hide?
* * *
“Barrett bitches forever!” Ruby cried, dropping onto her belly on the Queen Size bed in Emmy’s suite.
“Barrett bitches, really?” Diamond rolled her eyes, as she uncorked a bottle of cheap screw top blackberry wine that had been the sisters’ favorite since they were too young to drink. “Don’t you think we’ve outgrown that nickname a little bit? Also, have you already been drinking?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ruby mimicked with a salute. “I have to. I’m determined to enjoy this night and relive the glory days of the Barrett sisters for one beautiful weekend before I have to go back to my boring real life.”
“Ruby, you’re barely twenty-three,” Emmy giggled. “If your life is already that boring that drinking cheap wine in my bedroom in your childhood home is that exciting to you, you’re doing it wrong.”
“Amen to that.”
“Ha!” Ruby scoffed at them, grabbing the open bottle of wine from Di’s hands and chugging straight from the bottle. “Give it a few years, Em, you’ll see just how glamorous real life actually is. We can’t all be like Diamond here, living the high life of a Vegas show girl, and scoring some hot as fuck, nightclub owning mystery man.”
Diamond sighed, not bothering to point out that her life in Vegas wasn’t nearly as glamorous as Ruby seemed to think. She wasn’t going to be guilted into feeling bad for her happiness just because her sister was unhappy. And why on earth was Ruby so unhappy anyway? “Hey, Roo,” she started carefully, using her sister’s childhood nickname, “What’s going on? What about Trevor?” Trevor was Ruby’s high school sweetheart. They had been together for most of high school, and all through college, finally getting engaged last Christmas. By Diamond’s calculations, Ruby should be waist deep in wedding plans by now, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
“What about him?” Ruby questioned belligerently taking another swig from the open bottle. “Trevor,” she declared, stabbing her finger into the air, “is a big ol’ stick in the mud. He’s no fun, ever. He never wants to do anything, or go anywhere, and,” she added with a dramatic sigh, “he won’t give me what I want!”
“I see.” Diamond wasn’t sure how to respond to that, and having a free pass on Pax’s alcohol rule tonight, as long as she stayed in, and stuck to wine, she was more concerned about prying the bottle out of Ruby’s grasp at the moment.
Sensing her predicament, Em nudged her, gave a slight shake of her head, and pointed at the door. “Hey, Di,” her sister said, speaking loudly and pointedly. “I’m starving. Let’s go down to the kitchen and grab another bottle of wine and some snacks.”
As soon as the door closed behind them, Em sighed loudly, venting as they made their way down to the kitchen. “I hate drinking with her. She’s no fun. She gets all bossy and belligerent, and when you ask what’s going on with her, she basically rambles a bunch of nonsense and speaks in a code that only she seems to understand. Why do you have to live so far away?”
“It’s only five hours,” Diamond apologized. “Now that you’re out of school, you’re welcome to come down for a weekend any time. Pax wouldn’t mind.”
Emmy smiled. “Hey! Maybe I’ll just move to Vegas and get a job as a showgirl too! I hear there’s an opening at this club called Aubergine,” she joked, wincing when Diamond reached over and popped her on the ass.
Emmy had been popping popcorn, and she turned and looked at her sister with a bemused expression. “Did you just spank me? Really?”
Diamond blushed at her sister’s shocked expression. It was something she never would have done before, and now, it had been an automatic reaction. She decided the best thing to do was to just own it.
“Um, yes, Miss Magna Cum Laude, I did. You just graduated from a four-year college with a near perfect GPA. You have several job offers already on the table from my understanding. You are not giving all that up to come party in Vegas and work as a showgirl.”
“You did,” her sister pointed out with a glare, upending the bag of popcorn into an oversized bowl, and starting the timer on a new bag.
“That was different and you know it.” Diamond’s mother had passed away days before her college graduation. When the dust had settled, and the funeral was over, Diamond had been done. She hadn’t even bothered attending her own graduation ceremony. She had just packed a suitcase and drove away. She hadn’t even had a destination in mind and Vegas had seemed like a good place to dull the pain. She had walked into Aubergine, taken in a show while taking several shots, and at the end of the night only one thing had registered. All the showgirls had been named after gemstones, and nobody had recognized her. She could hide there. She could be safe there. She could be normal there. And for four years, that’s exactly what she had done.
The atmosphere in the kitchen seemed suddenly heavier, and Emmy came to put her arm around her, leaning in close. “I know, Di, I’m sorry. I was just having a little fun. I’m really glad you came,” she added, grabbing two bottles of wine from the fridge. “I’m also really glad you brought Pax. He seems good for you. You seem different this time, but in a really good way. I don’t know how to explain it exactly. More chill, I guess. Less tortured.”
