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Avery quickly stood. “What? No. You misunderstood, Beck.”
Lifting my head to meet her worried gaze, I shook my head. “Your mother said she wasn’t ready to be a grandmother yet.”
“I knew it!” Avery gasped. “I knew she knew you were in my bedroom earlier this morning! That look she gave me said it all.”
Confused, I asked, “What look?”
“When Bradly made that stupid comment about me looking flushed, which totally went over my father’s head. But my mother was giving me that look.”
“That look?” I asked.
“Yes, the one that says she knows something that I don’t think she knows because she acted like she didn’t know, when she really does know.”
I shook my head. “What?”
Avery was pacing, then suddenly stopped. “Why did Stella call you?”
“Um…” I started to blink rapidly, not having any idea of what to say. “She, um…she suggested I take you out to dinner tonight, to the Rootbitter something steak place.”
“Bitterroot Steakhouse. And why?”
“She needs you dressed up.” I promptly closed my eyes and cursed. When I opened them, Avery wore a huge grin.
“It’s the surprise welcome home party, isn’t it?”
“How did you know?”
“Please, I’m the queen of surprises. If they really thought they could pull one over on me, they’re all crazy. Today’s lunch is just a way to throw me off.”
Standing, I asked, “How do you know that?”
She shrugged. “Just do. I’m starving. Do you want to grab a late breakfast, early lunch?”
“But you’re meeting with your family for lunch.”
Avery held up her phone, screen facing out. “Let’s see…it should be any second now…”
Her cell rang, and she smiled. She answered and put it on speaker. “Hey, Mom!”
“Hello, sweetheart. Are you and Beck having a nice time exploring Hamilton?”
With a wicked smile, she said, “Exploring is a good word for it. Yes. We’re enjoying ourselves a whole lot.”
I let out a soft groan and fell face first onto the bed.
“Listen, Georgiana and Morgan needed to cancel lunch today. Since it’s supposed to be a girls’ lunch, we’ve all decided to reschedule.”
“That’s okay. Beck and I will just make plans to eat lunch. He asked me if I wanted to go out to dinner tonight, so we’ll probably grab an early lunch, then have some dessert before heading home.”
I rolled onto my back and lifted up on my elbows, giving Avery a stunned look.
Merit cleared her throat. “Okay, well…it’s nice he’s asked you out to dinner.”
“It is, indeed.”
“I’ll let you get back to your morning, I just wanted to let you know about lunch today.”
“Thanks, Mom. See you soon.” She hit End and pushed the phone into her back pocket.
“How did you know she was going to call?”
“Because there’s no way my cousins can all get together for lunch, then turn around and get together again for dinner. It’s impossible.”
I stared at her. “Do you all have some kind of sixth sense or something?”
Avery laughed. “Come on, I know a place that has amazing brunch. All those orgasms have made me famished!”
Grabbing her coat, she headed to the door as I mumbled, “It’s got to be something in the water here.”
Chapter Nineteen
AVERY
The light knock on my door had me calling out, “Come in!”
My mother walked into my room and smiled as our eyes met in my vanity mirror. I wasn’t sure why it always surprised me that our eyes were exactly the same. Probably because they were such a rare color.
“How do I look for my…date?” I said with a grin. Standing, I held out my arms and spun around so my mother could take in my dress. “It’s called a Cinderella day dress.”
She drew in a breath. “Avery, it’s beautiful. From France?”
Nodding, I said, “I picked it up in a boutique in a little town outside of Paris.”
I looked down at the smoky-blue, vintage-inspired dress. It was adorned with beadwork and lace appliqués. The corset bodice was covered in small, iridescent pearls that traveled down to a flounce skirt that had a mesh overlay. The sleeves could be worn as caps or off the shoulder. I was currently wearing them off, but only for Beck’s benefit. Once we got to Brock and Lincoln’s house, I’d lift them.
“It’s beautiful, and so are you. I love how you have your hair styled.”
I’d swept my hair back into a low side pony, with the bulk of it over my left shoulder. A few delicate curls framed the right side of my face.
Reaching for the pearl earrings I’d received from my parents for my eighteenth birthday, I proceeded to put them on as my mother sat down on my bed. She looked around my room and cleared her throat.
“Are you and Emily excited about tomorrow?”
I looked at her in the mirror. Her leg was bouncing up and down.
“Yes! I still can’t thank you and Daddy enough for helping us with this, Mom. If you weren’t letting us use space in the greenhouse to get started, we wouldn’t be able to do anything for months, at least until the new greenhouse was built.”
