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Josh had given me the short version of the animosity between his family and Adam’s.
“Meeting the other family can be a little overwhelming.”
“Yeah, I guess that goes for you too.”
“A little,” I admitted. I shifted in my seat realizing it was actually more than a little.
“The reason I’m calling is… I don’t want to be indelicate or anything, but I’m planning the menu, and are you vegan or anything I should be aware of?”
I laughed. “Put me down as omnivorous with one exception. No shellfish. I’m allergic.”
“No problem. I can handle that,” she said.
We talked for a few more minutes. From the sound of her, it seemed I was going to like this woman.
“I’m glad we got a chance to talk ahead of time,” she added before we ended the call.
I thanked her and sat back in my chair. Saturday was looking less scary than it had yesterday.
Chapter 35
Nicole
Saturday afternoon,we deplaned from the Benson corporate jet at Dulles International near DC for Josh’s sister’s engagement party.
It had been an uneventful week at work, if you didn’t count Wenzel Bremmer showing up from Smith’s.
Because Josh’s condo was closer to work, I’d agreed to spend weeknights at his place and the weekend at Casa di Rossi. Suggesting something like that for efficiency somehow fit Josh. He’d asked and given me all of ten seconds to decide. But it only took one morning waking up in his luxurious bed to confirm I’d made the right decision.
Josh and I followed the group from the plane into the Signature Aviation private terminal. This family sure knew how to travel in style. No humiliating security check, no waiting in lines, and when we landed, only a few dozen yards separated us from the private terminal and waiting cars.
Josh held me back so we were apart from the group and spoke into my ear. “How was the flight?”
We’d been on the same plane, but I knew he meant how had I fared in the back with the other women.
The men had held court with his Dad up front, while I sat with Josh’s sister, Serena, Zack’s wife, Brittney, Dennis’s Jennifer, and Josh’s mother, who had insisted I call her Robin.
“They’re very nice,” I told him.
“And?” He was clearly fishing for what we’d talked about.
“I do like Serena,” I added. “I like them all.”
Meeting a guy’s sister was always awkward, but Serena and I had hit it off just fine. She’d bucked the family tradition and attended Stanford, same as I had. She’d gone into management consulting after graduation. With Josh’s mother in the group, I didn’t think it polite to ask Serena why she hadn’t joined her father in business the way I had.
Serena’s job sounded interesting, and she was getting a wide breadth of experience, but I didn’t envy the traveling she had to do.
“What did she have to say?” Josh asked before we reached the terminal.
“We just talked about girl stuff. Oh, and that she was trying for a transfer to the Paris or London office.” I wasn’t about to go into how worried Serena was about Dennis meeting Kelly’s fiancé, Adam.
Apparently they had a history from college that wasn’t pretty. It had been so bad that Kelly had kept her relationship with Adam secret from the family for a long time. The women were also worried about Josh’s father Lloyd’s reaction, given the long-standing feud between him and Adam’s father. I didn’t ask for a history lesson, and none was offered. But it had been clear that it would be best if there were no firearms or sharp objects in the vicinity when they met.
“Why?” I asked.
“I wondered if she asked you about staying over at our place.”
“No.”
