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“I figured it was time to upgrade from your sparkly pink one.”
“You’re absolutely scandalous, Lil.” She sets the book on the small table in front of us and opens it to reveal a carved out indentation in the pages where a couple’s vibrator hides. “I knew it was a sex toy!”
“You always know how to spoil a good surprise.”
Avery pulls out the toy and scrutinizes it. The blush creeping up her neck is adorable.
I almost bought one for myself, but a couple’s toy requires a couple to participate, and I’ve been rolling solo for nearly a decade now.
“How does—” Avery begins but is interrupted as the French doors swing open, and Molly, my roommate, who also happens to be Avery’s assistant, slips in through the doors.
“Looks like I came just in time.” Molly joins us on the bench, a small envelope in her right hand. She wears an immaculate floral gown, and her curly, copper hair is tucked into a high ponytail above her head. “Is that the new Double Bliss?”
“Yes, isn’t it beautiful?” I say.
Avery swings her head between us. “Am I the last one to get the memo on what a Double Bliss is?”
“Looks like it.” I gently nudge her, and the three of us chuckle together.
Molly rearranges her face into a stack of concern. “I don’t want to interrupt, but I had to come by and say sorry again for Lance refusing your wedding invitation. I simply couldn’t convince him that this wasn’t a work event.”
My lips snap into a frown. Lance Bradbury, Molly’s parent-approved boyfriend, is the lethal combination of pompous while being about as interesting as a bowl of plain pasta.
“You have nothing to apologize for—I understand it’s more complicated than it seems.” Avery smiles reassuringly.
“Thank you.” Molly shudders in her seat and targets a pointed expression right at me. “Lily, I transferred back the money you wired me. I was serious when I told you not to pay rent until you find a job.”
“Not this again. I don’t want to be a burden on you.” Especially when the room I rent in her impeccably designed four-thousand-square-foot townhome on the Upper East Side is already a fraction of what itshouldcost.
“And that’s why I love you, but you need the money much more than I do. Plus, if I didn’t have you to keep me company, I’d probably be one of those people who gets eaten by their cat after choking on a slice of cake in the tub.”
“Gruesome.” Avery chuckles, but I cringe at Molly’s pity.
“Fine, but I’m paying you the second I find a job.”
“I know.”
The fact that Molly comes from a long line of billionaires was the news of the millennium. The Greene family is composed of wealthy resort owners based in New York City, their daughter, Molly, is the heiress to the family fortune. It’s a fun tidbit only a handful of people in our small circle know because my roommate prefers to keep associations with her family to a minimum.
Molly reaches over me to hand Avery an envelope. “I wanted to give you this as a little wedding gift.”
My best friend opens the card and scans the text. “I can’t accept this. A private yacht is too much.”
“It was either this or a weekend at my parents’ On Cloud Nine resort in Arizona, but I wasn’t sure if your future husband would implode from all the required meditating.”
“He’s been doing his best with the weekly yoga classes.” Avery beams. “Thank you, Molly. You’re so sweet.”
Molly brushes Avery off. “What’s the point of keeping a yacht in Europe if you can’t lend it out for the day?”
My phone chimes loudly from inside the bridal suite.
“I’ll be right back.” I stand, leaving them to each other’s company for a moment.
“Hopefully, it’s good news from one of the jobs you interviewed for last week,” Avery calls after me.
“I know it’s bad of me to say, but I hope itisn’t,” Molly exclaims. “That way, you can take the summer off and join me in the Hamptons. I could use a break from all the soirees my mother will be throwing.”
I make my way through the French doors and take my phone off the charger. A string of text messages from the guy I hooked up with a few weeks ago appears next to a new email notification. I click open the latter and read the message.
