Sugarlips (Beefcakes Book 2)

it would be more fun to be naked friends with Liam, but whatever. That’s your call.”
“Are you around tonight? Want to come over and…” And what? Watch more sappy romantic comedies? “Cook dinner or something?”
She took a final sip of coffee, depositing it in the sink. “Can’t. I’ve got a date.”
Right. Of course. When didn’t Tanja have a date? The world didn’t stop because I got dumped.
“I can cancel if you don’t want to be alone, though?”
I shook my head. “No, that’s okay. Elaina will probably be here, and she might be worse off than I am for all I know.”
“I have to say, you’re actually handling this really well. The Liam kiss aside.” Tanja dropped her hands to my shoulders. Even though I was pretty tall at five-foot seven, Tanja was almost two inches taller than me.
I was sad. Of course I was. But more than anything, I was angry. And embarrassed. “Well, maybe that’s a testament to the fact that I didn’t love him as much as I thought.”
Tanja nodded and brushed her cheek to mine in a side kiss. “I have to run to an audition in Concord. Wish me broken legs!” she called over her shoulder with a little wave.
“Please. Please. You are my fourth vendor today to only give me half of my deposit back. The wedding is still four months away—and I know, trust me, I know in wedding speak, four months is equivalent to, like, a week—”
“I’m sorry Ms. Dyker. A fifty percent refund is all I’m authorized to give if we are less than six months away from the date.”
Hot tears pricked my eyes and I dropped my forehead onto the cool marble with a thunk.
“Ms. Dyker? Are you still there?”
“Uh-huh.” I inhaled deeply, shoving those tears aside. For now. “Is there really no clause for an ex-fiancé who was cheating on you the entire time you were engaged?”
There was a small gasp on the other end of the line. “I’m so sorry that happened to you,” she said. “Can I make a suggestion?”
I shrugged, and despite the fact that she couldn’t see me, she kept talking. “Instead of taking a fifty percent loss on our catering, you could cut your guest list by fifty percent which as stated in our contract, you don’t have to give us the final head count until six weeks before.”
I narrowed my eyes. “And… throw a catered party for my friends instead of a wedding?”
“Why not?” She offered. “You’re losing half of your money anyway… you might as well utilize that to throw a party of some sort.”
Huh. That was an interesting idea. “So, if I cut my guest list in half… that comes to—”
“It comes to fifty percent of the deposit you gave us. As stated in the contract, the deposit was an estimate of how many guests you expected. But you are allowed to adjust that estimate accordingly up to six weeks before the event.”
“I think I’ll do that. And maybe at this party, I’ll have a dartboard with Dan’s face on it.”
She chuckled. “There you go. You might as well have some fun with it, right?’
My call waiting beeped in and I saw my mother’s name lighting up the screen. “Thanks, Erin. I’ll be in touch with the new head count.”
I switched the call to my mom and answered as cheerily as I could, despite my sour mood. Granted, Erin helped lift my mood, even if it was just a little. “Hi, Mom.”
“Hey sweetie. How you feeling?”
Mom was the second person I called after I spoke with Elaina. She knew all about Dan. In retrospect, maybe telling your mother the gory details of your cheating ex and your breakup wasn’t the best way to handle a situation… but Tanja hadn’t answered my calls last night and it was too late to change that now.
“Fine,” I lied. Hungover and frustrated was more accurate. “Trying to get some of Daddy’s deposits for the wedding back. Thing is, the contracts state that I can only get fifty percent... but I was thinking, doesn’t Daddy usually throw a party for his biggest campaign donors every summer? We could cut the guest list down and use the venue and catering for that event. That way, we won’t be losing money, per se, just reallocating it.”
“That’s a great idea! The next Mayoral race is just around the corner. I’ll ask Elaina when she gets home.”
“Have um, have you talked to Elaina?” I asked.
Mom sighed. Oh, that loaded sigh. It was one I’d memorized since childhood. “Yes,” she said. “She’s coming home later today, but she said she didn’t want to talk about it. Which is silly. Your sister is the queen of bottling up her feelings.”
Yep, some of us bottle our feelings. And others of us barf them out.
But Mom wasn’t wrong. If there was anything I learned about my big sister through the years, it was that the harder we tried to get her to open up, the tighter she clamped shut. “Mom, you can’t push her.”
“I know, but maybe I can bring up some brownies to her room—”
“Not if she wants to be alone.” Poor Elaina had been living with my parents after her boyfriend broke up with her at Christmas. Then when she got onto the reality show, she had to move in with Neil for the show’s sake. Now… where was she going to go? Back home with Mom and Dad? I cringed, looking around my large three-bedroom house, now without Dan. I could sure use the extra help in rent until I find a job. And it would be nice not to be stuck here alone with all the reminders of Dan and the life we were planning to build. Maybe my sister as a roommate was what I need for a few weeks or months?
Another Mom sigh. “Fine.”
“Really fine?” I pressed. “Or are you going to ignore me and try to push her to talk regardless?”
She was silent for a beat.