Page 18 of This Could be Love

“You mean whosheinvited.”

Laurie raised her chin. “You agreed.”

“That wasbeforeher godmother torpedoed my barbecue.” For a fraction of a second, his eyes flickered toward me.

“What?!”

Laurie ignored my surprise and sighed. “You don’t know that for a fact.”

Looking for help, my eyes darted between Laurie and Vince. “What’s wrong?”

“Ask your godmother.”

Before I could react, he turned to Chip. “You wanna help me with the beer?”

But Chip looked like he’d rather grab a bag of popcorn and watch the show we were putting on. “My number’s still the same!” he called back to me before disappearing into the house with Vince.

Laurie knitted her brow. “What’sthatall about?”

“Long story.”

“Which you can tell me when we drink this thing here.” She smiled and took the bottle of wine from my hands. “Come on in!” She made an inviting gesture, and part of me was willing to ignore the fragments I’d just heard. But my gut told me I wanted to know.

“What did Vince mean about my godmother torpedoing his barbecue?” I asked without taking another step.

Laurie hesitated. “Well, till now, not one of our neighbors has shown up and…Vince thinks that…your godmother’s behind it,” she mumbled, as if uncomfortable.

“What do you meanbehind it?!” I asked, though I had a vague idea.

“He thinks she told them not to come.”

“What? That’s ridiculous. Maybe they’re just late.” I peered at my watch. “When did things officially kick off?”

“Six.”

That was almost two hours ago. I cast a glance over my shoulder. “Whose cars are those?”

“They belong to friends of Vince’s. He called them earlier to ask if they wanted to come over. What with all the food and everything.”

She lowered her voice and then her head, and it made my heart hurt a little.

“Shit.”

“Yeah. Vince is pretty bummed.”

“That’s understandable.”

Even though I didn’t think Kay had anything to do with it, I felt bad for him and Laurie.

“Well…” Laurie clapped. “I hope you’re hungry?”

I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that I’d already eaten. That nothing they had really fit my nutrition plan. I smiled instead and followed her silently into the house.

Stepping into the foyer, I was hit by a blast of warm air. As opposed to Kay’s, they didn’t seem to have any AC. Just a ceiling fan. The walls were covered in wood and painted turquoise with contrasting white baseboards. Judging by the smell, it was a recent job. And the wooden floor looked like it had been sanded recently too. Instead of the classic reception desk, a shuttered window had been built into the wall. The door to the right suggested an office. On the left, the space merged into a hallway. It looked bright, inviting, and comfortable.

“When’s the opening?”

“In two months. But it’ll be tight if Vince continues to insist on doing everything himself.”