Page 68 of The Last Goodbye

“Perfect. I’ll bet he’ll look at these samples and will know exactly what he wants.”

“I hope so. And I do have a quarry tile for the kitchen, but if he goes with the porcelain tile, that could move straight into the kitchen.”

“Good thinking. If he goes with the wood option out here, he can choose a tile for the kitchen, and if he goes with this one”—she pointed her toe at the black-and-white checkerboard pattern—“which I personally love, he can do it throughout, which is a nice option.”

“Right.” I nodded. “He should be here shortly. So fill me in. Did everything go smoothly?”

She’d texted me and thanked me multiple times over the weekend, but I hadn’t gotten any details yet.

“Well, Jenna made it there, thanks to you—and that made Jovi so incredibly happy.” She smiled but then winced.

“Uh-oh. But?” I asked, because there was obviously something she hadn’t shared yet.

“But…then she, um, er, overindulged at dinner, and ended up crying and making a scene. There may have been a glass or two that got shattered because she had a bit of a meltdown.”

“Oh no.” My stomach dropped. “I’m so sorry that happened.”

“It’s okay.” She chuckled. “Listen, you got her there, and it meant the world to Jovi. That’s what matters. We can’t control how she behaves once she’s there. She’s a grown woman.”

“Yeah. I wish she would have kept it together just for the day, though.”

“It would have been nice.” She sighed. “But I just appreciate the effort you went to. I did not mean for you to purchase her ticket and hotel room.”

“I had plenty of points. It was fine. I knew it was important for her to get there. But I didn’t think she’d mention that part.” I frowned. For all I knew, that would piss Bass off, too. I knew he was a proud man, and I assumed he wouldn’t like that.

“She mentioned it in her drunken outburst. But Bass told Cutler he was going to pay you back for it, so get ready for him to insist on it. Just making sure she got on the plane was already asking a lot, and you really went above and beyond.” She squeezed my hand.

“Listen, it’s not a big deal. It was all done with points, and I just wanted to help out if I could.”

“It’s a big deal to me,” a deep voice said from behind me, and I whipped around to see Bass Bennett walking toward us.

The man was completely unreadable.

Jaw clenched, eyes hard and fixed on me, his mouth in a flat line.

Here we go.

Time for another round.

“I think it was really kind of you, Briar.” Gracie looked between us. “I’m going to go check on Cutler.”

She disappeared through the doorway, and I turned to the man stalking toward me.

“Hey, welcome home,” I said, tipping my chin up and straightening my shoulders, because he looked…intense.

“Hey.” He ran a hand down his jaw just as the door opened, and Wayne and his guys came in with more windows in hand.

It was a bit chaotic. Cutler and Gracie guided them to the opposite side of the room, and Bass turned back to look at me. “Can you come somewhere with me? I need to speak to you.”

This was obviously an even bigger deal than I’d expected.

“Sure. Yes. Of course.” I grabbed my purse and followed him out the door.

He didn’t say a word as I walked beside him down the street and we turned toward the water, where his houseboat sat. We walked up the dock, and he stepped onto the boat before turning around to reach for my hand. I followed him onto the deck of his boat, and he motioned for me to take the seat on the outdoor couch before sitting beside me.

“Sorry. I didn’t feel like doing this in front of an audience.”

“You prefer to blast me in private?” I snorted.