Dirty Rotten Tendrils Read Free Page B

date.”
    “Bridal showers ?”
    “Sure. There will be a personal shower for close friends and the bridal party, another shower for extended family and close neighbors, and a gigantic shower for everyone from the first two showers plus all those to whom our mothers owe social obligations. You’ll have to be there, of course. But don’t worry. Food will be plentiful—lots of little finger sandwiches, petit fours, and strawberry punch. And just imagine the mountains of gifts we’ll be unwrapping and admiring—and sending thank-you notes for. We’ll probably need to set aside a whole day for that. And then—”
    “Hold it.” Marco sat down on the next stool and rubbed his jaw, pondering the situation. “So,” he said, “if we make our announcement now, we’ll take the focus away from Rafe’s wedding, and he’ll feel cheated.”
    “Naturally.”
    “Plus, if Rafe sees us going ahead with our plans, he’ll get more excited about his own plans, and then there’d be no way for my mom to talk him out of it.”
    “You’ve got that right.”
    “And we’ll be at the mercy of our mothers.”
    “Absolutely.”
    “So you’re saying we should wait a while before making our announcement?”
    “It would be for the best, Marco. Don’t you think so?”
    “I’m beginning to see your side of it. If we opted for a private, intimate ceremony—”
    “And they found out? They wouldn’t hear of it. We’d be better off figuring out when, where, and how we’re going to do this and then sending out the invitations. If it’s a done deal, what are they going to do? Shoot us?”
    Marco slapped his knee. “You’re right. We need to keep this under wraps at all costs. No one can know, not even your assistants.”
    “I’ll have to tell Nikki. I can’t live with her and keep all those secrets. But she won’t say a word until I give her the green light.”
    “I’m cool with that.”
    Good thing, since I’d already told her. Nikki was my roommate and best friend since third grade. We shared everything, even colds. There was no way I could’ve kept news of our engagement from her. “I’m so glad we can have these discussions.”
    “Me, too, so let’s have another.”
    “About what?”
    “The real reason you want Rafe to be talked out of marrying Cinnamon. I know it’s too soon for them to make that commitment, but a romantic would say it was love at first sight, and you’re a romantic. So let’s have it.”
    I checked Marco’s watch. “Wow. Only twenty minutes left. Let’s talk about this over dinner tonight, okay?” I hopped down from the stool.
    “Abby.”
    “Now? Really?”
    Marco folded his arms over his chest and gave me his no-nonsense Army Ranger gaze. “Now. Really.”
    “It might spoil the mood.”
    “You’ve already taken care of that.”
    I sighed. “Okay, fine. Here it is. I don’t think Rafe had any intentions of getting married until I sort of . . . fostered his engagement.”
    “How?”
    I climbed back onto the stool. It wasn’t going to be a quick explanation. “After Rafe got the job at Hooters, we were commiserating on how hard it is to be held to the standards of more successful siblings and—”
    “You’re speaking about your brothers now?”
    “My brothers the successful surgeons. In Rafe’s case, he feels compared to you, so he asked for my advice on how to cope with negative self-esteem issues. I suggested one way to handle it was to do something different so there wouldn’t be any way to be compared.”
    “Rafe used the word surprise .”
    “What?”
    “You told him to surprise us.”
    “Okay, I may have used that word, but he took it out of—wait. What? You already knew what I told him?”
    Marco lifted an eyebrow. He did half of his communicating with his eyebrows, like a semaphore system. In this case he meant Of course I knew.
    “Does your mom know?” I asked.
    “No.”
    Whew! Close one. “When I told Rafe to do something different and, okay, surprise