The line was silent. Too silent. Wait, was she crying?
“Tal, you there? You okay?” Hell, she might have been across the country when he reached the depths of despicable and wrote off his comatose daughter, but Chase’s dad was far from a saint when we were kids. And I knew firsthand that Talia’s parents, like half the upper East side, were screwed out of millions by the infamous Jack Colton Ponzi scheme. So much so, it was rumored Talia’s dad was broke by the time he died. So yeah, her tears confused me. Unless she was worried about… “Chase is fine, Tal.”
Sniffle. “Oh, I um … I hadn’t heard, and I just feel bad, you know. Even if there was no love lost, losing his father after Kimi, too. It can be a lot.”
“Yeah, it was a shock, but he had Lili to get him through it.” I was jealous.
“Lili must be his new wife. I’m so glad he found someone,” she said sincerely.
I felt like a dick.
“It’s weird, but she’s a lot like Kim.”
“Then I know I’d love her.” No doubt. “I miss her so much still … every day something reminds me of her. Every single day. I might have stopped torturing myself with what-ifs a long time ago, but I’ll never stop thinking about her. I can’t. And I don’t want to.”
Her sadness was palpable. If I could have jumped through the phone to hold her, I would have.
“Yeah, me too, Tal.”
Then she said something unexpected, “You ever see that Drew Barrymore movie, Never Been Kissed?”
I started to laugh and she joined in. “Josie Grossie. You ladies definitely had your moments.” Tal and Kim were the queens of self-deprecation, oblivious to how gorgeous they were. Hands down made them even hotter.
“I know, right? We defined Hot Mess.” She continued to giggle.
Not even close.
And that opened the floodgates pouring out tons of funny memories. She talked for at least an hour. I hated the phone, always did, but to laugh with her like that I would have glued that damn thing to my ear and pulled an all-nighter. When we finally hung up, I decided to follow in Chase’s footsteps, nothing wrong with a little self-satisfaction. Yeah, this friend thing wasn’t working.
The crew had already moved to the bar when I strolled in with a last minute redhead in tow. We obviously missed the dinner at one of my personal favorites for French cuisine. And damn did my stomach grumble, the food at Mistral was just that good. But nothing compared to the restaurant’s cool ass rustic ambiance. Sierra slid off her high-back stool and slung her loose arm around my neck.
“Lili said you were coming alone,” she slurred in my ear.
“Sorry we’re late, I got stuck in a meeting.” Bullshit, but I couldn’t use the traffic excuse. I lived two blocks away.
Dodd unwrapped Sierra and her tiny self from my neck and shrugged. “Can you tell we don’t get out much?” She was clearly enjoying herself sans the little one.
“Sierra, Dodd, this is Sam.” I lifted my chin behind them to finish introductions with Lil and Chase. She small waved them. Enough said. Who the hell scrunched just their fingers to wave if they didn’t have some sort of sash across their chest? And she hadn’t even had a drink yet. It was gonna be a long night. My sister owed me big time.
“I didn’t think you were gonna show.” Chase slapped my back.
Me either. I actually had no intentions on coming, but this was another attempt at normalcy. TP set up camp in my warped mind and was totally cramping my style.
I couldn’t keep the flashes from the other night from swarming my vision. It had been a normal late night in the office and I had stopped in for a quick beer. Typical routine for a Monday night and not surprising when one turned into six and the hottie on the stool next to me matched me beer for beer. But the part that has totally screwed with my head was when I was bagging her from behind and my cell chimed in the other room. I wasn’t prepared for the sick pit in my gut. I couldn’t finish what I started. It was like I was cheating on her, cheating on my friend. Yeah, the friend I wasn’t even dating.
“Nice to meet you, Sam. Your hair is gorgeous. Can I get you a drink?” Lili hooked arms with Sam and headed toward Sierra, leaving Chase and I to bullshit.
“Serious?” Chase nodded in Sam’s direction and handed me a Heineken.
“Ahem. No,” I spat. Damn, take a picture. This was me failing at normal miserably.
“I don’t read minds, asshole.”
“Yeah.” I took a swig, noticing his empty hand. “You drove?”
“Nah, Lil tests next week. She can’t drink.”
I nodded. “Gotcha.” I wouldn’t let my woman go through any of that alone either. Fuck. Did I just think ‘my woman’? I took another swig. It was ice cold but it wasn’t going down so easy. “You’ll never guess who I ran into?” He shrugged his shoulders. Now was as good a time as any. “Talia.”
“Yeah?” Just one word. Seemed to be the word of the night.
“Yeah. Get this—she’s a doctor. Crazy, right? Totally thought she’d go the music route. Anyway, she’s doing great and looks amazing.” More like drop dead gorgeous.
“Who looks amazing?” Lil and her seriously blue eyes interrupted. She handed Chase her empty soda and smiled, waiting for an answer.
“Just an old friend from back in the day. She lives out in California now, saw her while I was out on business a few weeks ago.” It was the partial truth.
“From that look on your face, she doesn’t sound like just an old friend.” Chase’s wife was more of a hound than my sisters. Luckily she left Sam at the bar with Sierra. Last thing I needed was this traveling through the Craig grapevine.
“You might be gorgeous, but you’re a pain in the ass. You know that, right?”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you very much.” She flicked my stomach. “You know I’ll get it out of you.”
Chase smirked and snaked an arm around her shoulder. “She’s got your fucking number, man.”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
“Soooooo?” She sounded like a musical note. She wasn’t dropping it.
“Talia Pryce.”
Lil’s eyes widened, but not in a you mean the girl my husband dicked over way. She looked genuinely excited. “Oh my god, that’s amazing. It had to be awesome to reconnect with her after so many years.”
Hell yeah.
Her name meant nothing to Lili, but Chase didn’t miss it. “She married?”
I shook my head. “Nah, long story.” One I didn’t even know yet.
“Do you think she’d come out here for a visit? I’d love to meet her. Wouldn’t it be nice for the three of you to catch up? You know, for old times’ sake. KimCore’s New Year’s party seems perfect. I’m sure she’d love to see what you two have done in Kimi’s honor?” Her excited baby blues ping-ponged between Chase and me. “You should at least just ask her.”
Chase leaned over and kissed her nose. “You’re pure sweet, baby.”
I couldn’t gripe. Lili was dead on. Talia would love KimCore, or at least I hoped she would. She belonged there. “I’ll ask her.”
Lil beamed like she just won the lotto. “Great. I can’t wait. In the meantime, what’s up with Sam? Don’t get me wrong, she’s seems really sweet, just not your type.”
You mean blonde hair, killer legs, small tits, tight ass, sexy ass tat on her foot.
“Cause she’s not. She’s Drew’s sister, lives up in Salem. Just broke up with her girlfriend last night or some shit. Molly called earlier, didn’t want her to be alone, and asked if she could travel home with me. Obviously I said no problem, told her I was heading out around five. Yeah, Sam took that as five PM, and showed up at my office, bags in hand.”