I laughed. “Good one. You almost had me there for a minute.”
“I’m dead serious, Adam. Take it. Take her. All the plans are made. It’s a great trip.”
“I’m not going to take your trip.”
“It’s all planned. I’ve got the penthouse suite at the George V Hotel—the Four Seasons just off the Champs-Élysées. Even with all your money, you can’t get reservations like that at the last minute. Just take the goddamn trip. It will be good for her.”
I rubbed my jaw, studying him. He wasn’t bullshitting me and I was stunned. Especially because Jordan had never been supportive of my relationship with Emilia. Or maybe he just didn’t like her. I never knew exactly what it was. But his magnanimous offer now was nothing less than shocking.
“You haven’t been able to shut up about this trip for months,” I said. “I’m not going to take it from you.”
“I’m not giving it to you, idiot. I’m giving it to her.”
“Well, this is a bit surprising, I have to admit. I always got the impression that you didn’t like her.”
He shrugged. “I never had anything personal against her. I wasn’t her biggest fan when you were going through all that bullshit with her, but…she’s handled all of this with strength and grace and I admire her for it.”
I clenched my teeth. He didn’t know the half of what she’d been through, in truth. “It’s very generous of you, but—”
“Goddamn it, Adam. Just stop arguing and take her. It will do her some good. She’ll be able to cross another thing off her list.”
“Two things, actually. She wants to see the Venus de Milo, too. That’s in Paris.”
“Good. Surprise her, then. The trip is in two weeks. Do you think you’d be ready?”
I blinked. “I’ll call her doctor and ask.”
Jordan looked supremely satisfied with himself after that. So I let him do his good deed. We spent the next half an hour going over his itinerary and I made mental notes to modify it to suit our needs. I also made a note to make it up to him soon.
But for now I’d let him be the hero for the day. He seemed to be enjoying it.
I noted his secret smile when he hugged her goodbye. But it wasn’t nearly as amusing as Emilia’s shocked expression when he did it.
***
A few nights later we were sharing a quiet dinner at my house with my Uncle Peter and Mia’s mom, Kim. They had called, wanting to take us out, but Emilia had declined. She’d claimed she liked my chef’s food better than anything a restaurant could make. Considering her dietary restrictions, I couldn’t blame her, but I suspected it also had to do with her self-consciousness over looking like “something that been chewed up and spit out”—her words, which she refused to take back even when I gave her one of my stern looks.
Thinking it would be good for her to spend more time with her mom, I invited them over to our place instead. Nowadays we ate dairy-free, gluten-free, probiotic and organic. It sounded worse than it actually was. But I did miss cheese.
Fortunately my chef was amazingly brilliant and saw the restrictions as a challenge she was determined to overcome. So in spite of it all, the meals were good. Not my first choice, but if Emilia could go through all she went through with a minimum of complaint, then I could put up with weird food for her. I just made sure to eat whatever I wanted when I was at work.
I should have known something was up with Peter and Kim from their weird behavior. Peter, who is always quiet, was even quieter and Kim’s interactions with her daughter were stilted and a little strange.
So it was no surprise that over dessert and coffee, Emilia’s mother turned to her and took her hand over the table. “So, uh…we had something we wanted to tell you. Um.” She flicked a glance in my direction. “It might be a little weird for you two, though.”
Emilia and I shared a look and then she turned back to her mom expectantly.
“Peter and I have decided to get married.”
Emilia immediately shot out of her seat and went to her mom, taking her in a big hug and kissing her. “Mom, I’m so happy for you!”
Well…I was glad one of us was. I just felt like this was beyond bizarre. And I couldn’t put my finger on why. I watched Emilia’s overjoyed reaction. Apparently she wasn’t weirded out by this news? Maybe it was just me…
Because this would make Emilia the stepsister to Liam and Britt, my cousins.
Emilia was now hugging my Uncle Peter—her future stepfather. The thought of it was so surreal. I got up and hugged Kim and congratulated her. I hoped I was successful at hiding my reaction to their news. It had been coming, I supposed. I should have been preparing for it. They’d been dating for seven or eight months and getting along very well. And given both their pasts, they deserved some happiness.