After explaining for the fifth time that, yes, they really were related to little Dash — and wasn’t that just amazing? — Hallie was ready to bail.
“I’ll pay you a hundred bucks to leave right now,” she offered, gulping the grape juice that all the children had been relegated to. Hallie supposed she should just be happy they hadn’t offered it in a sippy cup.
“You don’t have a hundred bucks,” Grace pointed out. “I bet you don’t even have ten after buying that dress.”
Hallie grinned, giving a little twirl. “Worth it, though, right? Anyway, I’ll owe you.”
Grace shook her head.
“Pretty please?” Hallie begged. “Seriously, one of those old men just asked where I went on vacation to get so tan.”
Grace sighed. “We can’t go yet, it would be rude.”
“And he wasn’t?”
“Grace!” Lucy’s breathless cry made them turn; the British girl descended, lavishing air-kisses on both of their cheeks in turn. “Isn’t this party the best? I chatted with Theo’s grandmother for half an hour. I don’t know what he was so worried about, the woman’s a doll!”
Grace’s smile was thin. “That’s great.”
“Isn’t it?” Lucy’s eyes were wide, but now that she knew what to look for, Hallie could see the steel behind them. “Now that I’m getting to know them all, there’s no reason for us to keep our relationship a secret anymore. Theo will be so relieved.”
“Will he?” Hallie asked. Lucy blinked at her.
“Of course. It’s been so hard on him, not being able to tell anyone.”
“Right.” Hallie kept a smile fixed on her face. “Except usually, if a guy really likes you, he wants to tell the whole world. Unless, it’s like some dirty little secret.” Grace’s elbow dug into her side, but Hallie couldn’t resist finishing. “You know, a mistake, that he’s ashamed about.”
Lucy’s smile dissolved so fast it could have set a record. “Theo and me are in love,” she said, practically hissing.
There! Hallie knew that whole Mary Poppins routine was an act!
“I,” she corrected, not able to resist a tiny dig. Lucy frowned. “It’s Theo and I,” Hallie explained, smirking. “I thought you Brits were sticklers for grammar.”
Grace coughed. “Ooh, look, cookies!” She tried to drag Hallie away. Hallie stood fast.
“If you’re so in love, why aren’t you over there with him now?” She fluttered a wave across the room at Theo. He saw them all, froze, and then promptly turned and headed in the other direction.
Sure, like that was a boy in the grips of a secret wild passion.
“Whoops,” Hallie said, sarcastic. “He must not have seen you.”
“He saw me.” Lucy pulled herself up to her full height, giving Hallie a smug look. “We just agreed not to go public tonight. Agreed it last night. Which we spent together. At his place.”
Hallie heard Grace’s pained intake of breath and snapped. She lurched forward, spilling red grape juice all down the front of Lucy’s dress.
“Oh, no!” Hallie cried. “I’m so clumsy. You better go wash that out before it stains!”
Lucy glared at her, openmouthed, but no sound came out. Finally, she spun on her heel and fled toward the bathroom.
“Hallie!” Grace dragged her into the empty kitchen, countertops full of hors d’oeuvre platters and empty wine glasses. Grace shut the door behind them and turned on Hallie. “I can’t believe you did that!”
“It was for you!” Hallie protested. “I was helping!”
“I don’t want your help,” Grace told her. “It was mean, and immature, and . . . and . . .” A tiny smile bubbled to her lips. “Did you see her face?”
Hallie grinned. “Priceless. Now, the stain should keep her busy for a while, so you go get back out there with Theo and fight.”
“But I don’t want to.” Grace sagged against the kitchen cabinets. “I don’t want to fight. It shouldn’t be a competition. Either he likes me or he doesn’t, and, well . . . clearly he doesn’t.”
“There’s no clearly about it,” Hallie insisted. “Did you hear her story? Something’s not right. I bet you she’s lied about everything.”
“But why?” Grace countered. “Why go through all the trouble pretending, when we could easily find out just by asking Theo?”
“So why don’t you?” Hallie asked.
Grace looked away.
There was a noise in the doorway. “Hey, you two, champagne’s running thin.”
They both turned. It was the Ivy League guy from Bergdorf’s, Hallie realized: floppy blond hair and an expensive watch. He looked at them impatiently. “The trays. We need fresh bottles out there.”
Hallie blinked, confused, but Grace snorted under her breath. “He thinks we’re the help,” she explained to Hallie, voice brittle. “I can’t imagine why.”
They exchanged a look.
“Who are you exactly?” Hallie asked him.
Ivy League looked thrown. “Rex Coates. This is my family’s party.”
“And we’re part of the family.” Hallie gave him a deadly smile. “Your step-sisters.”
There was a beat, but Rex didn’t even have the decency to apologize. He frowned again, processing the information, then shrugged. “If you do see the real staff, tell them about the champagne, OK?” He turned to go. “Oh, and happy holidays.”
The kitchen door closed behind him. Hallie shook her head in disbelief. “This family! They are all freaking insane,” she declared.
“Except Theo,” Grace said quietly.
“Keep telling yourself that.” Hallie wasn’t so sure. “You still care if these people think you’re polite or not?”
Grace wavered, then shook her head. Finally! Some sense. Hallie linked her arm through Grace’s. “Then let’s get the hell out of here.”
Hallie didn’t have tickets for the sold-out show — or the money to spend two hundred bucks on scalped passes from the seedy guys lurking around outside the club — so she figured the backstage entrance was her best bet. Simply wait by the stage door once the show was over, intercept Dakota on his way out, and voilà! The reunion she’d been dreaming about. Sure, the back alley was strewn with garbage instead of rose petals, but the setting didn’t matter; once she and Dakota were together again, they could retire back to the Waldorf-Astoria to catch up; the important part was that she was finally — finally! — going to see him again.