“Spoken like a proud sperm donator.”
“Leo, you’re a cad. I’m going to find you a woman to melt that cynical heart and you’re going to understand what it’s like to fall hook, line, and sinker.”
“It’s never going to happen.” He shook his head and I stared at him for a moment, wondering if I had been the same way before Lucky? How sad would it be if my best friend never found the love that I had found? I groaned to myself, as I realized I was actually contemplating letting Lucky hook him up with someone.
“You’re going to come to the wedding right? We’re going to pretend it’s a group summer vacation somewhere.”
“Just think about trying to stop me.”
“So are you still bouncing?”
“Nah, dad finally convinced me to give the family business a try.” He made a face. “Seeing as I’m the heir apparent and all that.”
“It must be so hard to be the heir to a billion dollar business.”
“It’s just not what I want to be doing.”
“I understand.”
“What about you? How goes the book?”
“It’s going slowly.” I shrugged. “The day job calls first and Lucky of course.”
“How hard is it to buy and sell stock?”
“I do a bit more than that, Leo.” I laughed. “But I’m trying to finish the book by the wedding, it’s my wedding gift to Lucky.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “She’s influenced a good amount of the book.”
“Cool, do you know what you’re going to call it?”
“Not sure as yet. Maybe First Love or something.”
“Could you be any sappier?”
“Not really.” I laughed. “Lucky put a spell on me and I can’t break free.”
“I’m taking it this isn’t the book about one man trying to take down Wall Street from the inside, is it?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I feel like that’s already happened in real life. A book about it would be mundane. The new book is about a man who was lost and meets the love of his life.”
“Oh, so it is art imitating life then?”
“Perhaps. It’s more of a metaphor in the book though.”
“How so?”
“The man is lost in the jungle.” I laughed at the look on his face. “And the love of his life is a monkey.”
“Please tell me this is a joke? Are you writing about beast…”
“Leo, really?” I interrupted him. “No, I don’t mean love as in man and a woman love. I mean the love of two best friends.”
“Please tell me I’m not the monkey.” His eyes looked at me hopefully and I burst out laughing.
“Idiot, I’m joking. The book is basically about my love for Lucky and how she has touched me.”
“Okay, so it is a sap story then. Move over Nicholas Sparks, there’s a new notebook writer in town.”
“Now that’s just sad that you know his name and the book that he wrote.”
“Dude, that movie made me cry.” He grinned. “And you better not tell anyone that.”
“Oh, Noah, Noah.” I said in a female voice and we both burst out laughing.
“If anyone saw us right now, we’d be right off to the loony bin.”
“I know, but at least I have a fiancé. I have an excuse for knowing the movie and the book.”
“Rub it in my face, why don’t you?” Leo pulled out some notes and placed them on the table. “Hey lunch is on me. Want to hit the driving range?”
“Lucky would kill me if she knew I was going to go drive race cars with you.”
“You only live once.”
“Come on then.” I jumped up and grinned at him. “But if I get in trouble, I’m sending her your way.”
“Sure thing, Mrs. Beaumont.” Leo winked at me and it was at that moment that I definitely decided that Lucky and I were going to find a woman that would make Leo fall to his knees.
Chapter 8
Noah
Picnic basket. Check. Wine bottle. Check. Wine glasses. Check. Bottle opener. No where to be found. Shit, where was the bottle opener?
“Skylar, have you seen the bottle opener?”
“What, Noah?” She looked up at me with a confused expression. “What’s a bottle opener?” She continued playing with her Barbie and I shook my head.
“Nothing, it’s just a contraption that opens wine bottles.” I paused for a moment and then continued. “And wine is something that you should not drink until you are 21, okay?”
“I don’t like wine.” She made a face. “I had some in Palm Bonita, it didn’t taste good at all.”
“Yes, it’s not good for you.” I said with a straight face, but I felt angry inside. I was mad that she had been raised by Monica, someone who would have fed her drugs and alcohol without a care in the world. “Do you want to bring Barbie on the picnic?”
“I want to bring my teddy bears.” Skylar jumped up excitedly. “I want to have a teddy bear picnic.”
“Well, you can bring one.”
“No, I want to bring all of them.” She folded her arms and looked up at me with a glare.
“You can’t bring all of them.”
“I want to bring all of them.” She screamed and I stood there in shock. I had never seen this side of Skylar before and I wasn’t sure how to react. I wasn’t even sure what had happened. Just a minute ago, she had been fine and now she was having a temper tantrum.
“You can’t bring all of them, there won’t be enough food for them to eat.”
“They don’t eat human food, stupid.” Skylar ran up the stairs and I stood there for a moment wondering what I should do. I wanted to laugh at her comment, but I knew that I couldn’t let her think that her behavior was acceptable or funny.
“Skylar,” I called up the stairs. “Skylar, I need you to come back down the stairs right now.” Silence greeted me and I walked up the stairs slowly, scared that we were about to have our first argument. I took a deep breath and tried to hype myself up. I was scared that she was going to tell me that she hated me and that she didn’t want to live with me anymore.
“Skylar, please come downstairs.” I stopped at the top of the stairs and called out to her again, praying that she would come out of her room. I stood there for what seemed like ten minutes before Skylar walked out of her room, with two teddy bears.