Eve turned her attention to Simon. “What do you think?”
Simon hadn’t expected to be singled out when he was the least likely to have an opinion. He searched his mind for some useful idea. “Well, if you want to go in a darker direction…I could come up with some interesting props from various films that might add an Alfred Hitchcock air to the place.”
She perked up. “That’s a great suggestion! But…won’t real movie props be expensive?”
“They don’t have to be,” he said. “I happen to know some people in the industry.” He heard a few chuckles at the understatement. “I’ll see what I can arrange.”
“That’s so nice.” Eve looked at Gail as if to say she liked him, and Gail smiled, but the atmosphere grew tense as soon as someone mentioned a guy named Matt.
“Have you seen him yet?” Ted asked Gail.
Everyone fell silent. Clearly, they’d all been dying to ask the same question.
Gail poured more cream into her coffee even though she didn’t usually take very much. “No, not yet. We just got in last night.”
“He’s been here a couple days already,” Sophia said. “I saw him at Just Like Mom’s last night.”
“How does he look?” someone else wondered.
Eve answered. “Better than ever.”
“What about his knee?” Gail asked.
“He’s wearing a brace, but he’s walking on it,” Ted told her.
Gail added even more cream to her coffee. “Will he ever get to play again?”
“Hard to say,” Riley replied. “No one knows.”
Simon’s gaze circled the group. Normally he would’ve let this go, as he had the talk about Kyle Houseman. But there was a definite undercurrent here, and it seemed to be swirling around Gail. “Matt is…”
Gail seemed eager to answer before anyone else could. “Just another friend.”
“He plays football for the Packers, when he’s not injured,” Eve said.
“He’s part of the group?” Simon asked, trying to clarify.
“Not really.” This came from Eve again. “I mean…he’s not one of the original members. We all graduated the same year. Matt’s three years older.”
“He’s a great guy.” When Callie said this as if he was the perfect contrast to Simon, Gail made a point of checking the time.
“Whoa, don’t some of you need to be at work?”
“Yeah, Chey and I are already late,” Eve agreed. “Jane’s there cooking breakfast, but she’ll need us to help serve.”
Everyone stood. As they cleared the table of plates and cups, Callie pulled Gail aside, but Simon could hear what she said.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Gail met Simon’s eyes over her friend’s head. “Nothing, why?”
“I can’t believe you married him. Already! Didn’t you think we’d want to know you were that serious before seeing it on TV?”
“I told you we were dating.”
“Dating’s a little different, Gail.”
“We didn’t plan it, Callie. We just…decided to do it. It happened very quickly.”
“I’m sure it did. Let’s hope you don’t end up brokenhearted and divorced just as quickly.” Callie whirled around to glare at Simon. “Nice of you to come and meet the family, even if it is too late for us to talk her out of ruining her life.”
“I didn’t realize we needed to get your approval,” he responded dryly.
Callie turned back to Gail and said something else that sounded harsh, but Simon missed it because Riley had approached him. “Hey, sorry about your injury.” He gestured at the bandage still protecting Simon’s stitches. “That sucks.”
“I certainly have a new appreciation for how often I use my right hand.” Simon glanced over to see if he could catch another snippet of the Callie/Gail exchange, but Callie had left. It was Sophia who was talking to Gail now.
“What do you two have planned for today?” Riley asked, maintaining a separate conversation with him.
“We’re hoping to meet up with someone named Kathy and take a look at some rental property.”
“You’re planning to stay here?” Riley spoke loudly enough that everyone still there turned toward them. “What about your acting career?”
Simon held up his injured hand. “I’m taking a couple months off.”
When he saw that he also had Gail’s attention, Riley directed his next question to her. “You’re leaving Big Hit in the hands of someone else?”
“I am. My assistant is going to be running the show for a bit. We were actually hoping to hire you to help Simon build us a house.”
“I’d be happy to do that,” he said. “You know my number. Give me a call.”
“Sounds like we’ll get to see more of you,” Sophia said to Simon as Riley moved toward the exit. “That’s great! I was just going to say I’d love to have the two of you over for dinner sometime, if you’re interested.”
Sophia’s enthusiasm created a stark contrast with Callie’s anger. Simon couldn’t help responding to it. “Sure. We’ll come to dinner. When?”
She seemed surprised and relieved at the same time, as if she hadn’t expected an acceptance. “Day after tomorrow? I mean, I don’t know if my husband will be home. Skip travels a lot on business. But Alexa will be there.”
“Alexa is…”
“My daughter.”
Dinner sounded fine to Simon. At least he’d met someone who was eager to offer him friendship. “Fine. We’ll see you then.”
Gail took his arm. “Actually, we don’t know our plans yet. Can we call you?”
Sophia’s smile briefly wobbled but she managed to keep it in place. “Of course.”
The other woman’s disappointment nearly made Gail relent. She paused as if she was tempted, then seemed to think better of it. “Ready to go?” she asked, turning to him instead.
“Whenever you are.” They said goodbye to those who remained. Then Simon led Gail from the shop and out into a sunny fall day. While they were within earshot of the others, they talked about the weather, their search for a rental, how nice her friends were.
But as soon as they got in the car he said, “Who’s Matt?”
18
“You just met six of my friends. And you want to talk about one who wasn’t even there?” she said as she put on her seat belt.