Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“And what are you up to?” I asked Harmony, cutting Candice out of the conversation.
“I started designing for my mom. Cunningham Couture’s latest visionary,” she said with a shrug. “Mom thinks it’s a good angle.”
“It is a good angle,” I admitted. “I didn’t know that you had interest in designing.”
Harmony and I had competed for more than just Penn’s heart. Up until this latest endeavor with design, she had also been living her life as a socialite. She modeled, especially for her mother’s line, which I’d also done for a time. I’d never thought that she’d willingly give it up.
“Designing is more… stable,” Harmony admitted.
Which really meant that women over thirty didn’t usually model. Not unless they were superstars. Not when fashion designers could get size double-zero twits fresh out of high school. Eternal youth.
The thought made my stomach twist. I had my name and notoriety, but I wouldn’t always have my looks. I couldn’t compete with fresh-faced eighteen-year-olds. I was down a dress size from my new workout routine, but I’d never be a double zero again.
As much as I hated to admit it, the vile things Camden had said on our anniversary weren’t entirely… wrong. I enjoyed the life that I lived, and I’d never much cared about anything else, but this job wasn’t forever. I’d wanted to prove him wrong enough that I’d reached out to a friend who ran a charity to see how else I could get involved. I didn’t want a job, but I might need a purpose beyond my status in society.
“Sex therapy is stable, too,” Candice cut in.
Harmony and I exchanged a look. It was strange to detest someone for so long and then have her understand me so completely.
“Maybe you could help my mom with that,” Harmony said, biting her cheek to keep a straight face. “Unless it’s weird to talk to her about your dad.”
Candice made a contemplative face. “In the interest of medicine, I could help her.”
Then Candice beelined for Elizabeth, leaning against the sitting room doors.
Harmony and I turned away at once. Both of us trying to conceal our laughter.
“She is the worst,” Harmony whispered.
“Completely oblivious to the world and a danger to herself and everyone around her,” I said.
“If I had to hear her talk about how vagina-scented essential oils had changed her life one more minute, I was going to blow my brains out.”
“I am so glad I missed that,” I muttered. “She was educating me on the proper use of all of my holes for pleasure.”
Harmony groaned. “I can’t.”
“Not even a little.”
Harmony laughed and then gestured between us. “This is weird.”
I nodded. “Yeah. A bit.”
“Go back to hating each other after she’s gone?” Harmony asked, holding her hand out.
I put my hand in hers and shook. “Deal.”
“God, has she started telling you about Lars yet?”
“No. Who is Lars?” I asked.
“Her husband.”
I sputtered in shock. “Candice got married?”
Harmony shrugged. “Apparently. And he’s some Swedish prince or something. I’m not clear on the details. I tried to get away as quickly as possible.”
“Jesus. I thought she had a sperm donation. Monogamy never seemed like her thing.”
“Oh, they’re not monogamous,” Harmony clarified. “They met in an orgy and decided their souls were bonded or something. After that, she said their genes needed to procreate.” Harmony wrinkled her nose again.
“Well then,” I muttered, “is he here?”
Harmony nodded. “He’s supposed to be here for dinner tonight.”
“The night keeps getting better.”
“Tell me about it. I just want to get this over with, so I can head over to Kurt’s.”
“How did that happen anyway?”
Harmony flushed, her cheeks reddening. “Uh, well… it might or might not have started as a one-night stand.”
I chuckled. “Of course it did.”
“Anyway,” Harmony said with an eye roll, “I don’t know where it’s going, but I’d like to see.”
I watched the eager light in her eyes. The first flush of love that came with a new relationship. The hope that this time, this person was the one.
I’d felt that way before. My heart panged as I remembered the scant few months this spring when I’d thought it was happening with Camden. We’d come back from our honeymoon aflush with new… well, if not feelings, at least respect. We agreed not to see other people. I’d made the mistake of thinking he was serious. That this could go somewhere. But there was no the one. There was just the person you ended up with, and you made it work. It wasn’t a romantic ideal. But I wasn’t a romantic at heart. While things weren’t great… or even good with Camden right now, I knew where we stood. It was safer.
Speak of the devil, my husband appeared out of his father’s sitting room with a cloud over his face. I knew how much he enjoyed seeing his father.
“Ah, look who found each other,” Camden said, sweeping past Candice and Elizabeth, who looked like she desperately wanted to escape, and coming over to where Harmony and I stood together.