One Night With His Ex

He sighed. “Believe me, I know. You should be in real estate if you want to see slow attitudes. No one wants to pay full market value for anything.”

“I’ve heard you have a way of charming them into paying the going rate,” Helena said.

Real estate was a nice safe topic and one that he had no problem discussing. Anything to keep from talking about Hadley.

“Your fiancé isn’t that bad at it either,” Mauricio said.

“Good to know...” Then after a long pause, she asked, “Has he made any investments lately...big ones?”

“Not that I know of. Why?”

“It’s probably nothing,” she said.

But he knew Helena. She wouldn’t have brought it up if it were nothing. “Want me to talk to him about something?’”

She shook her head. “I’m not even sure if there is anything to talk about. It’s just he’s been acting odd and we have some funds unaccounted for.”

Helena was notorious among their group of friends for her tight purse strings and keeping Malcolm on a budget. Or trying. It wasn’t that Mal didn’t earn a decent salary, but that he tended to be frivolous and impulsive in his spending habits. And Helena was a save-for-a-rainy-day girl.

“I haven’t noticed any big new toys at work, but we are playing cards tomorrow night with my brothers, so I’ll see what I can find out.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I don’t want to make a big deal out of anything, but I had to ask my parents to put a down payment on the flowers for the wedding and you know my mother. She thinks that means she’s in charge of the planning now.”

He did know. His parents were the same way. If they were paying, they micromanaged every detail, which was why he hesitated to ask them to invest in any of his projects. “You’re welcome. It’s the least I can do for causing you stress today.”

“I knew you’d behave.”

“Right, because of my mom.”

“Nah,” she said over her shoulder as she started to walk away. “Because you don’t like hurting Hadley.”

Of course, she’d lobbed that as a parting shot so he couldn’t argue or defend himself against it. But it was the truth so who was he to argue.

He noticed Diego watching him and just shook his head. He needed to get out of here. Now. He’d done his part to support his friend and even been pretty damned polite to Hadley’s new boyfriend, so he figured he could call it a day.

He left the country club and the party, but once he got outside, he didn’t fancy going home to his empty penthouse apartment. He had always liked the place because Towers On The Green had been the first big development he’d done on his own in Cole’s Hill. And he’d claimed the penthouse that overlooked the square for himself.

But he’d also lived there with Hadley for a short time and it had been where she’d come home from Manhattan to find another woman in his bed.

“Mo, wait up,” Alec called from behind him.

He turned toward his twin and stopped. Growing up, they’d gotten into a lot of good-natured fun switching places with each other and pulling pranks on friends and their parents. But these days Alec was busy running his tech company and Mauricio didn’t see him often enough.

“Thanks,” Alec said. “I need a ride to the airport. Just got an email and I need to get to Los Angeles to take care of a problem.”

“Sure.”

“Want to come with me?” Alec asked. “A few days out of town would be nice and we could hang out. I feel like I haven’t spent enough time with you lately.”

He shook his head. “I can’t. I have a meeting tomorrow with Homes for Everyone. It’s one of my bigger projects. I agree we haven’t been hanging out enough. When are you back in town?”

“Ten days,” Alec said.

“For the polo match that Diego set up?”

“Yes. I can’t wait. Should be a good game,” Alec said.

Diego and Mauricio had been working on a new horse stable closer to town and had added a field that was big enough to host charity polo matches. Diego ran the Velasquez ranch, Arbol Verde, which had been in the family for generations.

Mo dropped his brother off at the airport and took the long way home, stopping by the old warehouse district where Hadley’s loft was. He told himself he was checking out the land because it might be a good development project. But he knew a lie when he told one to himself, and as he stared up at the corner loft unit and noticed that the lights were on, he had to force himself not to call her.

Hadley spent a restless night trying to forget that one little touch from Mauricio. She went for a run and then showered and pretended that her week was starting like every other one. She had this. Of course, she’d broken up with Jackson and now had to find something to fill her hours, which made her feel exactly like the old biddies who thought she needed a man to be complete. It was just... Her sister was engaged and most of her friends were in long-term relationships, and it was hard being the third wheel all the time.

She went into her shop and took a moment to look around. The best part of coming back to Cole’s Hill was opening this place. She’d always known she wanted to do something artistic as an adult. After college, her career had taken her into brand marketing and graphic design, which was challenging and rewarding but had too many restrictions. She’d quickly realized she didn’t mind following a brief but hated having someone tell her exactly how to design a project.

But here at her art studio, she was finding her true calling. She still had a few clients in New York that she was working with until she could make this studio start to pay. Her sister, who was a CPA, had designed a long-term investment strategy for Hadley and so far it was going pretty well.

She had designed some lithographs of the surrounding Cole’s Hill area and had a commission to do the Abernathy ranch.

The bell on the door to her shop rang and she glanced over her shoulder to see Helena coming toward her with two thermal coffee mugs and a pastry box from the Bluebonnet Bakery. “I brought breakfast.”

Hadley leaned her hip against the back counter, eyeing her sister. “What do you want?”

“What makes you think I want something?”

“It’s not even nine and you’re in my shop with a bribe.”

“Maybe I just love my little sister,” Helena said, putting the box on the counter in front of Hadley and handing her the thermal mug that was emblazoned with #BRIDETRIBE. She took the mug and inhaled the aroma. A skinny vanilla latte. Her sister definitely wanted something.

“You could, but I haven’t known you to get out of bed this early unless you needed something,” she said. Helena was famous in their family as a late sleeper and ridiculously hard to wake up under normal circumstances.

“Well, I might need your help to run interference with Mother.”

Hadley took a sip of her latte and reached out to open the box. There were two cheese Danishes and a chocolate cake doughnut inside. Of course, Helena had brought her favorites so this must be serious.

“With what?” she asked.

“I had to ask Mom and Dad to put the deposit down on the flowers and now she’s trying to take over. I mentioned that you were the artsy one and had already designed the flowers for the church and the reception...”

“That doesn’t sound bad. I’m not sure you needed to bring the latte and the pastries to ask me to do your design. I was already planning to do it,” Hadley said.

“Great. Glad to hear it. Mom is going to be over later to give you some notes on how she’d like the church to look. You will need to make some time to go and visit with the pastor, as well as with Kinley. Now that Mom is on board, we’re going to have Kinley plan it.”

Kinley Caruthers was a local girl who’d moved to Vegas and landed a primo job with Jaqs Veerland. The Jaqs Veerland, who planned weddings for A-listers and European royalty. Kinley had come back to Cole’s Hill to plan former NFL bad boy Hunter Caruthers’s wedding. Kinley had a complicated history with Hunter’s brother Nate and after they got engaged Jaqs opened a satellite office here in town so Kinley could work in Cole’s Hill.

“What?” Now the pastries were making a bit more sense.

“Sorry, sis,” she said.