Still, I answered the phone with a smile. “Happy birthday. You’re up early.”
“I’m looking forward to our weekend together.”
I had taken off from the club for the whole weekend, and I had told James that we could do whatever he wanted. As long as it was free. “Me too. Do you want me to come over now?”
“No, I want you to open the door.”
Oh, he was outside my door. “Okay, I’m coming.”
I got out of bed, not bothering to put a robe on over the cotton panties I usually wore to bed. I figured a little morning delight was the perfect way to kick off his birthday weekend.
Then I opened the door and saw Paul standing there with a rolling suitcase.
I screamed and dropped the phone. The last thing I saw before I slammed the door was Paul’s eyes bugging.
When I picked up the phone again, James was laughing.
“That wasn’t you at the door,” I said.
“No, but I’m downstairs, and I saw everything. Just like Paul.” Another wave of laughter. I peeked out the window, and saw James standing next to his Mercedes, cracking up.
“I wish you had warned me that it was Paul out there.”
“If I had known you were going to answer the door buck naked . . . well, I probably would have done the exact same thing. That was hilarious.” More laughter.
“I’m glad you’re amused,” I said between clenched teeth. “Why is Paul at my door?”
“I sent him up to give you one of my rolling suitcases. We’re taking a little trip. You’ll need to pack two days’ worth of clothes, some flats for walking around, and maybe a dress for dinner.”
“That doesn’t sound free—”
My call waiting beeped. I looked and saw Russell’s name in the ID window. If he was calling this early in the morning, it probably meant that he wanted to have brunch. Russell was the king of asking people to hang out at the last minute. I pushed the ignore button. I’d call him later, after I figured out what James was up to.
“That doesn’t sound free,” I said again.
“It’s all free. Trust me. I’m playing by the rules.”
“I don’t know, James. A trip? Where are we going?”
“Whose birthday is it again?”
He had a point. “Yours,” I said.
“And how much do you love me?”
“Tons and tons. Universes and universes.” I sighed. “Okay, give me thirty minutes.”
. . .
I hadn’t been on a vacation for years. Nicky hadn’t been the vacationing type, and I had never had enough money to go anywhere special by myself.
Of course I had gone to Tijuana a couple of times with my college friends, but as anyone who grew up in California can tell you, Tijuana isn’t really a vacation. It’s more like a blurry rite of passage that leaves you with a bad hangover, and a lifelong revulsion for cheap tequila.
“You need to ask your boss for a raise,” I said to Paul, once I was settled into the backseat of the diesel Mercedes with James.
“No, it is I who should be paying him,” Paul said without missing a beat. His smiling eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. And James fell over laughing again.
I shook my head at him. “You’re lucky it’s your birthday.”
“I think it’s Paul’s birthday, too,” James said. That one cracked both him and Paul up.
. . .
Two hours and a lot of teasing later we arrived in Solvang, a town that’s most popular for being the wine country backdrop in the movie Sideways.
I had heard of postcard towns, but I had never seen one until we drove down Solvang’s storybook streets with their brick sidewalks, tasting rooms, quaint hobby shops, and Danish architecture. There were tourists everywhere.
“I figured you’d like it because it’s less of a scene than Napa,” James said.
“If it’s not a scene, how did you find out about it, Trust Fund?” I asked with a smile.