Sweet On You

chapter Twenty-four



It started out simple: Daniela invited Eve and Lola. But Eve brought Olivia, and Lola brought Gwen, and suddenly it was a party—on the floor of Daniela's unfinished showroom space.

Lola ran back to her apartment and brought a blanket, and Olivia contributed candles from her shop since Daniela still didn't have the lighting wired. Eve brought over champagne, and Gwen brought her happy laugh.

They sat on the floor, with a couple jackets piled around Olivia to help her get comfortable. Daniela eyed the woman's belly with awe and a little envy. Olivia was very pregnant—radiant the way women aspired to be. "Are you comfortable, Olivia?"

"I'm perfect." She smiled as she stretched her legs in front of her. "Although I'll be more comfortable when Sprout decides to make his appearance."

"I hope he decides to make his appearance after tonight," Lola said, handing over a glass of sparkling grape juice to Olivia. "Because I don't know how to birth babies, Miss Scarlet."

Grinning, Eve passed around champagne to the rest of them. "Maybe we should toast to long-term projects finally coming to fruition."

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Daniela looked around her pathetic showroom.

"When are you going to finish it?" Gwen asked. "I haven't seen anyone working in here for weeks."

"I'm having second thoughts."

Eve set down her glass abruptly. "You aren't leaving San Francisco, are you?"

"No." She shook her head vehemently. "I love it here. What I'm reconsidering is continuing baking."

"What would you do?" Eve asked.

She shook her head, not wanting to talk about her soup kitchen idea. Maybe it was as ridiculous as Tony said. "I had some ideas, but I have no idea. Sometimes things don't turn out the way you want."

"Uh-oh." Lola reached for a brownie. "This feels like a story involving a man."

"There is no man." She reached for a cookie and savagely bit into it, imagining it was Nico's head.

Gwen laughed. "You aren't fooling anyone here. You might as well give us the details."

"You'll feel better," Olivia said, accepting the cookie Eve handed her. "It'll get it out of your system faster."

"Which means you'll forgive him faster, and then you can get on to the make up sex." Lola winked at her.

"I'm not going to forgive him," she declared, downing her champagne and holding out her glass for more. "Nico Cruz is dead to me."

"You're so Italian sometimes." Eve refilled her glass. "But you obviously really like him, so at some point you have to be less Italian and forgive him a little."

"But it's totally okay to make his life hell first," Lola added.

"I threw a wine bottle at his head." She smiled grimly, still feeling the satisfaction of it. "An '82 Chateau Margaux."

Eve choked on her drink, and Gwen launched into raucous laughter. Lola looked at them, her brow furrowed. "I guess that's an expensive bottle of wine?"

"It's only like a couple thousand a bottle," Gwen said, wiping her eyes.

Daniela forgot that Gwen was heiress to one of France's most prestigious wineries. Gwen was always so unassuming, in her hippie chick clothing. But of course she'd know her wine.

"It was probably sacrilege to waste it like that, but it made me happy," Daniela said, reaching for a biscotti. "I had a glass before I threw it at him. It was delicious."

"What did he do that was so unconscionable?" Olivia asked.

She started to say that he stole the building that she wanted out from under her, only that wasn't what had her most angry. She didn't understand why he needed to buy it so badly, but the reason didn't matter. What upset her was that he hadn't been honest with her. The entire time they'd been together, he'd hid what he was doing, and that was what hurt. "He went behind my back."

Her friends didn't say anything, obviously waiting for more.

She shrugged. "I got angry because he didn't trust me enough to tell me what he was doing. I found out through a second party."

"And it chaffed, finding out from someone else." Lola nodded. "Classic conflict."

"The question now is, when are you going to forgive him?" Olivia said, popping another sweet in her mouth.

"Never," Daniela declared ruthlessly, even though her heart wilted a little at that prospect.

"Is that in your best interests?"

"I'd be happy if I never saw him again," she said viciously.

"Liar," Lola said with a smile. "If you didn't care about him, you wouldn't be so worked up."

Gwen leaned forward and fake-whispered, "You may even be in love with him."

"I refuse to love him." She set her glass down before she was tempted to throw it. "Especially an overbearing, macho man who pats me on the head and dismisses me instead of sharing important things with me."

"He's kind of like your brother, then," Eve stated.

They all looked at the blonde.

Eve shrugged. "She's told me about him, and he's been coming into the shop. I guess Marley must have told him we're friends, because he's been asking me about you."

"That bastard." If Tony were here, she wouldn't resist throwing her glass at him.

"He's confident to say the least, but he seems like he wants the best for you," Eve said. "He seemed worried, and it wasn't pretend-worry."

"Tony doesn't bother pretending." Daniela frowned. "He really asked about me?"

"Yes. I don't know him normally, but he seemed tired and worn out. And sad." Eve looked at him. "He said it's the first year your family isn't having Christmas together."

"Nonna used to host it. Now that she's gone and our parents are traveling, it's just the two of us. It hardly seems worth it." But it made her sad, nonetheless.

"There's something to be said for family," Gwen said, "even if they suck. Fortunately, not all family is biological."

"Hear, hear to that." Lola lifted her glass in a toast. "To new family and girl time, both of which are sacred."

"Happy holidays, ladies." Olivia raised her glass, too. "May you get your heart's desire."

"And lots of good loot," Lola added.

They all looked at her.

"What?" She took a cookie. "I may write romance, but I can be a realist sometimes."