accent and manners. The younger women resented her ease and charm.
Megan’s cutting sense of humor was so lightly applied that Toni knew most of the women didn’t even realize they were the butt of a joke. More than one walked away from Megan, smiling but with an edge of uncertainty.
Toni could sense their confusion from six feet away.
During one lull in the traffic, Toni shook her head and said quietly, “This place is exhausting.”
“You’re telling me.”
“No, I mean empathically, it’s exhausting. Nothing about the outside of these people matches the inside. I have never been more grateful for my oversharing family.”
“Ha! I want to meet your family sometime. They sound like a hoot.” Megan smiled and waved at someone walking in with a group of men in business suits. “I should talk to her before I leave.”
“Who’s that?”
“Pamela Martin. She strikes me as a good egg. Events director of the club. She’s all business. If I’m going to have any kind of event-planning business, I need to get on her list.”
“How’s all that going?”
“It’s going okay, but what I’m discovering is that a lot of the event planning in this area is driven by location. Most venues have their own planners, and people don’t always think about hiring an independent coordinator of their own even though it would probably save them money.”
“Oh, I see what you mean. So if someone wanted to have a wedding here at the club, they’d call that Pamela lady—”
“Exactly. And she’d coordinate the food and flowers and all that. Most of the wineries are the same way. But when you do that, you’re kind of stuck with whoever the club or the winery likes for services.”
“Interesting.” Toni wasn’t too interested in fancy events, but she did enjoy talking about business. “I don’t think Nico has an event planner.”
“Does he have a good venue?”
“Oh yeah. There’re two houses on the winery, and they’re both Mediterranean. Nico and the kids live in the larger one, and they rent out the smaller one for events. But there’s a big formal Italian garden that my grandmother planned from the ground up. It’s gorgeous. They’ve hosted parties and stuff, but it’s like you were talking about—planners just hire the location. The winery doesn’t really do anything except provide the wine.”
“Interesting.” Megan seemed to be mulling something over. “I wonder—”
“Katherine’s here. Thank God.” Toni flexed her ankles. “These shoes are killing me.”
Megan looked down. “You’re wearing kitten heels.”
“I know.” Compared to the work boots she normally wore, they were excruciating. “This place better have a decent spread. I am starving.”
Katherine was looking around the formal dining room of the country club with wide eyes. “This is fascinating.”
Megan smiled. “This is why I got us a table in the corner. I knew she was going to enjoy the people watching.”
Toni was unimpressed. “Looks like a whole bunch of fancy jerks to me, sprinkled with a few genuinely nice old people.”
“The relationships and power dynamics though…” Katherine pointed to a table full of women in the center of the room. “I’ve been counting the number of people who approach that table and noting how long they stay in relation to other tables in the room, and I can say that the women there definitely display the most overtly powerful social influence.”
“Queen bees,” Megan whispered. “You’re exactly right.”
“And who is the woman we’re investigating?”
“Marissa,” Toni said. “She’s about two tables to the right of the queen bees. Dark hair and a plum-colored dress.” She craned her neck and caught Marissa’s eye. Toni gave her a fake smile and lifted a hand. Marissa gave her an equally fake smile and waved politely.
“Interesting.” Katherine narrowed her eyes. “That’s very interesting.”
“Why?”
“I noticed her earlier. She’s watching the room the same way we are.” Katherine shrugged. “Well, she’s probably not as acutely aware of the social dynamics from an outside perspective, but she’s definitely observing.” Katherine’s eyes went momentarily distant and she froze.
Toni looked at Megan. “Is she having a vision right now?”
“I think so,” Megan murmured, sipping the mimosa that came with the brunch buffet. “Just leave her.”
Katherine’s eyes fell closed, and Toni could see her eyes darting back and forth as if she was in a dream. A few seconds later, her eyes opened and she reached for Toni’s hand. “There’s going to be a scene. In a few minutes, you should go to the ladies’ restroom. Marissa is going to run in there, and she’ll be upset.”
Seconds later, Toni saw Poppy Carmichael, one of the