So did I. And having Zoe’s work in here would be spectacular. I’d admired her work since forever. She was a legend, and I’d spent countless hours studying everything she did as I’d honed my own artistic techniques. Getting to see some of her work in person? Being in a position to gush about it to a potential buyer? Meeting Zoe Neelan in the flesh? Wow. Just wow. This was a dream come true in so many ways.
A week or so away from my ex? A pilgrimage to the studio of an amazing artist? Spending several days with my friend?
All of that was almost enough to make me forget that Armin’s girlfriend had a problem with me.
Almost.
Chapter 3
Armin
“I know it’s totally a racket to encourage us to buy cars,” I said, sliding into the driver’s seat of our shiny black Chevy Trailblazer, “but you gotta love the fact that they always give us brand new rides with all the bells and whistles.”
Marques laughed as he buckled his seat belt. “And you got the full coverage, right? So we can bring it back all fucked-up without getting charged?”
“I did, but we still better bring it back in pristine condition.” I grimaced. “Dad finds out we got so much as a ding from a rock and he’ll have heart failure.”
“What? Since when is he so—oh. Right. Precious cargo.”
I chuckled. “Exactly. I wonder if I should ask my brother if my dad has ever been this obsessive about him and my sister-in-law driving my niece around.”
Marques made a face. “You really want to start that?”
“Hey, Christmas dinner gets boring sometimes now that my mom has banned politics from the table.” I shrugged and started the engine. “Gotta get the sparks flying somehow.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “You know, sometimes it’s hard to believe that I thought your mom was lying when she told me you were the troublemaker of the family.”
“Pfft. Please.” I pulled out of the parking space and headed for the garage’s exit. “I’m a troublemaker in the family. I’m not the troublemaker.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
I just laughed. The jury was still out on which of the three of us had given our mother the most gray hair, but we’d all been pains in the ass in our own ways. That hadn’t changed much now that we were adults, though my sisters-in-law kept my brothers in line. Sometimes. My parents were still holding out on someone to keep me in line.
That thought brought my humor down a few notches as I pulled out of the garage and into the whipping wind and driving rain. My mom had started dropping hints over the past year that Tanya and I had been dating for a while. We were living together. Wasn’t it time to think about…?
Ugh. Fuck me. I hadn’t proposed on Tanya’s birthday, and now Christmas was starting to close in. Once the stores dropped the Halloween décor and started putting up red and green, my mom’s side-eyes would start getting less subtle. Was she the one who’d put me on the mailing list for a couple of local jewelry stores? Or had that been Tanya? Whatever the case, I got an email blast any time someone was having a big sale on diamonds, solitaires, bridal sets…
I bit back a groan. I wouldn’t be proposing on Christmas. If Tanya and I did end up getting married, it wouldn’t be until after we’d figured out—and fixed—whatever was causing so much tension between us. And with the way my mind kept brushing up against a very different (and permanent) solution to our problems…
My heart sank.
No, I wasn’t going to think about that now. Tanya and I would probably fight after I got home from this trip. She’d grudgingly backed down, and she’d been somewhat more agreeable about it last night after I’d explained (again) why Marques and I needed to go. She knew how badly Dad wanted to get his hands on a Zoe Neelan piece, and how good this collection would be for the gallery. She just wasn’t happy about how we were going about getting that collection back to Virginia Beach, and neither of us could come up with a compromise that didn’t involve telling Dad to find someone else for this trip. By the time I got home, she’d either be itching to fight about it again, or she’d have moved on from it, and I wasn’t sure which option made me feel guiltier.
I shook myself and glanced at