Jules and Cali pull out their phones, snapping quick selfies for social media and tapping away while I watch the waves as they curl over the rocks below.
Farther out, I spot several surfers making their way in with the tide. They’ve likely been out there grinding since four this morning, and here we are, barely alive at a quarter to ten like a bunch of brats.
Or teenage girls, I guess.
Speaking of barely alive...
The waiter arrives with a large glass pitcher that no doubt holds their best-stocked champagne and freshly squeezed orange juice.
As he sets three glasses down and prepares to fill them, I decline mine.
“Miss?” He frowns from me to Jules, assuming he did something wrong.
“Sorry, but can I have a hot latte instead?”
“Of course, Miss. What flavor would you like?”
Pushing back in my seat, I shrug. “Surprise me.”
He hesitates a moment, as if he heard me wrong, but when I nod, he bows, quickly disappearing inside the restaurant.
Once we order, it’s no more than fifteen minutes and our food is brought out.
“So, should we park at the south end of the plaza, make our way down to the other end, and have valet cart us back to the car with our bags?” Cali pushes the last bit of egg whites around her plate with a fork.
“Makes sense to me, we’re going for clothes, not jewelry and handbags.”
“Speak for yourself.” Jules grins. “I could use a new pair of earrings.”
Cali smiles, but shakes her head. “Jameson is right, besides, if you wanted to look at jewelry, you should have invited Dax to come with.”
“So true.” Jules tops off her glass with a giggle.
I can tell by the end of breakfast, today is going to be a freaking marathon. These girls are tipsy and ready to max out their cards, with today’s limit anyway. If I would have joined them, they would have gone for refill after refill, and we’d be ditching my car here, waiting for Cali’s car service to arrive and head back to one of our houses, our shopping trip forgotten in favor of flirty ‘fun.’
Once we’ve paid and are leaving the table, the waiter brings me a second latte to go and we’re off to do some damage at the South Coast Plaza.
It takes less than fifteen minutes to arrive, and we’re walking into the center within twenty.
“Oh, I was going to ask about the party Wednesday.” Jules pulls her phone out, checking her lipstick in the camera. “Was anything missing after the power went out?”
My drink freezes at my lips as I look from Jules to Cali.
Uh, yeah. Me.
“Nope. I searched that baby high and low, and everything seemed to be in place. Maybe Miss Skeptic’s ‘innocent until proven guilty’ was right.” She cuts a grin my way. “Maybe they aren’t thieves after all,” she mocks me. “Just psychos.”
I scoff but look the other way in case a questioning squint is thrown my way.
Little does she know, joke’s on her.
Or maybe it’s on me since it was me they took.
“Okay, first stop!” Jules runs ahead, slipping through the open door of Brunello Cucinelli.
The next few hours are a blur of black cards and bag balancing.
I press the small help button on the inside of the dressing room that rivals the size of my own at home, and it takes less than a minute for the woman to knock her knuckle on the thick, wooden door. After letting her know the size adjustment and swap I would like, she promptly returns with said item in hand, and passes it off to me.
“Last one in this color, Miss.” She smiles, her cheeks flushed.
Not five seconds after the door is closed behind me does Cali’s voice reach me.
“Girl, we’re going to scan over the shoes!” Cali shouts from outside the dressing room.
“I’m almost done, meet you over there!”
Carefully freeing the dress from its hanger, I tug the deep gray, thick strapped number over my hips and spin my body while keeping my head facing the three panel mirrors to see if it hugs in all the right places.
It’s cute, form-fitting, but still, even in this shade, there’s something about it that’s not quite right.
I unzip and free my arms from the straps.
“That ain’t the one.”
I yelp, whipping around at the intruder’s voice, but as the mirrors had already revealed, no one is there.
And then large hands grip the upper frame, a body slipping between the gap as another glides beneath it, all while I remain frozen in