Chris glowered on the way back home that evening. We rode in silence to the penthouse. I stared out the window of the limo at the blur of city lights, counting down the days until this awful marriage would finally be over.
Once we returned, Chris disappeared in his study while I changed and brought out my laptop. It was late, but I needed to work on my book. The coffee-table book was going to be all about weddings and wedding planning. I had selected all my best photographs, and each chapter would be about some element of the planning.
“If you’re going to sell more than three copies of that book,” Gran said, padding up to me, “you should take a bunch of pictures of half-naked me. That would fly off the shelves!”
“People like weddings,” I protested.
Gran snorted. “They like their own weddings.”
I chewed on my lip.
“Maybe I can market this as more of a wedding planning guide, you know, with aspirational images.”
“Yawn. Needs more naked men. Why don’t you take a few pictures of your hunky husband?”
“I am not spending any more time with him than necessary.”
“You need to turn on the charm! Zeus has finally gotten settled. You can’t be a bad houseguest. We’ll be thrown out on the street!”
“Chris and I have a deal,” I assured her. “We’re not going out on the street as long as you don’t cook candles in his kitchen.”
“Pshaw! I have literally never seen him use that kitchen. He has stacks of pre-made meals in the fridge.”
Gran snapped her fingers. The parrot snoozing on her shoulder squawked, “Time for breakfast!”
“Yes! A romantic breakfast for two. Well, four,” Gran amended, “but Zeus and I will sit on the porch and leer through the window.”
“I’m not cooking for that man-baby.” I crossed my arms.
“Grace! I cannot live on the streets!” she said dramatically, “I have grown accustomed to luxury.”
24
Chris
I paced around my study.
Eric: Heard you killed it at the TechBiz event!
Josh: Let me know when you get the checks from Nancy and Horace. I’ll break out the champagne.
Eric: Guess it’s a good thing you married Grace after all, huh?
Chris: I don’t think she’s all that happy with me.
Josh: You better up your game, dude! She does all those fussy high-society weddings. If she starts badmouthing you, the women will talk, and poof goes any investment in your hedge fund.
They were right. I shouldn’t have been such a dick to Grace. But Addison—Grace was going to be spending all that time with her, and I was sure my ex would fill her head with the same gold-digger nonsense that had almost cost me my empire.
Chris: Grace was buddy-buddy with She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.
Josh: She’s probably just putting up with her because she signs her checks.
Eric: You’re too paranoid. Grace isn’t like that.
My father certainly had thought so.
I loosened my bow tie and leaned against the edge of my desk, sipping a scotch.
Grace promised she wasn’t going to screw you over.
She cared about her business and her friends, that much was clear. I needed to do the right thing for my business and make sure Grace only had good things to say about me the next time she ran into Nancy Holbrook and Horace.
I rubbed my hands together.
“Tomorrow,” I told myself, “we’re turning over a new leaf. We will commence Operation Put Grace on Team Chris.”
I hadn’t expected to put my operation into play so early in the morning, however.
The upbeat music woke me up, and I fumbled around for my alarm clock.
“What the hell?” I muttered, swinging my legs off the bed, draping the comforter around me as I stumbled down the hall, wincing at the pulsing music.
“Lift that thigh high!” Grace’s grandmother called out as she spryly copied the moves from a nineteen-eighties Jane Fonda workout video. The parrot was also hopping around, trying to mimic the aerobic exercise moves. Grace was having a much harder time. She was huffing and puffing in yoga pants and a tight crop top that gave me the type of view I wouldn’t mind waking up early every morning to see.
I rubbed my eyes.
“I must still be drunk,” I said.
Grace saw me standing there and screamed, wrapping her arms around herself.
Her grandmother continued to do her high kicks, her spandex-clad leg going all the way up to hip height.
“Grace, you would have an easier time of it,” her grandmother yelled over the music, “if you didn’t sit in a chair in front of your computer all day.”