My Life as a Holiday Album (My Life as an Album #5) - L.J. Evans Page 0,108

chuckling. I hit him on the shoulder.

“I’m not laughing at you, I swear.” But he was still laughing, and I hit him several more times before he gripped my hand and stopped me. “I’m just thinking about how Mayson is going to react to that. Cousin-for-a-cousin, eye-for-an-eye kind of thing.”

“God, you really are immature sometimes.”

His laughter died, and I felt like an ass because of his whole “I’m trying to be the better man” thing, which had started the whole discussion.

“When does Cole leave for Europe? I thought he had the whole movie thing going on?” Ty asked.

“He does. But he’s going to Ireland for a few weeks. He says he’ll skip over some of the movie stuff and take me wherever I want to go.”

“He has the money to do that?”

It was something we had to worry about. Our whole damn family had more money than we knew what to do with. Charities and donations only went so far, and Daddy kept making platinum records on top of the money Mama pulled in at the dealership. We had trust accounts with more in them than most people had in their retirement accounts. I knew for a fact it was why Daddy had flipped out over Eliza eloping. It was because she’d done it without financial protection.

“He’s not trying to ride on my coattails,” I said quietly.

Ty nodded, but I could tell it wasn’t the last I’d hear about it.

Maleena came down the hall wearing Ty’s shirt and a pair of leggings. She grabbed Ty’s coffee cup and took a sip. “What are you all doing up so early?” she asked.

“Just visiting,” I said.

She really looked at me, eyes squinting. “Isn’t that the outfit you were in last night before you left mysteriously?”

Ty started laughing. I grabbed my coffee cup and moved down the hall.

“I think you should go for it, Ginny,” Ty hollered after me.

I just waved and headed for the shower.

♫ ♫ ♫

I pulled at the hem of my dress as I climbed off the ladder for the last time. Edie wasn’t coming until close to the party time, but I’d wanted to make sure everything she saw was perfect. She’d been looking out for us for so long it felt like this was the least we could do for her. Make sure her plan went off without a hitch.

I stood back and assessed the Happy New Year and Happy 50th signs I’d adjusted. Much better. At least their crookedness wouldn’t drive me batty all night long.

The door opened, and I sighed as Phil entered. I was not in the mood to deal with him. I didn’t want him to get his gross cigarette and over-the-top cologne scent on my dress. He looked around the room, mouth a little open in shock.

“Wow. This looks fantastic,” he said as he approached.

I moved so that one of the round tables was between us. Every time he moved, I moved a little farther around, futzing with the table settings, the flowers, and the little metallic-striped bonbon boxes Edie had ordered ages ago.

“Thanks for letting us use the space,” I told Phil.

“I think I need to hire you to plan all my events.”

“Edie did most of it. I just put it all together for her.”

“The floors look damn good,” he said, looking down, and I took the opportunity to put another table between us.

“Cole did it for me, but yeah.”

“Shit. I feel like I need to pay you somehow.” He eyed me up and down, and I regretted my tight, gold and black lace dress when, before, I’d only been excited to see Cole’s reaction to me in it.

Phil’s eyes when he got back to my face were just creepy again.

There was a knock on the door, and I headed for it, unsure who would have been knocking instead of coming straight in. When I got there, it was the DJ with some of his amps in his hands.

“Wasn’t sure if it was open,” he said. I stepped back to let him inside. “Wow,” he breathed out, stopping to look at the room, and I took a moment to do it as well. It really looked fantastic. Edie had outdone herself. The metallic of the linens and place settings was offset by the vibrant purples and lavenders from the flowers. It was gorgeous.

“Where do you want me to set up?”

I headed to the corner where the room started to slope down. “Do you think you can set up here? This way we