to schedule your colonic, Victor.” This was a teachable moment where she should explain to him that scheduling colonics was not part of a publicist’s duties, nor should he pay her going rate for that task. But she was too worried about the red pieces and Victor had proven so far to be pretty unteachable. She sank onto a stool at the bar. “You’ve just thrown a wrench into all my plans. I’m going to have to redo everything, and your colonic is the last thing I’m going to deal with.”
“You know what? You should really get one,” he suggested, pointing a fork at her. “You seem a little uptight and, trust me, a colonic will clear you out in more ways than one.”
“Eew,” Carly said, wrinkling her nose. “I really don’t want to have this—”
“Hel-looh!”
Carly froze, midsentence. Please, no.
Hazel and Baxter began to bark and raced to the front door to confront this intruder. For the life of her, Carly didn’t understand their logic.
“Mind if I heat this up?” Victor asked, oblivious to the intruder. He’d already put the dish in the microwave. She wouldn’t be completely surprised if he tossed a salad next.
“Carly! Why are there two basset hounds?” her mother called before appearing in the living area, sailing in with the dogs trotting on either side of her. She was dressed in tennis togs, which seemed an odd choice for a woman who didn’t play tennis. But that was typical of Carly’s mother—she liked to assume personae she didn’t actually inhabit in real life. And she always managed to get away with it.
Evelyn Kennedy was a pretty and petite woman, with hair still a buttery shade of blond, and a figure that looked like she couldn’t possibly have given birth to three children more than twenty-five years ago. She had the same blue eyes as Carly, but that was where the similarities ended between mother and daughter, both in physical features and in personality. Carly was four inches taller and had a figure her mother had once said was good for childbearing. Carly also had big ambitions in life and didn’t care who knew—she was very direct in her approach to her goals. Her mother had ambitions, too, but took a more passive-aggressive route to achieving them.
Her mother bent down to pet the dogs, then walked up to the kitchen bar and spread her hands wide, leaning forward. “Isn’t anyone going to introduce me to the nice young man in your kitchen?” she trilled.
Oh no. Carly wanted to die—her mother had met Victor before. “Mom!” Carly said with a nervous giggle. “You remember Victor Allen. You met him, remember? He’s my fashion designer client.”
“Oh!” Her mother laughed. “Is that who you are.”
Victor closed the door to the microwave. “That’s okay, Ms. Kennedy. Fashion designers all look alike.” He turned around to get his fork.
Carly took the opportunity to shoot her mother a dark look. Predictably, her mother didn’t see it. “Well, I’m not surprised I didn’t recognize you, Victor—your hair is many different colors and much bigger than the last time we met.”
“That’s because I put some product in it to make it stand up,” Victor said. He pressed the start button to heat the lasagna. Carly’s mother looked at her, raised her eyebrows, and not so subtly jerked her chin in Victor’s direction, as if she was the one who was offended.
“So!” Carly said brightly. “What brings you here, Mom?”
“Do I need a reason to see my daughter? I wanted to make sure you were all right. I haven’t seen much of you lately, and, by the look of things, I arrived not a moment too soon. What has happened to your hair, sweetie?”
“I haven’t dressed yet,” Carly said through gritted teeth. “And I never see you because you are hardly ever home, remember?”
“You know, that’s true. I’ve been terribly busy these last few weeks. It’s amazing how emancipating divorce can be.”
She wasn’t kidding—after forty years of marriage, Mom was sowing some major oats. As in, doing the walk of shame fairly regularly and bragging about it afterward to her friends and daughters.
Evelyn Kennedy had announced one day to Carly, Mia, and their brother, Trace, that she was not going to wait for life to come to her, she was going to go find it. “I’ve watched the three of you grow into confident people who go after what they want. Well, I’m going to do the same.” And she’d begun in earnest, joining all kinds