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“They’re gawking at us.”
“Oh, that’s probably my fault. The blonde was being a bitch, so I put her in her place.”
“Isn’t that Jasmine Esperanza? Her husband is the richest man in Nashville.”
I shrug because I truly don’t care. No one has compared to Raeann since I met her, and I’m pretty sure Jasmine has hit on me before. If I’m not mistaken, she and her husband have an arrangement where he likes to watch.
Not me. I would never stand for someone else touching my spouse. Even right now, I don’t like Raeann being in the same vicinity as those vultures. As if they’ll taint her purity.
I urge her to walk with me to a separate part of the room. A few people say hello, but I make it obvious that we don’t want conversation right now, and soon, we’re off in the corner, alone.
“How’s it really going?” I ask her.
“Fine.”
I bring out a few dog treats that I brought from home. I bought a couple of bags and tucked them away for the first time they come to my place. “May I?” I ask Raeann, showing off the bone-shaped chews on my palm.
She nods, eyes shining with clear approval.
Athena eagerly chews them up as I stare at Raeann. “How are we ever going to move past the niceties if you won’t tell me something real?”
“Something real?”
“Like, how do you feel now that people know your name? That you and Athena are invited to parties like this?”
“Scared, actually.”
“I get that. It can be intimidating.”
She peers around the room, her shoulders tensing. “I just like to be in my room back home, dreaming about some design I’m going to make. Or chilling and watching a movie with Tab.”
“You two must be close.”
She nods. “She’s been my first and only roommate since Athena and I moved to Nashville. She was the only person I contacted who had a room available that would allow Athena to live with us, and she’s been the best.”
“And now you’re business partners?”
“And now we’re business partners,” she confirms. “And best friends.”
“That’s a big move,” I press. I don’t know what I expect: Her to come out with the whole story about her dad? She doesn’t. “It was terrifying. But Tab’s been great. If it weren’t for her, Pet Threads wouldn’t even be a thing.”
Okay, noted. She doesn’t mind talking about Pet Threads, Tab, Athena. Those are her conversation safe zones.
But I want under all of that. I want the nitty-gritty fears and wishes. I want the parts of Raeann she’d rather keep hidden.
Peggy taps her fork against the side of a champagne flute to get everyone’s attention and then asks us all to sit for the meal before the festivities begin. Disappointment pulls my body taut. This was the first real conversation we’d ever had, and now it’s been interrupted.
No matter. I hold my arm out for Raeann to take, and then I lead her to one of the circular tables. We take our seats, Raeann telling Athena to sit and place. It isn’t long before she lies down, her eyes drooping closed.
“Please take a look at the cards at each place setting,” Peggy continues over the murmur of people getting settled. “It lists the items up for auction. I think you’ll find at least one particularly interesting.”
I expect Raeann to at least scan the place card with the information, but she doesn’t. The anticipation grows, but we go all through dinner without her even taking a peek.
It takes me a minute to realize that she’s used to not looking at things like that. Why would she when she’s never had the money before?
We finish dessert, and when I spy Peggy talking with one of the hotel personnel, I turn toward Raeann while pulling my wallet out.
“I’m going to need you to do me a favor.”