Page 105 of The VIP Doubles Down

“And you think I could do that?” Allie was startled by the confidence these two women had in her.

Chloe gave her a firm look. “The only people who can answer that question are you and Gavin.”

“Here’s to the return of Julian!” Nathan held up his beer bottle.

Luke tapped his against it, but Gavin turned and touched his bottle to the wooden paneling of Nathan’s man cave. “For God’s sake, don’t jinx me.”

“You’re more superstitious than an NHL goalie,” Luke said. “And they’re really weird.”

“What brought Julian back?” Nathan asked, settling back in a huge brown leather chair set beside a blazing fire.

Gavin didn’t hesitate. “Allie.”

Nathan’s eyebrows slanted upward in surprise. “Physical therapy breaks down writer’s block?”

“She’s a woman of many talents, and one of them is being a muse.” Gavin sipped the beer.

“Don’t muses wear floaty white dresses and dance around with harps?” Luke asked.

“Those are Greek muses. Mine’s a West Virginian,” Gavin said. “She comes with a cat who vomits on car rides.”

“You brought her cat?” Now Luke looked surprised.

Gavin shrugged. “She wouldn’t leave New York without it. Withouther. The cat’s a female.”

Nathan and Luke looked at each other. Nathan cleared his throat. “I hear you’re not a fan of Allie’s dress for the ball tonight.”

Gavin was beginning to see where the conversation was headed, so he gave Nathan a bland look. “Once she demonstrated that it wasn’t completely transparent, I had no problem with it. Would you want your date wearing slightly cloudy Saran wrap?”

Luke coughed. “Do you remember calling me an idiot?”

“Many times,” Gavin said, but he remembered exactly the occasion Luke was referring to. After Luke had thrown Miranda’s declaration of love back in her face, Gavin had told him what he thought of Luke’s intelligence ... or lack of it. Gavin shoved up from the sofa where he’d sprawled. He was damned if he was going to let Luke give him advice about his personal life.

“No,” Luke said. “You’ve called me an ass, a jerk, and a dumb jock, but you only called me an idiot once. I’m considering doing you the same favor.”

“I believe I said you werenota dumb jock,” Gavin said, trying to derail the discussion before he had to be truly offensive. He leaned against the mantel and cast around for a topic that would deflect the persistent ex-quarterback’s attention from Allie. “By the way, I hired your friend Ron Escobar to do some investigating for me.” Too late he realized that he had opened himself up to more questions.

“Investigating what?” Luke asked.

“My mother’s whereabouts.” He tried to say it casually.

The silence indicated that no one had taken it that way. Which was the disadvantage of having perceptive friends. Or any friends at all.

“That’s quite a change of heart,” Nathan said.

“I found some cards she sent me after she left, cards that my coldhearted rat bastard of a father withheld from me.” He held each man’s gaze with his own for a long moment. “And don’t mouth any platitudes about not speaking ill of the dead. My father made me believe that my mother had abandoned me without a backward glance.”

“I’m not arguing with your evaluation,” Nathan said.

Luke’s expression had gone grim, and he nodded his agreement. “How did you find them?”

“My stepsister sent them to me. She was cleaning out my father’s old papers in the attic and unearthed them.” Gavin had no idea where Ruth had come across the cards, but it sounded plausible. No need to mention who had been with him when he opened the cards.

“I’m sorry, man.” Luke lifted his beer again, this time in a gesture of sympathy. “That’s a hell of a thing to discover so many years later. I hope Ron finds your mother.”

“I like to think that even my father wouldn’t have been so cruel as not to tell me if she had died, but—” Gavin shrugged.

“You’ll find her,” Nathan said. “You’ll make it right.”