Caleb walks out onto the patio and drops a thick file folder on the glass table.
Everything is signed. You're right. The spin works for me.
I nod and take a sip of my drink. Gage made me a liquid lunch. Daniel will pick up the kids from school. I don't plan to inflict this mess of myself on anyone.
His legs aren't moving. I am texting Lochlan who is a hundred feet away in the garage. I finally look up. Caleb asks if he can have a chair but I don't hear him the first time. I am looking at his face. Or rather, his head. I jump out of my chair and wobble and he grabs my arms.
Drinking in the middle of the day?
What in the hell did you do to your hair?
Your manners are terrible. How many have you had?
I sit back down. This lounge chair is my new best friend.
One but Gage made it. Now answer my question.
Gage clearly has as much of a problem as everyone else. And I didn't do anything. The sun. You're drinking.
You've lightened your hair. Your hair is now the exact color Cole's used to be.
It's always been the same, Bridget. Sometimes I think you invent the parts of your life that suit your odd little mind. Including making me darker and more sinister.
I laugh. Cole's eyes were darker.
And his hair was the same, Bridget. The same.
PJ comes out to see what's up. He probably got a text from Lochlan. I can feel Lochlan's gaze on me even though I can't see him.
Caleb. What's up.
Oh, hello. Nothing is up. I brought the demise of the company to her majesty's feet only to find she's shitfaced in the middle of the day.
Want my update, PJ?
Sure, doll. Lay it on me.
I am most definitely not drunk, and Caleb is now dying his hair so he can look even more like Cole. Only he's denying it for some stupid reason. Vanity, probably. He thinks he can make me seem drunk or delusional but he's outnumbered. And mistaken if he thinks being more like Cole is the way to go here.
So.....I should go see if Loch needs help?
Probably a good idea, yes.
PJ makes a hasty exit and Caleb pulls off his suit jacket. It's twenty-five degrees in the sun and he still needs to look as if he fell out of a GQ foldout. It works.
Cole never dressed up.
I know that.
He didn't even wear a suit to our wedding.
He led a different life, princess.
Yeah and you're not him. So STOP TRYING TO BE HIM, Okay?
Would you like another drink, princess?
Yeah. Maybe a double this time.
I'll go make one for you.
You do that.
He has not returned.
Yet, that is.
His suitjacket is still here. I should be drunk. That would be awesome.
