Page 117 of Consummation


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“Did you get it?” I whisper. “Hey, that just sounded like we’re doing a drug deal, huh?”

Louise giggles and looks covertly across the room at her daughter. “It came in yesterday—and it’sgorgeous.” She fishes into her purse and pulls out a ring box and then palms it to me like she’shanding me a kilo of hashish. “It’s sized and polished and ready to go.”

“Thanks for picking it up for me. I’ve been crazy-busy this past week.”

“Oh, honey, it was my pleasure. Plus, it was safer this way—it would have been terrible if Miss Busy-Body somehow intercepted the delivery at your house.” Louise glances at Kat across the room again. “Just a little warning for you—Kat’s peeked at every single Christmas present I’ve ever gotten for her. She unwraps the gift and then rewraps it and puts it back under the tree.” Louise rolls her eyes. “Kat doesn’t know I know she does that, by the way, so don’t tell her I know. This year, I’m gonna beat her at her own game and put a wrapped box of hemorrhoid cream under the tree for her to peek at—that ought to teach her a lesson about peeking.”

I chuckle. “Now I see where she gets that little dash of evil I love so much.” I slip the box into my pocket. “Thank you again.”

“Aren’t you gonna look at it? It’s beautiful, Josh. Gives me chills every time I look at it.”

Carefully, taking great care not to let anyone around me see what I’m doing, I open the box a tiny crack, just enough to confirm it contains the engagement ring Louise and I picked out for Kat on our highly enjoyable shopping trip together last week.

“Wow,” I say. “It’s incredible.”

“Just be prepared—Kat’s gonna lose her mind when you give this to her. Like, seriously, honey, she’s going to go completely ballistic on you. Just be ready to scrape her off the floor.”

“Oh, God, I pray you’re right,” I say. “If Kat says anything but hell yes, you’ll have to scrapemeoff the floor, and not in a good way.”

Louise touches my forearm. “Why on earth would Kat say no? She loves you.”

I shrug. “Unexpected things have happened to me before, Lou. Bad things. I’m kind of used to getting blindsided by life.”

Louise’s face melts. “Oh, honey. No. Kat loves you. She’s having your baby. For God’s sake, she’ll say yes.”

“But you heard her: ‘Marriage just isn’t in the cards for us.’”

Louise snorts. “Oh, please. Kat’s full of it and we both know it.”

I grin. “I sure hope so.”

“Josh, I know so. I’m her mother. Trust me.”

I give Louise a quick hug. “Thank you again.” I pause. “Momma Lou.”

Louise blushes. “Oh my gosh, Ilovethe sound of that!” She giggles. “Although, I must admit, Thomas is right—it does sound a bit like I run a soup kitchen in the South, doesn’t it?” She giggles again, reminding me of Kat for the millionth time. “Don’t tell Thomas I said he’s right, by the way—I wouldn’t want him to get a big head.”

“I’ll never tell.”

“Josh.”

I turn around. It’s Theresa.

“Jonas asked me to come get you. He wants you to join the interview. He saysplease.” She motions across the room to where Jonas is still talking to that same reporter. He’s feigning comfort quite well from the looks of him, but I know him well enough to know he’s dying on the inside.

I chuckle. “Okay. Josh to the rescue. Bye, Louise. Thanks again.”

“My pleasure. Keep us posted.”

“Will do.”

I cross the room quickly and help Jonas finish up his interview, much to his obvious relief, and when that’s over, Jonas disappears into the crowd to find Sarah.

I scan the room looking for Kat and spot her talking to her family—looks like I’ve still got some time—so I survey the place, searching for Henn.Boom. He’s talking with Hannah and Sarah, and when I catch his eye, I motion for him to meet me in a quiet corner behind one of the rock walls.

“Hey, man,” I say, bro-hugging Henn when he reaches me. “Thanks for coming today. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it,” Henn says. “Plus, it gave me an excuse to come see Hannah.”