"If you dress like you're attending a cookout, you'll endure the wrath alone."
Part of me wanted to do that. Attending his father's precious garden party in jeans and a t-shirt just so I could see Nolan Senior's face would be fun. But since I made myself a spectacle yesterday, that would only come back to bite my reputation in the ass, and not his.
I looked over the banquet of food and snatched a dinner roll. The warm bun stretched as I pulled it apart and sweet when I took a bite. "So what's it about?" I asked after I washed down the pastry with juice.
He jerked his shoulders. "For all I know, my father just wants to be around people. He can be like that sometimes."
The party was being held in the back garden of the sprawling famous Hamptons estate. Infamous, in my view. This is the place where all the bad things about Carey and me happened. I hated it. When we arrived, the party was already in full swing. Carey was right, all of New York's elites were here. Some of which I met the previous night. I wondered if they never tired of all the partying, but judging from their enthusiasm, it seems like not.
Carey's stepmother was the first person to greet us when we arrived. She was an elegant woman who intimidated me without saying a word. Jacqueline scanned me over with her judging gaze as we made our way to her and turned up her nosedisapprovingly. I had failed whatever test of hers as soon as I arrived. "You're late," she said to Carey, but it sounded as though she was blaming me.
"You informed us last minute," Carey said, his arm going around my waist as though it was an unconscious reaction to shielding me from her. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought he was defending me. "If I had known you were hosting, we wouldn't have gone to a fundraiser yesterday."
"Ah yes, the fundraiser were you threw a bunch of money for a couple of tickets. Your generosity is the talk of the party."
Carey tightened his grip. "It was for a good cause. You should try giving away money sometimes instead of just taking it."
Jacqueline rolled her eyes. "Your father is the one with the money, not I. He's been looking for you all day. Go see him as soon as possible."
Once more, Carey squeezed my waist. Not enough to hurt, but enough for me to know that he was holding back his emotions. A server who came at that moment and took Jacqueline away, telling her they were running out of wine.
"You don't seem happy to be here," I said to Carey as we strolled around the garden.
"Look over there," he jerked his chin towards a group of three men standing in a circle. One, the oldest of them, was familiar. The other two men who looked to be in their forties were not. "Why are they here?"
"The governor?" I assumed his father knew him and they were friends. He was at our wedding, after all.
"The governor. And his campaign manager. Rumor has it he's retiring after his term ends, so why would he be walking around with his campaign manager if he wasn't planning on running again?"
I felt a weight drop in the pit of my stomach. "Maybe they found each other here."
"They both just happened to be invited by my father at a non-political gathering."
"It could be a coincidence."
He turned to face me. "When it comes to my father, there are no coincidences. You, of all people, should know."
"Carey…" His words were like a dagger to the chest.
"Am I wrong?"
"Carey!" someone called from behind us. It was the other Nolan. His eldest brother strolled to us with a bright smile and arms wide open. "You're late to your own party? That's one way of making a statement, I guess."
Carey frowned. "My party? Dad only told me about this, like early morning. I had no idea these people would be here." He leaned over to his brother. "Like, what's the governor doing here?"
It was Nolan Jr's turn to frown. "I thought you knew? Oh no. This is an ambush, isn't it?"
"What ambush?"
Nolan Jr turned to me. "You didn't tell him?"
"Excuse me?" I had no idea what was going on, and the implication that I did rocked me off my axis. Carey looked at me with suspicion, but before I could tell him I was as blind as he was, his father joined us. Nolan Sr was like an older clone of the younger Nolan. When they stood side by side, one could see that there were minor differences between the older gentleman and his oldest son. What separated them apart besides the wrinkles and gray hair was the harshness of his face that the son Nolan Jr didn't have.
"You've finally made it," Nolan Sr said to Carey. He gave him a handshake and practically acted as though I didn't exist as he continued on. "I was starting to think you weren't coming."
Carey crossed his arms. "Care to tell me what's going on here?"
"You think something suspicious is going on?"
