Page 23 of Menage a Passions
“Wah!No!”
“You hear that?” Jane gestured to Caitlyn. “You made her exclaim something in Cantonese. She’s supposed to be practicing her English. And her French, I guess.”
“Jane,” Caitlyn said while Rebecca distracted herself with her camera roll, “I’m trying to have a serious conversation about this. If it’s going to be that big of a problem, I still have time to pull out of the pageant and let them find someone else. But if I’m doing it, I have to go make arrangements now. Besides…” She picked up her utensils, cutting into her porkchop. “I won’t be alone those first couple of weeks. Izzy will be there as we go straight into training, and I bet my mom would love to come out if she’s not too busy.”
“I’m not worried about your safety, love,” Jane said. “I was more worried about you being lonely.”
“I won’t be lonely. I’ll be losing my mind from dieting, exercising, and practicing my walk for a whole month.”
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
So, here I go.This was where Becca had to put down her phone and cut in, otherwise, these two would go on for an hour. “It’s happening,” she firmly said to both. “Cait, you’re going to Iowa in October and training to be in the pageant in early November. Jane, you’re staying here to look over the office and to be here for your niece, whom you promised your entire family you would take care of while she’s here. I will be here for the first couple of weeks of Cait’s absence, so like, I don’t wanna hear it, okay?Then I’ll meet up with Caitlyn in Iowa and we’ll all go over to New York together. It’s on Sunday, right?”
Caitlyn didn’t realize that Rebecca was speaking to her at first. “I believe so. I should be able to get four tickets for friends and family to attend in the live audience.”
“Perfect. The three of us and your mom.”
“You remember that my mom always came to my pageants?”
“Duh.”
“Ah, look,ji sang neoi,” Jane said, elongating Cecelia’s title in the family. “You can visit New York in November! Isn’t that exciting? We’ll take you out of school for a couple of days so you can be a tourist.”
Cecelia shuddered. “Atourist?”
“Excuse me. Just like a local is what I mean.”
“Is it okay to take her out of school for that?” Becca asked.
“I guarantee everyone else is doing it,” Caitlyn answered in Jane’s stead. “Cece, how many of your classmates have missed half of the school days already?”
“The ones I know by name already, or in total?”
“Oh, the ones you’re friendly with.”
“It’s hard to be friendly with people who are never there, Aunt Cait.”
“See?” Caitlyn said to Becca. “It will be fine.”
She would believe it when she saw it.
Chapter 8
Jane
“Of all the places to have a business dinner…” Caitlyn stepped off the elevator with her jacket slung over one arm and her purse hanging from the other. Jane was right behind her with only a briefcase to carry. “It has to be in their home.”
“Ah, but what a home it is. Look, Cait, we could get ourselves a penthouse like this.”
“Jane.” Caitlyn stopped in front of the first line of defense between the personal executive elevator and the Monroes’ front door. “This money is so old you can smell the mold on it. They own the whole damn building, never mind this penthouse monstrosity.”
Jane didn’t see the problem. Back in Hong Kong – and Taipei, Singapore, or any Asian city she had played in while a youth – it wasn’t uncommon for entire families to share buildings that they owned outright. A veritable mansion existing at the top of ahigh-rise wasn’t out of the ordinary for someone like Jane, who preferred these abodes to stately manors in the countryside or expensive rowhouses by the marina. Just because Damon had inherited this place from his long line of successful patriarchs didn’t mean it wasn’thomey.
Dark, though. Very dark.
The butler showed them to a small dining room that was surely not where the family usually supped together, if at all.No, he wants us away from the brats.Jane made herself at home after accepting a glass of brandy from the butler. Caitlyn turned down alcohol.They’re the ones eating in theactualdining room.
Damon and his wife Alice arrived together, although one was more frazzled than the other. If Jane had to hazard a guess, it wasn’t Alice’s current pregnancy that told the story behind those red eyes and thinning hair.Okay, maybe that’s causing the hair.Jane had heard horror stories about pregnancy’s effect on the body from her sister. Too many horror stories…