“So do you deny having feelings for Uncle Stephen?” Kimber rose to her knees, folded her arms across her chest.
“I...I...I think he is a very nice man.”
“So does Natalia Garcia Ruiz.”
Ears perking, Lexi glanced over her shoulder. “Who?”
Kimber’s mouth twitched with a smile. “Not according to the tea being spread around Southwood.”
Lexi had been around enough of the young kids these days to understand “tea” was code for gossip. After years of being the center of a scandal, Lexi frowned at the unwanted attention. She shook her head from side to side. “People are going to talk.” Lexi shrugged.
“So you don’t care if Uncle Stephen has been up here being caught on camera with one of the biggest reality stars around?”
The corners of Lexi’s eyes twitched. “Of course not. What do I care if he meets up with what’s her face?”
“Her name is Natalia Garcia Ruiz, and she’s only the biggest internet sensation. Her family’s only got the biggest perfume line, Azúcar
. I can’t believe you don’t use her products.”
“Sorry.” Lexi shrugged her shoulders and went back to flipping through her clothes. Their conversations never revolved around exes. Her heart plummeted into her stomach.
“She’s also the woman Uncle Stephen took out the other night to Owen’s.”
A pang stabbed at the center of her heart. Lexi’s mouth formed an O, and she tried to smile and shrug the hurt off. Owen’s? “Your uncle meets lots of people in his business.”
“Not like I know a lot about the place, but it has these curtained booths and they were photographed exiting.” Kimber started pressing the buttons on her phone. “Here, let me pull it up.”
“You don’t need to.” Lexi’s voice squeaked. How foolish of her. He’d pulled the same routine with her.
“According to what I overheard from Uncle Nate talking, they dated.”
“Well, good for them.” She put out her chin.
“Yes, but you and Uncle Stephen belong together.” Kimber’s eyebrows rose in amusement.
“Let’s not talk about this.” Lexi quickly changed the subject. “How about we call Chantal and get her to bring something spectacular for you to wear to dinner tonight, and in the meantime, we’ll get a little pampered?”
In a matter of a half second, Kimber scrambled off the bed and was right by Lexi’s side. “You don’t need to ask me twice!”
Lexi remembered those days where a mani-pedi healed all wounds. Her mother taught her a long time ago about the importance of therapeutic shopping. Days like today, Lexi wished she were in a better place with her parents. Trying not to think about the past, she draped her arm around Kimber’s shoulder.
“Lexi, check out who arrived.” Kimber stopped walking once the elevators dropped them off at the lobby and nodded in the direction of the commotion going on at the front desk.
As expected, Rose Laing screeched at the front desk clerk. Somehow the pageant had lost their registration. Somehow it was always someone else’s fault. Poor Vera, Lexi thought. She stood off to the side, completely humiliated by her mother’s antics. Ernest Laing strolled around the lobby, casual as could be with his cell phone and dark sunglasses, while he stared at the behinds of the women on their way to the pool. Lexi shook her head. Nothing much had changed.
Unfortunately, the lobby lacked the different options to make a quiet exit. To the left of them sat the pageant registration team ready to take on-the-spot late registrations. To the right of them a group of two-to three-year-old girls from a pageant troupe worked on their cupcake walks, which meant their outstretched arms made it harder to walk by.
Taking a deep breath, Lexi grabbed Kimber’s hand and dragged her forward. “Lexi, I’m not sure I can keep quiet if she starts talking to you all crazy again.”
“We’ll take the high road,” Lexi said, “We’ll see who’s so smug when Waverly wins in Vera’s category.”
Of course Rose noticed Lexi coming. She stepped in front of their path and gushed out a fake hello. “Well, I didn’t think we would run into you here!”
With a tight smile, Lexi tried not to look directly into Rose’s bright peach pantsuit. The flash of a smile from Vera disappeared quickly. “Why wouldn’t we be here, Rose?”
“Oh, you didn’t read the newsletter?” Rose reached into her giant matching purse and pulled out the weekly Pageant Press paper.
On the cover Waverly stood in front of a wrecked motorcycle. Bottles of beer lay everywhere. Waverly held a helmet and was covered in grime from head to toe. Lexi didn’t need to read the article. Each pageant contestant was supposed to keep a clean nose and stay out of trouble.