Chasing The Sun (Angel Sands 7)

“Girls’ night sounds good,” Lydia said, smiling. She liked Autumn’s friends. After last night’s heated exchange with Jackson, maybe a room full of estrogen was what she needed.

And anyway, they had the info on Jackson. And Hayley, whoever she was. Fun and facts – that was the kind of night she liked.

Lydia pressed a kiss to Skyler’s smooth brow. The baby grabbed her hair and held on tight, making Lydia laugh.

“You sure you’ll be okay alone today?” Autumn grimaced. “You can come to the pier again if you’d like?”

“It’s good. I have a video conference this morning with some clients. After that, I’ll walk to the boardwalk to do a little shopping. I want to check on Deenie’s Instagram, and I promised to set Lorne Michaels up, too.”

“You know more people than I do here,” Autumn teased.

“Hardly. But they’re nice and I like helping them.” Lydia shrugged. “So please don’t worry. I won’t get bored.”

“You never do,” Autumn agreed. “That’s one of the things I admire about you.”

That made Lydia’s skin glow. Her older sister wasn’t big on compliments. So when they came, they really meant something. “You sure I can’t look after Skyler for you while you’re working?” she asked Autumn.

“That’s so sweet of you, but I want to spend a bit of time with her between meetings.” Autumn gave her a quick hug. “You have the spare keys to the house, right?”

“Sure do.” Lydia grinned.

“Okay. I’ll see you this evening. Be ready for girls’ night.” She pulled open the front door and wheeled Skyler out to her car, lifting her from the stroller to her car seat. Lydia blew a kiss at them both and closed the door.

After pouring herself a coffee, and silently congratulating herself for not breaking anything, Lydia placed her laptop on the kitchen table, and grabbed her pad, quickly scanning through her notes.

Serena Blake had booked Lydia’s services last year, the day after she’d gotten engaged to her fiancé, a successful investment banker in New York. When Lydia had told her she wasn’t available for more than twelve months, Serena had taken it in her stride.

“That’s fine,” she said. “We can plan the wedding around your availability.” She wasn’t even joking.

Now it was only three months until they were due to go to Rio for their honeymoon, and Lydia had sent over their itinerary last week. Wherever possible, she always tried to follow it up with a meeting or video call to make sure things were to their liking. It was important her clients were happy.

Clicking on the icon to start the call, Lydia waited for it to connect, and smiled when she saw Serena and Damon appear on the screen.

“Hi,” she said. “How are you?”

“Great,” Serena said. Damon nodded and said nothing. From the set of his eyes, Lydia was certain he was scrolling through his phone.

Behind them, Lydia could see the elegant lines of their expensive living room furniture, and a window overlooking Central Park, the trees swaying softly in the spring breeze.

“Thanks for agreeing to do this virtually. I’m sorry we can’t meet in person,” Lydia told them.

“No no, it’s fine.” Serena leaned forward, her baby blue cashmere sweater pulling down to reveal a tiny silver locket nestling at the dip in her throat. “We’re just grateful you have time to meet with us. We know how exclusive you are.” She took Damon’s hand and squeezed it. He looked up from his phone, eyes widening as though he didn’t expect to be looking at a computer screen filled with a woman in California.

“Isn’t that right, honey? We’re very lucky Lydia could fit us in.”

“Yeah.” He gave an absent nod and looked back at his phone.

“Have you taken a look at the itinerary?” Lydia asked. “Since you’re honeymooning in June, it’ll be winter in Brazil. Which is perfect, because the weather ranges between seventy and eighty degrees.” Lydia smiled at the camera. “That should mean we can see a lot of things without getting overheated.”

“I have and I love it.” Serena nodded. “But there’s one issue. You haven’t included the Christ the Redeemer statue. We really want to visit it, don’t we, Damon?”

He looked up with those same wide eyes. “Yeah.” He nodded, though it was clear he had no idea what he’d been asked. “Sounds good.”

“I put two free days into your schedule. I won’t be charging for those,” Lydia told them. “I figure you can use those to do the usual touristy things, or to rest if you prefer. There’s no point in paying me to take you to Christ the Redeemer. You can easily get there yourself.”

“Oh.” The woman blinked. “I thought you’d be with us the whole time.”

Lydia bit down a smile. “But it’s your honeymoon. Won’t you want some time together alone?” She glanced at Damon. He’d given up any pretense at listening and was typing furiously on his phone screen, his lips pressed together so hard they were white.