“Wow—I mean, Lola! I don’t even know what to say to this! I would love to!”
“Yay! That’s so good to hear! You’ll have an amazing time with the other girls too. It’ll be a good way to meet new people and make new friends. We all love it.”
“Who all rooms with you?” I asked.
“Well, there’s Faith, Arabel, and Keke. Also Xena, but she’ll be all over the place taking pictures. Faith and Arabel are really good friends of mine and have husbands who sponsor the charity. And you already know Keke.”
Ugh. Fucking Keke. Of course that pathetic bitch would be sleeping in the CEO’s cabin. Wouldn’t be like her to miss it, would it?
“That sounds so fun! It’ll be like a sleepover!”
“Exactly! And we have the works, girl. There’ll be movies, snacks, wine, face masks, sugar scrubs—everything. I love Passion Camp. It really creates an escape for women, you know? We all get to get away from our daily lives and breathe a little bit.”
Yeah, I doubted that. With so many high-class women and pregnant women in one place, it meant increased amounts of estrogen, and women were catty, jealous creatures. They’d smile to your face and talk shit right behind your back, and the truth is, women just can’t help it, Marriott. It’s been imprinted in our DNA to be jealous or envious. Some women can control their emotions, but others—like me—can’t.
If I could control it, I wouldn’t have been standing right in front of Lola, pretending I wanted to be her very best friend, when really, I wanted to punch her in her damn veneers.
“Well, I’d love to room with you all. I just hope the other ladies won’t mind. Do you think they’ll feel like I don’t belong?” I asked with a hopeless smile.
“Nah-uh. Don’t you worry about that. You’re part of the LWP family now. I wish someone would make you feel like you don’t belong. And between you and me, I could have asked Olivia, but she snores way too loud.”
I huffed a laugh. “Right. I guess I’m just nervous. I’m so new to all this.”
“If you want, you can meet me here the day we leave and we can drive to the church together.”
“Sure, that would be nice.”
“Wonderful. Well, enjoy the rest of your day, Ivy. And again, I loved lunch. We’ll have to do it again soon.”
Oh, we would. Trust and believe.
We hugged again, and Lola walked to her front door, unlocking it and stepping inside. I went to my car and climbed inside, starting it up and cranking the AC.
As I pulled out of Lola’s driveway, though, I noticed someone standing in front of one of the windows in the middle of the house on the upper level through my rearview mirror.
It was Georgia, and she was looking right at me. If I weren’t mistaken, her eyes were narrowed.
I didn’t like that woman, Marriott. I felt like she could see right through me, but she wasn’t about to throw off my plans. It was a good thing Lola didn’t seem like the type to listen to the help . . . then again, I knew she had Lola’s ear in a sense, seeing as Georgia was loyal to her.
Didn’t matter. I was going to keep my distance just enough to make sure her household manager could keep whatever suspicions she had of me low and out of the way.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Lola probably assumed we hadn’t seen each other in two weeks. The reality was, I saw her every single day.
I saw her in her office, during lunch meetings, and even when she drove home from lunch dates with her friends. I once spotted her at a Japanese restaurant with Corey, watching as they sipped expensive wine and shared a bowl of edamame, and I even saw her walking the beach with him in a flowy purple sundress one Sunday evening.
With my work schedule, it was tough to catch her, but I always managed to find a way. I was staked out across the street from her office during my lunch breaks most of the time, peering through the windows, munching on sandwiches or chips.
She was at her office more often now, probably because the date for Passion Camp was getting closer and she needed to know all the plans. Noah and Olivia were the duo keeping her charity afloat. She could fool everyone else by having them think she was the queen of ideas, but not me. Without Noah and Olivia, her charity would have been a lost cause.
The Passion Gala was happening in September, which was three months from now, and I knew they were planning for that as well.
I was hoping she’d invite me soon. It would have been lovely to have Lola buy me an expensive designer dress and heels specifically for that night. Hell, she’d probably invite me to get my hair and nails done too, just so she didn’t have to get ready for the event alone. I was very much looking forward to that. I just needed to stick with the program.