Last Call (Cocktail 5)

“You know very well it wasn’t an option; my mother never would have let me get out of it. I had to have her, and—”

“Tiny. Slow your roll. I was kidding.” Sophia laughed, and kissed her on the forehead. “You looked amazing today. Shit, we all did. You threw a great party; congratulations.”

“Thank you! And thank you, God, that you didn’t fall for Ryan. And thank you, God, for not letting me fall for Neil. I mean, he’s super dreamy, and a great kisser, but—”

“Thank God we all ended up with the ones we did. How ‘bout we leave it at that?” I interrupted, chuckling as I remembered the weekend at Lake Tahoe when the four of them righted their dating wrongs. What could have ended badly had ended up here. Two of them married, two of them having a baby. We all looked across the dance floor at our three guys. Ties loosened, jackets abandoned, hair messy. Jesus Christ, they were handsome.

“I’m going to get my husband and take him to the honeymoon suite at the Palace,” Mimi said with a smile that was equally dreamy . . . and lascivious.

“I’m going to get Simon and let him do things to me in the back of the limo on the way back to Sausalito.”

“I’m going to get Neil, a few more pieces of that wedding cake to go, and let him eat me while I eat the cake.”

“Oh, for the love of—!”

“Good night, nurse!”

And we sent Mimi off on her honeymoon.

Ninety minutes later . . .

“Simon. Simon. Oh, Jesus, Simon, that’s so good, right there, right there, don’t stop . . .”

Ninety seconds later . . .

“I can’t believe you ate cake while I did that to you.”

“Don’t worry about it. You can eat cake while I do this to you . . .”

“Caroline, you naughty girl. In the back of a limo—oh, wow, that’s good. And this cake is terrific.”

Chapter two

“So tell me again where we’re going? Shopping for pit bulls?” I asked, waiting in the backseat of the Range Rover with Sophia while Simon and Neil stopped for gas. We were headed out of town for the night, spending some time in Sophia’s hometown of Monterey. Just a few hours down the coast, it was like a whole new world.

“Yes. Exactly. We’re going shopping for pit bulls, Caroline,” Sophia replied dryly.

“Well? Aren’t we?”

“It’s not like shopping for a new handbag. Neil wants a puppy, and so do I. I think it’ll be nice to have a puppy and a baby at the same time.”

“I think it’d be nuts to have a puppy and a baby at the same time, but hey, I’m just along for the ride,” I said. When she showed me her middle finger, I showed her one right back. “Seriously, that’s a lot all at once, don’t you think?”

“We were planning on getting a dog after the baby, but when my cousin Lucas started texting me these pictures of their latest litter, I just melted. I mean, look at this! Could you resist?” she said, scrolling through her phone and then holding it up to show me six or seven of the tiniest, most adorable puppies, lined up in a row on a pillow, with a proud mama behind them. Some were gray, some were black and white, all of them darling. “And look, video!”

“Oh, God, you’re killing me,” I sighed, as I watched the puppies wriggling all over the place, jumping and playing and being twelve kinds of cute. “I don’t know how I’m going to get Simon out of there without bringing one home.”

“Clive would kill you,” Sophia replied, shutting off her phone as the boys came back to the car.

“With his bare paws,” I agreed.

“Bare paws? Who’re we talking about?” Simon asked as he slid behind the wheel.

“Clive. Killing us.”

“I have nightmares about that,” he replied, shivering. “That cat’s way too fucking smart.”

“How’s his harem doing?” Neil asked.

Simon socked him one on the arm. “Dude. Don’t call them that.”

“His girlfriends. Sister wives. Whatever. How do you guys not have kittens running all over the place?” Neil asked, rubbing his arm.

“Clive was neutered a long time ago. No nuts for my boy,” I said. “He won those girls over solely with his personality.”

When Clive had returned home after his stint as a runaway, he didn’t come alone. He’d brought along three lovely lady cats, all of whom adopted Simon and me. We now lived with four, count them, four cats. Norah, Ella, and Dinah now joined Clive in ruling our household, and we just did what we could to get out of the way. Our bed was a bit crowded some nights, but in truth? We wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Okay, Neil, let’s go over the plan one more time. We pick out one puppy—one—and let’s try and go for whichever one seems the calmest. Deal?” Sophia said, reaching up front and putting her hand on his shoulder.

“We’ll see,” he nodded. His face turned red ten seconds later. Sophia had begun to squeeze, obviously. “One puppy. You got it,” he managed, and she gave him a pat on the head. “Cello players. Strongest hands you can imagine. Normally a good thing. But sometimes . . .” he told Simon, who just laughed as we zoomed down the highway, bound for Monterey.

“And this is where we keep all the newer dogs, the ones we haven’t worked with as much. Sometimes they can go right in with the other dogs, but they usually need a little doggie detox,” the tall blonde said, grinning and making the tour sound fresh, though she’d obviously given it hundreds of times.