Love Me After the Wedding

Untitled Part 8

By the time lunch was delivered, Clare thought she had had plenty of time to think. She hoped she had had plenty of time to think about what changes might take place in her life in the next week. She finished off the last of her sushi when her phone rang. "Okay." She said into the receiver.

"Sasha?" Natalie asked.

"Yeah. I'm going to go down and bring her up, since she can't come up without a key."

Suzette waited until her sister closed the door before she started. "I don't see why we can't just meet downstairs, oh, yeah. No one but us has signed confidentiality agreements. Those losers!"

Brooks chimed in, "Suzette, you didn't have to come with us. You could have stayed home and watched Lady Catherine." Suzette tried to look dejected, but it wasn't working. She loved Lady Catherine. She was sad not to wake up to the cat sitting on her head in the mornings, but she knew the pet sitter, Camilla, at the pet hotel was a good place for her.

"Yeah. I guess I'm just annoyed by all the secrecy." She said, shoving another California Roll into her mouth. "I hope all this is worth it." She said through bites of sushi, waving her chopsticks around.

"I think it will be," Brooks said. "I mean, how much do we really know about this Sasha any way?" Has anyone googled her yet?"

Brooks's question had all three of them reaching for their cell phones and looking up Sasha's clients. "What was her last name again? Mom, Dad?" Suzette asked.

"I don't remember." Natalie said, tossing her phone onto the bed.

"Me either. Said Brooks, pocketing his phone.

"Well then, that was productive."

"Now, Suz."

*****

Sasha was already waiting at the elevators when Clare arrived in the lobby. She just walked on when she saw Clare.

"Even better that we have the lift to ourselves, huh?" Clare asked.

"Niel told me all about it, Clare. We don't need to pretend."

"Good," Clare blew out a long, stressful breath. "I don't have anything to really say yet, except my family doesn't know. I didn't tell them."

"Good. We don't need any more cameras and stuff showing up everywhere you go, though I don't think your sister would mind."

"She might." Clare said. "Suzette thinks she's jealous of what I've chosen as a career, but she really can't handle the stress."

"You think you can?" Sasha finally turned to her.

"I think I'm capable." Clare stated. "It's not like I haven't been in front of cameras and millions of adoring fans already. I wasn't just a back up singer. I was part of the band. I was their friend, if you'll recall, Sasha." She said of her time singing with Halogen5. "Anyway, I haven't agreed or not agreed to anything, you can't count your chickens yet." She smiled.

"Fair enough," Sasha said, as the elevator dinged and someone stepped on. This was their cue to stay quiet on the matter. The next time the elevator dinged, it was Clare's floor and the two women got off. They remained in silence until Brooks opened the door when Clare knocked.

"Jones Family!" Sasha proclaimed. "I trust your day has been suspenseful, I hope." She had a little devilish grin as she said it. "I'm glad you've had lunch already," she said, pointing at the sushi on the table, "and I hope you have been able to take in some sights while you waited."

"We would have done something, I'm sure, but I didn't want to leave Clare out and for some reason or another she said she couldn't go with us." Suzette said.