Empty Nests by Ada Maria Soto Read Free Book Online Page B

skills that allowed him to ask someone normal on a date without sounding like a loser.
    “You want to take me to a garden party, then sneak out of it?” James sounded incredulous.
    “If nothing else it would be doing me a favor. If I show up with a guy on my arm, maybe the divorcées and ladder climbers will back off.”
    James laughed. “So you want an anti-beard?”
    “It’s a ‘brave new world’ out there, we’ve already been on a not-date, and I would like to see you again.” There was mostly silence and some harsh whispering in the background.
    “I’m being told if I don’t say yes, I’m a moron.” Gabe would have been offended if he hadn’t heard the chuckle in James’s voice.
    “Great. I’ll e-mail you the information, and I’ll see you on Saturday.”
    “Saturday it is.”

Chapter 5
     
     
    T HE CRACK in the bathroom mirror bent James’s nose to a strange angle. He’d called the night before to ask Gabe what to wear and had been told it was khaki-and-polo-shirt casual. James dug out his one polo shirt. He still couldn’t exactly believe he was going to a charity garden party at a country club. He flipped his hair to one side and then the other. He’d never put a lot of thought into his hair before. There were a lot of things he’d never put thought into before; he’d simply had other priorities.
    “You look fine, Dad,” Dylan critiqued from the doorway. “Just stop messing with it.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “I’m sure. Now go snag yourself a rich, executive sugar daddy.”
    “Dylan!”
    Dylan had become half-obsessed with the fact that it was a garden party, which meant Gabe almost certainly had a comfortable income. “I’m saying it wouldn’t be a bad thing. Being a kept man and all, you could go back to school, cut loose a little.”
    “Enough.”
    “Okay, okay. But you have to promise to let him pay. He invited you, he picks up the check if you go out somewhere.”
    James was about to argue that he could handle himself, but he had no idea what Gabe had planned, and the monthly budget was getting tight. He took a deep calming breath and counted to five. It was something he’d done on an almost daily basis since Dylan turned twelve and became a smartass.
    “Fine. I am leaving now. I love you. Be good, don’t sneak in any girls, and I’ll send you a text when I’m heading home.”
    “I love you too, Dad. Try not to be too good today. And if you want the place to yourself, send me a text and I’ll be out of here.”
    James took a deep breath and counted to five again.
     
     
    J AMES DOUBLE -checked the map. There was a vine-covered gate with a small guardhouse and high brick walls. An exceedingly discreet brass plaque read Oakbow Country Club. He pulled up to the guardhouse tucked beside high, heavy wood gates.
    “Hi. I’m here for the garden party?”
    “Help parks around the back, and you’re late.” The guard didn’t even look at him.
    James bristled. He spent his days fixing the stupid mistakes of people with doctorates who didn’t give him a second look. He was not about to spend his weekend dealing with the little snot in the guardhouse.
    “I was invited. By Gabe… Juarez.”
    That got the guard’s attention, but he still squinted at James with suspicion. “Your name please?”
    “James Maron.”
    The guard flipped through a few papers. “Ah, yes. Here you are.” The gates swung open. “If you turn your… vehicle to the left, a valet will park it for you. Sir.”
    The “sir” sounded so painful to get out that James didn’t try to argue that his yellow ’95 Volvo 850, aka the Lemon Drop Wonder, was a perfectly good car. He did grin at the valet as he handed over the keys. “She makes an odd squeaking sound when you go from neutral to drive. Don’t worry about that, but you can’t go from drive right into reverse. You need to go back to neutral first, or she’ll just seize up.”
    The valet forced a smile. “I’ll remember that, sir.”
    The