Serendipity (Inevitable) (21 page)

To Julia, cooking was yet another form of artistry, and she took as much pride in it as she did her design work or drawings. She loved to entertain, though she preferred small, intimate groups to a large crowd. It was a holdover from her childhood and youth, for her parents had frequently hosted the same sort of small, casual gatherings at their home. They had a lot of friends, most of whom were artists, musicians or writers, and a party at the McKInnon home had never been boring. In addition to being one of the greatest artists of her generation, Natalie Benoit was also an incredible cook and hostess and had instilled a love of cooking into at least one of her daughters, passing on many of the recipes she’d learned from her own mother.

Julia had dressed casually – for her, anyway – in a long-sleeved V-necked black top and a cute A-line skirt in a black and white stripe with a wide black belt to cinch in her waist. What passed for flats for her – little black sling backs with a kitten heel – completed the relatively inexpensive outfit she’d pieced together.

Travis and Anton arrived promptly at seven, with not one but two bottles of wine plus a box of decadent chocolate truffles. After exchanging hugs, Julia gave them the brief tour of her flat.

Travis nodded in appreciation of how she’d decorated the small living/dining space. “I knew there was a reason I hired you,” he teased. “You’ve made a small space look almost twice its size. And I love all the little touches of color here and there. I should have known your own personal space would be something special.”

Anton was admiring the exquisite seascape that graced the wall over the small brick fireplace. It was one of Julia’s mother’s finest pieces and one of Julia’s most cherished possessions, not just for its considerable monetary value but for the sentimental one as well.

But for both men the real attraction in the flat was Julia’s clothes closet. Though the bedroom itself was on the small side, it did boast a sizeable walk-in closet that she had taken great care to arrange her extensive wardrobe in.

Anton pressed a hand to his chest as he gazed at the contents of the closet, an enraptured look on his pale, bespectacled face. “Oh, honey, I think I’ve died and gone to fashion heaven! And I’m really, really thinking how unfair it was that I wasn’t born female.”

Travis gave him a mocking little frown. “Hey, watch it. I’m not into girls, or even cross-dressers.”

Anton patted his lover’s arm. “Never fear, dear. I was just having clothes envy here. Sweet pea,” he said to Julia, “you have an amazing set-up here. Color coordinated, all your shoes and bags in perfect little rows, so neat and organized. No wonder you always look so smokin’ hot.”

Julia and Travis shared a look, and he shook his head. “Oh, God, maybe we should have shown him this after dinner. Now you’ll never get him out of your closet.”

They laughed at his little joke, but Anton only groaned in mock horror. “Dear boy, you know I’ve been out of the closet since I was thirteen. Maybe even younger.”

Julia watched in amusement for a couple more minutes as Anton crooned over her racks of dresses, coats, shoes, and other apparel. He gasped over the Diane von Furstenberg boat necked navy dress, cooed when he pulled out the Gucci wrap-front dress in taupe, ran his finger lovingly over the Giuseppe Zanotti poppy red patent leather pumps, looked longingly at the Versace black leather tote.

Anton grinned at her. “This would be more fun than dressing a Barbie doll. But you don’t need my help, sweetie. You should have been a fashion consultant or designer instead of playing with furniture.”

She chuckled. “Yes, but this way I get to do both. Come on, let’s break open that bottle of French burgundy you brought. How did you guys know I was cooking French food?”

The three of them had nearly polished off a whole bottle of the fine French wine even before dinner was served. Fortunately, Julia had set out a plate of cheeses and pates along with a thinly sliced baguette so they weren’t drinking on an empty stomach. A very fleeting memory of sitting in the Champagne Bar at the Plaza Hotel with Nathan sipping champagne and nibbling on fruit and cheese came to her before she firmly willed it to the archives of her brain.

Travis and Anton were very amusing company, and they lavished praise on her dinner, eating heartily as the second bottle of wine began to disappear. They insisted on helping her clear up the dishes – fortunately her small, old fashioned kitchen did have a dishwasher – and begged her to hold off on dessert for awhile until they could make room in their very full stomachs.

The men sunk into her comfy sofa upholstered in a butter yellow fabric patterned with tiny blue flowers, while Julia curled up in her favorite chair – a big, overstuffed armchair that had been her grandmother’s. She’d begged for it when her grandparents had passed away, having many happy childhood memories of her and Lauren cuddling with either Grandpere or Grandmere and having stories read to them in French. She’d had the chair recovered in a vivid emerald green, which was one of the pops of color Travis had mentioned.

Travis’ eyes twinkled with mischief. “So now that we’re all comfy and pleasantly tipsy, I promised Julia that we’d share all the juicy gossip we know about the future Mrs. Nathan Atwood.”

Anton whooped. “Oh, me first, me first! After all, I was the one who kept pouring Cosmos down the throat of Cameron’s friend at the engagement party. What did it take for her to spill the beans – four or five drinks?”

“I think it was three and a half, actually, “said Travis dryly. “Girl could not hold her liquor too well. By Cosmo number five, she wasn’t holding anything back.”

Julia took a small sip of her wine, feeling oddly not in the mood for this discussion. “I didn’t realize they had an engagement party. Not many people have those nowadays, When was this?”

“Back in October sometime - mid-month, I think. And Cameron’s parents are very old-school, old money kind of people,” explained Travis. “Daddy is the CEO of some big company here, Mommy is from filthy rich money, so they only want the best for their little girls. So of course they threw Cameron and Nate this huge bash, held it at the Gregson Hotel on Nob Hill. Very lavish affair.”

Anton nodded in agreement. “You would have thought it was the actual wedding. No expense spared, and at least three hundred people. And I swear Travis and I were the only non-heteros in the place.”

“Well, that shouldn’t have been a surprise, considering Graham Tolliver has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaigns to defeat gay marriage,” sniffed Travis. “He’s a homophobic, ultraconservative, NRA ass kissing prick. And his evil she-devil of a daughter is just like him. Cameron hates the two of us.”

Julia frowned. “Why does Nathan tolerate that? I mean, besides being business partners I was under the impression that the two of you were close friends.”

“We are, hunny bunny. But that doesn’t mean Cameron has to like me. Oh, she’s very polite in front of Nate, always careful not to make a scene or show her cards. But Anton and I aren’t blind. We see the way she looks at us, and we’ve both overheard her making homophobic slurs. It’s pretty obvious that she hates our guts, and she’s found every excuse in the book not to socialize with us. Every party or event we’ve invited her and Nate to they’ve either declined or he’s attended solo.”

“Hmm. So is this the so-called dirt you told me you had on her?” inquired Julia.

Both men laughed riotously. “Oh, God, not even close,” guffawed Anton. “That’s like the least of it, sweetie. Who cares if some stuck-up bitch doesn’t like us? We’ve got plenty of friends who do.”

Travis pulled his phone out and started scanning for something. “Here, I think the best way to tell you is just to show you.”

Anton peeked over at the phone. “Ooh, are you trying to find the Facebook photos? Awesome!”

“Found them. Here, let Julia have a look. Now, as you flip through them, let me narrate so you know what you’re looking at. And for a little background, Anton and I met one of Cameron’s oldest and surprisingly dearest friends at the engagement party. A dear if not drunk lady by the name of Stephanie – what’s her last name, Anton?”

“Norris,” supplied Anton helpfully. “They’ve been friends since the third grade, though if Cameron knew everything that Stephanie told us that would be the end of it.”

Julia reluctantly took Travis’s phone and gazed at the photo on the screen. It was a bit grainy, looking almost twenty years old, and was of a skinny, brown-haired girl who wasn’t especially attractive. She wore an ill-fitting dress of pale pink that did nothing to flatter either her nonexistent figure or her pale coloring. The girl had a rather large nose, sunken cheekbones, and a somewhat pointy chin.

She shook her head. “I don’t get it. Am I supposed to know who this is?”

Travis smiled triumphantly. “That, sweetie pie, is the she-devil herself – Miss Cameron Tolliver – at her sweet sixteen birthday party. What a doll, huh?”

Julia stared at the photo harder, trying to find any trace of the polished, attractive woman she’d met two days ago. “No way is this Cameron. She looks completely different.”

Travis perched on the arm of her chair and took the phone from her. “Ah, but this is just the start of our little photo tour. You’ll start to see the progression of the changes as we go along.”

She watched closely as Travis flipped from one photo to the next, explaining as he went along. “Okay, here’s a year later. Cam’s obviously had a hell of a nose job because it’s about half the size it was. “

He flipped to the next photo, where Cameron was now a blonde. Subsequent photos showed the changes after a chin job, cheekbone implants, collagen injections to her lips, and a much improved fashion sense and makeup application. If Julia hadn’t seen the transformation occur over the approximately seven year time frame in the photos she would never have believed it.

“Wow, she’s really a different person now, isn’t she?” she commented.

Anton smirked. “Except she should have kept going and bought herself some tits and ass. Hey, I know dudes with bigger boobs than hers. And my perky little butt fills out a pair of jeans better than her flat old booty.”

Julia almost choked on a sip of wine at Anton’s outrageous comments. Travis patted her on the back until she was able to grin at Anton with watery eyes.

“You are so bad,” she admonished. “Both of you. Now, how did you come to acquire these photos? I’m just assuming Cameron didn’t give them to you.”

“Well, of course not,” replied Travis. “I’m sure she’d be furious and mortified to realize anyone has seen them. Dear friend Stephanie was kind enough to share them with us at the boozy engagement party. She has them posted on her Facebook page with about five thousand others. And of course Anton and I are now good buddies with her on Facebook.”

She shook her head. “How is Cameron not aware these are posted on a social networking site? I can’t imagine she’d be very happy about them.”

“Well, duh, of course not. As for why she hasn’t noticed them – did I mention there were five
thousand
or so photos? One would need to know where to look. And Stephanie was only too happy to point us to the right folder. Apparently there’s some animosity there between the girlhood friends.”

“I told you what that was about,” scolded Anton. “You never listen. Stephanie is still pissed off at Cameron because she slept with some guy that Stephanie really liked. And apparently that wasn’t the first time that happened. All this before she met Nathan, of course. She isn’t stupid enough to risk losing him by cheating now.”

Travis grinned, thoroughly enjoying this gossipy hen fest. “And we’re not even telling her the really juicy parts. Nate is not Cameron’s first fiancé apparently. She’s been engaged two times before. Guess she’s really hoping that old three times a charm adage will come true for her.”

Julia couldn’t contain her surprise. “Two other times? What happened? Is she divorced or something?”

Anton shook his head. “Never made it to the altar. According to Stephanie, the first time Cameron was engaged she was about twenty-eight. All the wedding plans made, everything ready to go. Then – boom! Less than two months before the big day her fiancé gets arrested for big time embezzlement and hauled off to jail. Apparently he’s still serving time.”

“That’s terrible. She must have been wrecked over it,” sympathized Julia.

Travis chuckled. “Didn’t take her too long to get over it apparently. Within a year she had another guy on the hook. They got engaged around the time she turned thirty. But this one didn’t take, either. No particular reason that Stephanie was aware of, dude just got cold feet and broke things off.”

“So by the time she met Nathan a couple of years ago she must have been getting awfully desperate,” piped up Anton. “Over thirty years old, seeing all of her friends get married, including her younger sister who’s already got one kid and another on the way. Cameron’s biological clock must be ticking awfully loud.”

“Biological clock?” mocked Travis. “Sorry, but no way can I ever imagine that bitch being a mother. She might have Nate fooled but Anton and I see right through her.”

Anton grinned at his partner. “But you have a gift, sweetie. Have you told Julia about it?”

Travis grinned. “Anton thinks I’m sort of psychic. At first I thought he meant psycho, and of course I am a little bit crazy, most of us artistic types are. But, no, he’s positive that I can see things other people can’t, predict stuff even.”

Julia smiled. “And what do you think?”

He shrugged. “I must say I’m awfully good at
Jeopardy
and
Wheel of Fortune
. And I’ve been pretty lucky with predicting who’s going to win
American Idol
or which desperate chick the
Bachelor
is going to choose. But I think the only real gift I have is in reading people. I’ve just got this knack for seeing past the pretenses people put up to who they really are.”

“That’s a pretty cool gift,” she agreed. “You do seem very perceptive. And you think that Cameron isn’t who she really appears to be?”

Travis frowned. “I don’t think that. I
know
it for a fact. There’s other stuff – more personal stuff that Stephanie told us. If Nate knew -“