He laughed then. “That must be why I like it so much.”
She turned to him, looked him up and down. Matt was the only person she knew who could pull off a white linen suit. He had that perpetual tan and just the right color hair and eyes to make it work.
“Maybe you didn’t notice . . .” She leaned closer to him. “But every female—and some males—in the room are openly eying you.”
“Actually, I think they’re eying you.”
She muffled a laugh to prevent the champagne she’d just chugged from spewing forth.
“Fair warning,” he said. “The trinity is gathered out by the gazebo. They’re talking business. You might want to avoid the area.”
“Thanks for the heads-up.” She would steer clear for sure.
“Did you by chance have an unauthorized chat with DA Briggs’s daughter?”
Finley sipped her champagne this time. “I did. She was full of information.” She grinned up at Matt. “Did you know she and Cecelia were quite notorious in high school?”
“I can only imagine.” Matt leaned closer. “So you know, Briggs is not happy. I’m supposed to mention that you’d better not approach her again without her attorney present.”
“He didn’t have the balls to tell me this himself?”
“Apparently not.”
Matt put his arm around her shoulders. “Come on. Let’s go find the lady of honor and wish her a happy birthday.”
“Whatever.” Finley downed the last of the champagne, left the glass on a tray table, and grabbed another from a passing waiter. This one went down the hatch too.
“Easy, tiger,” her friend whispered close to her ear.
“All better now.”
The Judge was in the great room. Dressed in a well-fitted rose-colored sheath, she stood with her back to the fireplace since a massive painting of her in her robes hung above it. Finley’s father, sporting a taupe suit and a tie that perfectly matched the Judge’s dress, stood at her side, smiling like always.
The receiving line was endless.
“I’ll just wave from here,” Finley suggested.
“Of course you won’t.” Matt ushered her around the crowd and right up to the Judge. “Happy birthday, Judge,” he said with a broad smile.
Ruth O’Sullivan looked from Matt to Finley, only the slightest glimmer of surprise flashing in her eyes. “Thank you for coming.”
Matt leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
Matt was too nice.
Ruth turned to her. “Finley.” She looked her up and down as she reached for her shoulders. “So marvelous to see you, sweetheart.” She leaned in and left a kiss on Finley’s cheek.
Then she did what she always did. Introduced her daughter to the gathered crowd as if she were a doting mother and Finley an adoring child.
“Happy birthday, Judge,” Finley announced.
Those closest laughed at Finley’s joke. Her mother would know that it wasn’t really a joke. She hadn’t called her Mother in a long while now.
Her father skirted around the Judge and gave Finley a big hug, allowing the guest of honor to move back to her receiving line duties.
Being a good friend, Matt shook hands with her father and then ushered Finley into the dining room. “We should find a place to talk.”
“That sounds ominous.”
The concern in his eyes warned it was indeed ominous.
“Let’s go up to your old room.” He glanced around. “We need some privacy.”
“Sure.”
They used the staff staircase in the kitchen to avoid adding to the rumor mill. Finley had no idea if her old room was still her room. For all she knew the Judge could have cleared it out and turned it into a fifth guest room.
She opened the door and switched on the light. To her surprise the room remained exactly as it had been her senior year of high school.
“Looks the same,” Matt noted.
White walls. White carpet. White bedding. The only color was in the photos of places Finley had visited up to that point in her life. Paris. Madrid. Sydney. Dozens of other places. Her father had made sure Finley was well traveled. The Judge was generally too busy to accompany them, which was always a relief.
“She was so annoyed when you refused to have pink walls,” Matt reminded her. “You remember, she had that designer fly in from New York and create this magnificent”—he spread his arms wide apart—“fairy-princess fantasyland. And you came undone. You hated it.”