Free Chocolate for Two by Maria Murnane Page B

tapered that the staggered estates on either side had views of both the Atlantic Ocean
and
Hobe Sound, on the other side.
    Jake finally pulled up to the entrance of a secluded driveway and turned off the car.
    I looked at him.
    “Why are we stopping?”
    He gave me a strange look. “Because we’re here.”
    “We’re here?”
    He nodded.
    “Your parents live
here
?”
    He nodded again.
    “
This
is your parents’ house?”
    He laughed and unbuckled his seat belt. “Yes.”
    I’d enjoyed the scenery but had assumed we were just passing through the chic part of town and would eventually arrive in a regular neighborhood. I peered down the driveway at the enormous Mediterranean-style “house” at the end. I’m not sure that’s even the right word, because it looked more like a hotel.
    “You grew
up
here?”
    He took my hand. “I grew up in Miami. My parents moved here when my dad retired.” He looked a bit uncomfortable. I’d never seen Jake look uncomfortable.
    As we walked up the driveway, which was already lined with cars, I slowly took in my surroundings, still in a state of wide-eyed disbelief.
    His parents
live
here?
    What?
    Suddenly his mother’s comment from last night about Beverly Hills made sense.
    Jake’s family is wealthy?
    In nearly three years of knowing him, I had somehow never learned that. Had he deliberately hidden that detail because I’d told him how my ex-fiancé’s parents had made me feel?
    Aaron Vaughn III was an attorney whose parents were regular fixtures in the San Francisco social circuit, and while they had generally been pretty nice to me, I’d always felt a bit like a fish out of water, as though I were faking a level of sophistication that would forever be beyond my grasp. I almost felt as if…as if they knew something I didn’t…and never would.
    “Waverly, you still there?” I blinked as Jake snapped his fingers in front of my eyes. We were standing in front of the house.
    Before I could respond, his mom opened the door.
    “Jake, Waverly, thank you so much for arriving on time.” She waved and looked genuinely pleased to see us. “Waverly, you look just lovely. Your dress is beautiful.”
    I awkwardly put my hand on the waist of my sleeveless blue dress, glad I’d chosen to wear something on the conservative side. Plus the high neckline hid the tiny blisters beginning to bubble up on my chest. My face still felt hot, but Jake had been right. The violent redness had calmed down a bit, and I didn’t look like I was actually
on fire
anymore.
    “Thanks, Mrs. McIntyre, so do you.” She was wearing a tailored lavender silk jacket over an eggshell-colored silk blouse and matching pants. She smiled again and gestured to us to enter.
    We followed her inside, and I tried not to gape as I glanced around the house. Everything looked ridiculously expensive. Plush beige leather couches. Matching dark mahogany armoires filled with leather-bound books. A massive built-in bookshelf took up an entire wall, flanked by intricate fluted columns. A crystal chandelier sparkled in the foyer. I’d never seen a crystal chandelier in someone’s
house
before.
    Jake kissed his mother on the cheek. “Where’s Dad?”
    She gestured to the backyard. “Last I saw he was chatting with Larry, our tax attorney. I think they’re at the pool bar.”
    I raised my eyebrows.
The
pool
bar? A
s
in, there’s more than one bar?
We made our way from the foyer, which was about the size of my living room, to the living room, which was about the size of my elementary school. Trying not to gawk, I looked out the floor-to-ceiling windows facing the sprawling backyard. Next to a large swimming pool was a white tent filled with tablesand buzzing with beautifully dressed people who appeared to be waitstaff.
    Waitstaff? Hadn’t Jake said this would be a small party?
    A fair number of guests were already mingling outside.
    I glanced at Jake. My eyes tried to relay the question,
Are we late? Or are people in