Cary Returns to the Plot: Entwined with You Chapter 20

Last week, Gideon forced Eva into a surprise wedding because he couldn’t stand the lack of legality! So romantic.

Chapter 20

Back at work, Eva feels so different but no one else knows her life has changed! This sentiment alone isn’t laughable, it’s of course how Day chooses to express it.

Who knew how much saying a few words and slipping on a ring of metal could change a person’s perception of themselves?

I wasn’t just Eva, the New York newbie trying to make it on her own in the big city with her best friend. I was a mogul’s wife. I had a whole new set of responsibilities and expectations. Just thinking about it intimidated me.

“My life used to be like one shitty sitcom, but now it’s like a shitty drama!” It’s also just pretty pathetic how Eva now defines herself by who her husband is and nothing about herself, but I guess I shouldn’t have expected more.

Eva’s day is going great until she gets an angry phone call from Cary who is furious that he hasn’t been featured in this book much at all. [Matthew says: I think becoming the character who has so thoroughly stopped being important to the plot that he's become the guy who Googles things is the new never finding out what happened to Jose.]

“Mark Garrity’s office,” I answered. “Eva Tramell—”

“—needs an ass-kicking,” Cary finished. “I can’t remember the last time I was this mad at you.”

I frowned, my stomach tightening. “Cary, what’s wrong?”

“I’m not going to talk about important shit on the phone, Eva, unlike some people I know. I’ll meet you for lunch. And just so you’re aware, I turned down a go-see this afternoon to set you straight, because that’s what friends do,” he said angrily. “They make time in their schedule to talk about things that matter. They don’t leave cutesy voice-mail messages and think that handles it!”

Cary is referring to the voicemail Eva left him before going away with Gideon where she asked if Cary would move in with them. That was a pretty shitty thing of Eva to do, especially since she hasn’t let Cary be in the plot at all lately.

He made a rough sound. “You fucking piss me off, Eva.”

“Yeah, well, I’m good at pissing people off, if you haven’t noticed, but I hate when I do it to you.” I sighed. “It’s going to drive me nuts, Cary, until we can work it out. I need us solid, you know that.”

“You haven’t acted like it matters lately,” he said gruffly. “I’m an afterthought and that fucking hurts.”

I feel like “afterthought” is a nice way of putting it. I think I could count on one hand the number of times Cary has been in a chapter of Entwined with You?

Now it’s time for Day to emphasise what a ripoff of Fifty Shades this is by having Gideon and Eva send nearly identical notes to the ones Ana and Christian sent each other after getting married.

MY GORGEOUS, SEXY WIFE,
I NEVER STOP THINKING ABOUT YOU.
YOURS,
X

Dark and Dangerous,
I’m madly in love with you.
Your ball and chain,
Mrs. X

Oh my god, how annoying is the “X” signature? Also why does Eva have to sign hers with “Mrs.” but Gideon’s is just “X”? Oh right, because her whole sense of self is now tied to being his wife. Gotcha.

Before going to lunch with Cary, Eva makes plans with Corinne’s husband for that evening. I hope he just says sassy things about everyone and calls it a night. [Matthew says: Fucking why? Between this guy and Brett, why does Eva keep penciling in the most socially awkward dinner  dates on her calendar?]

At lunch, Cary reveals that he’s known what was going on all along. Well, not the Gideon-murdered-Nathan part, but the other stuff.

“If you think,” he began, “that being sober and working steadily broke my bullshit meter, now you know better. I knew you were nailing Cross again from the moment you started back up.”

Biting into my taco, I shot him a skeptical look.

“Eva honey, don’t you think that if there were another man in New York who could bang it out all night like Cross, I would’ve found him by now?”

I coughed and nearly spit out my food.

“No one’s lucky enough to find two guys like that in a row,” he drawled. “Not even you. You should’ve had a dry spell or at least a couple of really bad lays first.”

Maybe I underestimated Detective Cary too quickly. He doesn’t need to be good at Googling things! Not when he has deductive reasoning skills like these. Given Eva was sneaking over to Gideon’s place, it seems pretty impressive that Cary knew they were “banging it out all night” rather than just having average adult sleepovers.

Eva starts trying to convince Cary to come live with her and Gideon, when he drops a bomb of his own.

His shoulders sagged. “Tatiana’s pregnant.”

“What?” I felt the blood drain from my face. The little restaurant was hopping, and the shouting of orders behind the counter and the clatter of trays and utensils made it hard to hear, but I’d caught the two words that fell out of Cary’s mouth as if he’d shouted them at me. “Are you kidding?”

“I wish.” He pulled his hand away and scooped back the bangs that draped over one eye. “Not that I don’t want a kid. That part’s cool. But … fuck. Not now, you know? And not with her.”

Yeah, Tatiana has always sounded horrible whenever she shows up, so this is kind of a bummer. Cary helpfully explains that he uses birth control, but it doesn’t always work. Thanks, Cary! [Matthew says: Ah, the "birth control with a <1% failure rate just happened to not work for the sake of progressing the plot" trope! Happy nightmare fuel, readers!]

Cary frets that Trey is going to end things with him, [Matthew says: Wait, they haven't already?] and Eva tells him she’ll be there to help him through.

Eva meets up with Giroux, and they have the most pointless exchange ever. He seems to want to understand what Corinne sees in Gideon, but then he’s more interested by the fact that Gideon and Eva are engaged (that’s what they’re telling people.)

He smiled and for the first time, it was genuine. “Perhaps I will get my wife back after all.”

“I think you could, if you tried.” I sat up, deciding it was time to leave. “You know what your wife told me once? She said you’re indifferent. Instead of waiting for her to come back, you should just take her back. I think that’s what she wants.”

What I’ve learned from the Crossfire series is that’s what every woman wants. Seriously, though, that’s all that happens during this talk, and I’m not even sure why it happened because nothing is revealed or resolved and it doesn’t seem like it’s setting anything important up. [Matthew says: I don't even know who this character is. PRO WRITING TIP: When you have to resort to introducing new conflicts just so you have something to resolve in that same scene, your book has been going on too long.]

Eva meets up with Gideon in his office and they have lots of sex because she’s worried about Cary having a baby. I would think the prospect of an oopsie-baby would be enough to put you off having sex for the night, but to each his own. Oh god, do you think this series is going to have Eva get pregnant earlier than planned like in Fifty Shades?