Grant shot a fake-panicked look at Lacey, who rolled her eyes. “Another tale of your misspent youth? I’ve probably heard worse.”
“I think I’ll play it safe,” Grant said, “and change the subject. Where’s your lovely date, Asher? Have you met her, Kate?”
I was about to say I had, when suddenly a blonde woman who was ten pounds too thin and six inches too short to be Dove Steele shot out of the crowd and wrapped herself around him, nestling her head onto his shoulder and letting out a contented little murmur. He had another girl already? Or in addition? This guy gave ‘player’ such a new name they were going to have to add another page to the entry in the encyclopedia.
“Oh, there you are, sweetums!” she simpered like a little lost kitten. “Ugh, this charity ball is such a drag! And oh my God, books, like, what are poor kids even going to do with books? Can they even, like, read? Aren’t they all on crack?”
Everyone froze for a second. You could see the thoughts slowly travel across their faces as they wondered if they had really heard what they thought they had just heard, and if so, whether they should laugh, yell, or cry.
Asher looked like he sincerely hoped the ground would open up beneath him and he would be kidnapped by Mole People before he had to figure out how to respond.
“Excuse me,” I said as straight-faced as I could. “I think I see something over there. Yes. A thing. That I should go—see. Bye!” And I fled behind the band’s stage where no one could see me.
And then I laughed until I was very nearly sick.
#
When I had recovered, I poked my head back out and surveyed the scene. The coast was clear; Asher and his…I wanted to say ‘date,’ but ‘disaster’ seemed so much more accurate…seemed to have fled. Brody was nowhere to be seen either, but Lacey and Grant were still lounging hand in hand where I had seen them last.
I paused for a moment before going to rejoin them, just watching them, so in love and so unselfconscious. Grant teasing Lacey by holding a chocolate-dipped strawberry just too high for her to grab, and then kissing her gently before feeding it to her himself. Lacey laughing and relaxing into his arms, her eyes closing in delighted contentment.
Lacey had her man and her job, and she loved them both beyond reason. It was the whole package.
And sometimes I couldn’t help but wonder if my whole package had gotten lost in the mail.
I set my shoulders and told myself to stop wallowing. I had more important things to focus on. It didn’t matter if achieving my dream took years or even decades; I had set my mind and heart on it, and I was going to do it.
And hey, in the meantime, there was always champagne. I snagged a glass off a passing waiter’s tray, and he turned to me with a grin like electricity. Oh, hello, cute waiter from before. Still looking twice as delicious and intoxicating as the champagne he was carrying.
“So,” he said with a Louisiana drawl that had me contemplating how that voice might sound coming from between my thighs, “what’s a pretty lady like you doing in a place like this?”
Well, if he was going to flirt with me first, I definitely wasn’t going to cling to any reservations about flirting with him.
“Oh, nothing much,” I answered back, coming forward and letting my hand rest lightly on his arm. “Just…admiring the scenery.”
Dreams were hard things to achieve. It was a good thing life was stocked with so many pleasant distractions.
THREE
“Hold, please!”
I tried my best to keep my voice chipper as I transferred the call, massaging my temples and wincing as the last pangs of my hangover headache shot through my brain. Ow ow fuckity ow ow. Sometimes distractions are just not worth it.
The waiter hadn’t been much better than the champagne. We’d barely started to get our flirt on when his girlfriend appeared out of nowhere. It turned out she was a waiter at this event too. What was with all the two-timing guys lately?
And so here I was, manning the phones on reception, trying not to die of boredom and second-hand entitlement from all the asshats who thought that ‘receptionist’ was an archaic English word for ‘person put on Earth to cater to my every whim and whom it is appropriate to scream at if she does not immediately divine my exact wishes through telepathy.’
I could see one of those asshats approaching, and it was with considerable relief that I saw one of the phones light up. I grabbed at it like a lifeline.
“Devlin Media Corp., front desk, how can I help you?”
“Hey, Kate, it’s Lacey, time to gossip?”
“Sure thing, ma’am, I’ll walk you through that right now, it should only take about an hour,” I said sweetly. Asshat made an annoyed face, but moved off looking for someone with a more open schedule to harass.
“That scare them off?” Lacey asked. “I still don’t know how you do that job. I had just one jerk yelling at me all day in my old position, and that practically had me running for the hills.”
“Like you ever ran for the hills in your life,” I said. “I bet you don’t even know where the hills are. Anyway, yeah, the hyena’s headed out in search of different prey. What’s up, girl?”
“I cannot believe Grant talked me into a business trip right after the party,” she complained. “I’m so hungover and jetlagged I can’t even get excited about being in London yet. Thank goodness I have the week—I’m going to make time around the meetings to see the Globe Theatre, and Picadilly Square, and at least a few museums.”
“You going to hang around the BBC headquarters at all?” I asked. “Maybe see some of those old spy-fi show stars you love?”
“I wish,” Lacey said with a sigh. “They tore down the old headquarters awhile back, though.”