Class Reunion (4 page)

She would never have guessed that Nicholas would want to marry someone because of the way she looked—especially not someone as awful at Patti Malone—but, with her own ears, she’d just heard him say that’s exactly what he wanted to do.

But he’d seemed so passionate last night...
Tears of disappointment trickled down Dana’s cheeks. She’d assumed that a fire had flared in him just as it had in her. Of course, she reminded herself, guys are different. What she’d taken for passionate love was no doubt one more sexual jaunt for him. She dashed the tears away angrily. She would not be like that. It had been great and it was over. An afternoon’s delight and no more than that with the man she’d always regarded as her best friend in the world. And still did, damn it.

But maybe she was mistaken. He could have meant her, right? The way he’d looked at her had made her feel loved. Maybe it wasn’t only lust. Maybe he
did
care about her that way and, looking on her with loving eyes, he’d thought her beautiful.

But if he didn’t love her, she’d never let him know she had thought their glorious encounter was more than a one-night stand. She wasn’t going to lose her beloved e-mail friend over this.

And fact was, whether he loved her or not, she wanted a second helping of what she’d just had. So she’d wear that sexy scarlet underwear she’d bought especially for him. She wanted one more night of passion, and she was damn well going to get it.

Chapter Seven

It’s hard to walk alone into a room full of old acquaintances when not a single one of them had been a friend. But to make it even harder, Dana’s head was full of confused thoughts about Nicholas.

“My old bud Nick rushed you out of Harvey’s.” Ugh, the first person to talk to her would be Jay Bunting, the biggest creep she’d ever had the misfortune to meet. “Johnny said you were looking at each other all lovey-dovey before I got there. I guess my man Nick just couldn’t wait to get into your pants. Then he goes on the TV and tells the world he’s jonesing for the prettiest girl in the school. That wouldn’t be you.” He laughed—a cackling, harsh sound that she remembered from way back when he’d been her classmate. “Of course our old bud has done so well for himself he wouldn’t want anything but the very best for himself, now would he?”

Suddenly she was furious. “Nicholas is not like that. He’d never choose someone just because of the way she looks. And the best doesn’t necessarily mean the most beautiful-looking.”

Jay cackled again. “Jealous, are you? Well, he’s just the same as any normal guy. And any normal guy would take the most beautiful woman he could find to show off as his wife.”

Dana stormed away, wondering how someone could have such shallow values. She wondered if any of the others had changed, or if they were all still the same awful people they’d been in high school.

She walked over to the bar and ordered a glass of wine. A smiling Patti Malone appeared at her side. She was even lovelier than Dana remembered.
Spoiled, self-indulgent, back-biting Patti Malone who’d made fun of Nicholas and made a point of putting me down any chance she got.

“My, my, look who lost weight,” Patti crooned. “I guess you could catch a man now. What are you up to?”

As if you really care.
“I teach school now—fifth grade.”

“My, my, a schoolteacher,” Patti said in a sarcastic tone as though teaching school were something underhanded and dirty. “How do you put up with all those brats?”

“I like them,” Dana said shortly.

“You married?”

“No.”

“Me neither. I’m a widow, you know. I made the mistake of marrying an old man. He had a heart attack and died.” She sighed.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It was terrible. The old bastard hadn’t changed his will like he promised me, so I got left without one single red cent. His children were so selfish, they wouldn’t give me anything—just told me to take my clothes and get out. Nice, huh?”

“No, not nice.”

“I had to sell the engagement ring and a couple of other pieces—they were his ex-wife’s. He’d promised them to his daughter, but hey, she wasn’t around, and I had to get something out of the whole thing, didn’t I? Served her right. She was the one who called and told me to leave so they could sell the house. Never offered to help me or anything.

“I sold it all—that’s what I’m living on. But soon I’ll be in a safe harbor, with someone rich of course, but also young and really good-looking.” She put her hands on her hips. “You can be sure I’ll go for an airtight pre-nup this time.” She winked.

Dana was speechless. The adult Patti was just as venal as the teenage Patti had been. And was she thinking of Nicholas as her safe harbor? The idea alone made her flesh crawl.

Even if she herself couldn’t have him, Dana hoped—even said a little prayer—that Nicholas would not fall for someone as awful as Patti.

“Gotta run,” Patti said. “Nice chatting with you.”

You mean chatting
at
me
, Dana thought, but she just nodded.

“Dana, is that really you?” Sondra Cardin sidled up to her. “Don’t you look a whole lot better than you did in ninth grade?”

“Hi, Sondra.”

“Can you do me a favor, sweetie? Can we switch seats? I see they’ve got you next to Nicholas and I sure would like to catch up with him. I know you guys were friends way, way back, but Nick and I always had a really special bond—and I really need to have a good ol’ chat with him.”

Friends? Catch up?
Dana recalled how Sondra and her clique had acted as though Nicholas were invisible
. “Special bond” my ass.

“Sorry, Sondra, I prefer to stay where I am.”

Sondra gave an impatient sigh and walked away, her stilettos clacking against the faux wooden floor.

No wonder I hated school here.
She remembered that there were some nice kids in the grade above theirs and in the grade below. She and Nicholas just happened to be in the class from hell.

She scanned the crowd, wondering how long it’d be before Nicholas arrived, when she spotted him at the entrance to the ballroom. When he saw her, his face seemed to light up and he smiled and walked quickly toward her.

She didn’t know if he extended his hands first or if she did, but they clasped each other’s hands, Dana grinning from ear to ear. She forgot all about her fears that he didn’t care for her, and she forgot all about her wretched classmates.

She could think only of his smile, of how her heart beat furiously, of how much he meant to her. And that she’d like to drag him right out of here now and take him back to the hotel and into bed.

“Dana.” He said her name and her heart did a backflip. Then she found herself being jostled aside so hard that her hands slipped out of Nicholas’s. Sondra and a group of women surrounded him, hugging him and cooing about how nice it was to see him again, each vying for his attention. A couple of them gave her a barely polite, “Hi, Dana,” while the rest ignored her completely.

She watched, arms folded, tapping her foot in exasperation until the women surrounding Nicholas were pushed aside by Jay Bunting.

“Yo, old buddy! Great to see you. So cool you could come to our little party here in backwards old Aurelia.” He slapped Nicholas on the back and Nicholas frowned.

“You owe me one for rescuing you from that blabbermouth, Sally, and Johnny-the-loser Hoffman over at Harvey’s. Hoffman is pathetic. Never made anything of himself. Satisfied with staying in town and working in the water department.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.” Nicholas’s frown deepened.

“Not like you and me—ambitious, bold. We went out in the world to get ahead, didn’t we? To make lots of money. Show the rest of this town what we’re made of.”

“That was never my intention.” Dana could see the revulsion in the curl of Nicholas’s lip.

“Of course, of course. You’ve done a whole lot better than me. You always were the smartest kid around.” He sounded aggrieved, annoyed for a few seconds. Obviously he held Nicholas’s intelligence against him. “But I’m going to catch up with you, buddy, you just wait and see. It’s just that what I’m doing is more complex, you know. Takes a whole lot more work than what you did.”

Nicholas’s frown morphed into a scowl. His lips pressed into a hard line.

Dana couldn’t stay quiet any longer. “Nicholas worked very hard to get where he is,” she snapped, anger nearly choking her. Jay had just cheated and bullied his way through school and probably had done the same since.

“Yeah, yeah. Of course.” Jay slicked back his hair. “I just meant I’ve had a few more things to deal with, so that’s why I’m not as successful as I would have been if some things had been different.”

“Excuse me, Jay,” Nicholas said, “but Dana promised me this dance.”

“Oh. Yeah. Sure, you go ahead.”

Nicholas led her to the middle of the dance floor, took her in his arms, and they began to sway to the music.

Dana exhaled loudly. “He always was a horrible person—even when he was a kid. In third grade he used to pinch my arm really hard to try to make me cry.”

Nicholas shook his head. “He certainly did everything to make my life miserable all through high school. His friends did too.”

“I hated them and I was scared of them too.”

“Uh oh—he’s sitting down at our table. Just like at the restaurant. Let’s just sit somewhere else.”

“I’ll have to get my purse, but that sounds good to me.”

Patti Malone tapped Dana on the shoulder. “May I cut in?”

Too surprised to think how to refuse, Dana nodded and stepped aside.

“You’ll be risking your toes,” Nicholas said, sounding as though someone had cut off his air supply.

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take.” Patti said, a saccharine smile spreading across her perfectly made-up face.
She’s truly stunning
, Dana thought bitterly as she made her way to the edge of the dance floor.

She watched disconsolately as Patti smiled and flirted. When the music segued into a slow number, the beautiful woman pushed herself up real close and personal while Nicholas looked frantically around.

He’s looking for me
, Dana thought, her heart doing a happy little backflip.
He wants to dance with me!
She weaved her way back through the crowd and tapped Patti on the shoulder.

“My turn,” she said brightly. If looks could kill, Dana would have died right then.

But Patti spoke sweetly. “Just a few more minutes, Dana. Nick and I are just becoming reacquainted. Then you can have him right back.”

Dana was speechless, but she didn’t move.
C’mon, give her a piece of your mind
, she told herself.

“Tell you what, honey,” Patti purred, “there are several guys sitting around just waiting for one of us girls to ask him to dance. Why don’t you go ahead and do that instead of wasting your time on a man who already has a willing”—she looked up at Nicholas and smiled—”in fact, a
very
willing partner.” With that she slid her arms around Nicholas’s neck and pushed herself closer to him.

Nicholas stopped moving and stood stock still although Patti kept grinding herself against him.

“Uh, look, Patti,” he said, “I was dancing with Dana and, uh—”

“Honey, you are free to dance with anyone you like.” She smiled seductively up at him. “Dana doesn’t own you just because you were nice enough to ask her to dance.”

“I, uh, I don’t want to be rude, but...”

“That’s okay, Dana will understand. Won’t you, Dana honey?”

“No,” Dana snarled. She could feel her cheeks heat up with rage. “I certainly won’t.”

“Excuse me,” Nicholas said, pulling Patti’s arms away. “I want to dance with my fiancée.”

Both Dana and Patti gasped.

Patti recovered first. “Oh! Well! I had no idea.” She released her hold on Nicholas and stepped back. “Gold-digger,” she hissed in Dana’s ear before storming off.

“Did you say fiancée?” Dana whispered as she stepped into his arms. Her head was spinning. Had she heard right? Did he mean it?

“Yes, I did.”

“Did you... What I mean is... What?”

“Well I thought, that is, I hoped...”

“What did you hope?” Dana’s heart fluttered in her chest as they stood still, staring at each other as the other couples swirled around them. The music seemed to have grown softer, more distant.

“Well, I was wondering if you would like to, that is, if you’d be willing to—”

“Excuse me, folks, I won’t take a minute here, Nick. Just want to say hi. It’s been too long.” It was Dino Leonardis. Dana knew that back in school he and Nicholas had never exchanged a friendly word. “I’d like to invite you to join us at our table.” He pointed to a tableful of waving, smiling classmates. “We’ve got a couple bottles of some very serious champagne, which we’ll open in a few minutes, and we hoped you could join us. Oh and you too, Dana.”

“That’s real nice of you,” Nicholas said, “but no thanks. I’m leaving. Would you care to accompany me, Dana?”

“You bet!” she said, grinning broadly. She took a firm grip of his hand.

“Leaving?” Dino sounded puzzled.

“Goodbye, Dino.”

“I’ll grab my bag really quick,” she said. “Best you don’t go near Jay or he’ll be all over you again.” Nicholas laughed and nodded, his sky blue eyes shining.

Dana gave Jay the fakest smile she could muster as she pulled her bag from the back of the chair in which he was sitting. He took hold of her arm. “Dana, you tell Nick that I have a business proposition he might be real interested in investing in. It’s a great chance for him to work with an old bud.”

“Old bud?” she said, so furious she could hardly get the words out. She’d had it with all these cruel, self-absorbed phonies. It was clear as day that they were just as horrible now as they’d been back in high school and that hell would most likely freeze over before they ever changed. Now was her chance. She took a deep breath and let him have it. “You were never his friend. In fact, you were nonstop horrible to him in school—always making fun of him, always trying to make him feel bad. Now you pretend to be all buddy-buddy because Nicholas has made a name for himself. There’s no way Nicholas would ever want anything to do with a lazy, mean-spirited, despicable loser like you.”