Just One Night: Part 2 (4 page)

I’m about to panic and run out of there when he smiles and disarms my fear with one sentence. “Mia, where have you been all my living?”

“It’s all my
life
, Pierre. All my
life
. Have I taught you nothing?”

“Of course, Madame. Where have you been all my life?”

“Right here waiting, sweetie pie.” She drops her saccharine sweet smile. “Seriously. Where’s Malcolm and his posse?”

“They are in the back room waiting for you. Allow me to lead the way.”

“You do that,” she says, watching his butt as he walks in front of us. He’s old enough to be her father, but she’s never been one to practice age discrimination.

I bump her on the arm, leaning in so no one will hear me. “You’re terrible.”

“No, I’m not. I’m teaching him proper English. That’s a good deed.”

“You’re teaching him corny pick-up lines.”

“But they’re charming when he uses them.” She stops talking when we reach a dark red, velvet curtain that Pierre lifts to the side for us.

“You will find your dinner companions inside.”

“Thank you, Pierre,” Mia says, kissing him on both cheeks. “Bisous.”

“
Je vous en prie
, Madame. Party like it’s nineteen hundreds and ninety-nine,” he says.

I step behind Mia to access the room as she corrects her student. “Nineteen ninety-nine, Pierre. Party like it’s nineteen ninety-nine. You’ve heard the song, I know you have. Those numbers always screw you up, don’t they?”

“Yes, Madame. The numbers are difficult, it is true.”

My eyes scan the room. It’s paneled in dark mahogany wood. There’s a long table made up with dishes, silver, crystal and linen. Candles twinkle and champagne bubbles from a nearby tray being held by a waiter in black and white. A man lifts a glass to his lips and my heart skips a beat.

“What’s the matter?” Mia asks in my ear, startling me.

“Oh … nothing.” I let out the breath I was holding in a big whoosh of air. “I thought I saw a ghost or something.” It’s not William. It’s a very cute guy, but he’s not William. His hair is darker, his face less angular and his body stockier.
Phew
. That was a close one.

“Don’t look now, but I’ve been targeted.” Her expression goes from annoyed to charmed as the predator gets closer. Pierre fades away into the main part of the restaurant, leaving us to enter the room behind the curtain.

“Mia! I thought you weren’t going to make it.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she says, reaching up to kiss her boss on one cheek as they hold hands briefly between them.

I smile awkwardly, trying not to picture him as a married man hitting on my BFF. Instead of stomping on his foot like I want to, I shake his hand when they pull apart. “I’m Jennifer. Nice to meet you.”

“Jennifer, so very nice to meet you.” I’m pretty sure he means to say,
“Hello, Jennifer’s hooters, nice to meet you. Can I fondle you later? Or now?”
I hate guys like this one, the kind that talk to my chest and never quite look me in the eye. I’ve only met him once before and that was enough. Tonight only solidifies my impression that he’s a letch and he doesn’t deserve my friend. I feel really sorry for his wife.

“So who’s here tonight and what are we trying to get done?” Mia asks. I think she’s trying really hard not to rub her hands together. She can be pretty hardcore business when she’s in the mood. I see people, she sees business opportunities. That’s probably why she mingles with the high rollers and I don’t.

Malcolm leans over and takes two glasses of champagne from the tray that’s moving past, handing one flute to me and one to Mia. I stare down into the glass as the bubbles rise up to the top. It strikes me that I could take one sip and start the process of an allergic reaction; that would get me out of here in a hurry. I could throw my drink down Mia’s dress too and get her out of here with me. I chew my lip as I contemplate my other options.

Malcolm nods at the man who gave me a heart attack when I came in. “That gentleman over there with the dark hair is new to me. He’s the plus-one of Gloria Goodman. I believe he’s new to the area. And in the corner over there with the mustache we have Victor Villanova. I would appreciate it if you would introduce yourself to both of them and make yourself available should they have any questions. We’ll go for the soft sell tonight. Everyone else is just … decoration. You can ignore them.” He rubs his hand on her arm as he says ‘soft sell’ and Mia waits two seconds before moving sideways, bumping into me.

“Oh, sorry,” she says, flustered.

Seeing Mia flustered is enough to get me freaking. Panic mode,
engage!
“Hey! Cheese!” I say probably way too loudly, grabbing her by the elbow and pulling her towards the small buffet of appetizers at the end of the long room. We leave Malcolm in our dust.

“Cheese? What are you doing?” she asks, trying to look graceful as we plow across the room. A few of those decorative couples are in our way, but I’m good at bobbing and weaving.

“Shut up, I’m saving you.” We stop at the cubes of cheese and look at one another. “Thanks,” she says, taking a long swallow of her champagne. “That was a close one.”

“Just stay away from him. He told you to talk to those guys, so that’s the excuse you need. Whenever you see him coming, go schmooze the other one. Like a tennis match. Bap, bap, bap.”

“Okay, gotcha. Good plan.” Mia takes another swig of her champagne, acting more like it’s a bottle of Bud than anything from France.

“Might I interest you in a puff pastry?” says a British-flavored voice from behind me.

My heart drops to the floor and all the blood disappears from my face as I break out in a cold sweat. So, this is what cardiac arrest feels like.

Mia smiles. “Well, hello there, English. Don’t mind if I do.” She takes a pastry from the man behind me and pops it into her mouth. “Mmm, delish,” she says after swallowing it down.

I stare at a flake of pastry on her lip. I can’t breathe. I can’t move. I’m frozen, imagining all the things I will say to William when I turn around. Can I be cool? Can I act like he didn’t rock my universe exactly one week ago and leave me a mess?

“So … how long have you been in town?” Mia asks. She’s trying to turn on the charm, but I think I’m distracting her. She keeps casting me funny looks.

“Just long enough, it appears.”

I’m confused by that. He’s flirting with my friend while I’m standing right here? I know he saw me from across the room. How rude. Apparently that might meant nothing to him. How is that even possible? How can one person be so turned upside down while the other remains completely unaffected? How is that even fair? I clamp my mouth tight to keep from saying something I’ll regret. Getting Mia fired will definitely get my BFF card revoked, and she did keep me from committing suicide by Vitamin C today.

I slowly turn, pasting a casual, uppity bitch expression on my face. If he can do it, so can I. I can just look him in the eye and pretend like nothing ever …

Zzzzzip … Zzzzaap …
Ziiing!
My brain short-circuits as the face registers.

“You’re not …” I point at him and frown.

William’s voice or something very close to his voice comes out of the wrong mouth. “I’m not … what?” He grins, revealing teeth that twist around just like William’s. Or kind of like William’s. My heart skips a beat as I remember that mouth of his coming so close to mine, touching me, making love to me. Will I feel this way every time I see an Englishman? If that’s the case, I need to move somewhere much farther away.

Words come pouring out before I can stop them. “Does everyone in England have crooked teeth like that?”

“Whoa nelly,” Mia exclaims, “that’s enough champagne for you!” She grabs my glass out of my hand and hands it unceremoniously over to the handsome William-imposter. He takes it without a word. “Excuse us while we go powder our noses,” she says, pushing me away from the buffet and towards the velvet curtain.

“Where are we going?” I ask, half glad I’m being led away and half wanting to look over my shoulder. I’m beginning to think that what just happened was some sort of hallucination. I really shouldn’t have drunk that last gallon of orange juice. Did I really just say that?

“Are you completely and totally
insane
?” she whisper-growls at me. “Do you want me to lose my job? He’s a potential
investor
, Jennifer.”

I try to play it off like it wasn’t awful. “I just asked him an innocent question.”

She pushes me into the ladies room. “You don’t tell people who you just met that their teeth are all fucked up!”

“I didn’t say that!” I stand in front of the sinks and mirrors, facing my friend. “I like them like that. I was just wondering …”

“Yeah. I heard you the first time. You were wondering if everyone in England has fucked up teeth.” She shakes her head at me in disgust. “Jesus, how much OJ did you drink before I came over?”

I look down at the ground. “Not that much.”

“Seriously, Jennifer, you cannot sabotage my night tonight. This is important.” She leaves off lecturing me to lean over the sink and stare at her face. “Big things are about to happen for me. I can feel it.”

“I know. I don’t mean to be a freak. It’s just that his teeth reminded me of someone.”

She pauses and turns to face me. “Don’t tell me … let me guess … the one night stand guy?”

I nod.

She rolls her eyes and then goes back to rubbing invisible marks off her cheek. “Give it a rest. It’s over, just like you said. You knew the deal going into it. No use crying over it now.”

“You said I should call him less than an hour ago.”

“I’m stupid. Don’t listen to me.”

“Can I get that in writing?”

“Seriously, Jen. Stay away from that phone and that guy. He’s completely messed you up and it was only one night. Could you imagine what would happen if you really got together?” She shakes her head. “Holy nightmare on Elmstreet.”

“It’s not that bad.” I’m not sure I believe myself, but it feels like at least a token protest is in order.

“You need to just swear off men for a while. Recalibrate your hootchie and your brain. Maybe do some yoga or something.” She straightens and goes into a stall to pee. She talks over the sound of the stream. “Do like a hundred downward dogs and call me in the morning.”

“Does that mean I can go home now?”

“No. You have to stay for dinner and then go to the club with me.”

“This club?”

“No. The Monster Club place.”

“I don’t want to. I can’t dance.” Memories of a certain waltz come in to mess with my head.

“You don’t need to dance. You just need to gyrate a little bit. Standing in place.”

I lean against the sinks. “I suppose I can gyrate.”

“There you go.” She comes out of the stall and washes her hands. “Are you ready to go back out there?”

“No?” I look at her with my most pitiful expression, hoping she’ll feel sorry enough for me that I’ll get a pass.

“Tough titties. Come on.” She hooks her arm through mine and pulls me out of the sanctuary that is the potty. “No champagne, okay? Stick to wine only.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

We near the red, velvet curtain. “Did you hear me?” she asks.

“Yes, wine only, I heard you.” A mumble beneath my breath. “A deaf man could hear you.”

“I heard that.” Mia sweeps the curtain aside, and I stand very still with my eyes closed as I recover from the material hitting me in the face.

“Oops, sorry.” She pulls me harder and I step forward, my eyes still closed. “Oh, my,” she says, her tone switching to one of admiration. “Our English friend has company. And my, oh my, oh my is he a hunka-hunka burnin’ love.”

I lift my lids and nearly have a stroke when I find myself staring across the room into William’s eyes.

CHAPTER FOUR

William

I’VE TIPPED MY HEAD DOWN to listen to something Edward is saying, but he stops in mid-sentence. “There she is,” he says. “Lady Perfection and her awkward friend.”

I lift my eyes to see the object of his latest affections. Apparently, Sleeping Beauty herself is in our midst and she is not the woman he came here with. Surprise, surprise.

My gaze locks on the beauty now staring at me from across the room, and I feel my chest go completely numb. I’m too young to have a heart attack. Perhaps it’s heart burn. I shall blame it on the cheese.

“Do you see her?” he asks.

“Mmmm?” I take a sip of my wine. It’s musty and oaky, a flavor I’m all too familiar with after having attended many events such as this one in the past. I wish I could drown myself in an entire cask of it right now. Anything but be here to face my dreams and my nightmares all rolled into one memory.

He elbows me in the ribs. “The totty across the room over there. She’s a stunner, eh?”

“She’s passing attractive.”

“Passing attractive? That’s bloody bollocks is what that is. Have you gone naf, then? Become a poofter? Lost your eyesight? No longer able to see any farther than the end of your nose? I told you all that work was going to stunt your growth. Now look at ya.” He snorts in disgust as he looks down at my waistband. “Your winkle’s all shriveled up in your trousers. Doesn’t even know what a girl looks like anymore.”

“Father would be so proud,” I say, referring to his crass talk. He always did favor the more colorful aspects of our language. I’m trying not to let it phase me that Jennifer No-Last-Name is walking this way in the company of another woman. I’m still not sure which woman to which he’s been referring.

“Oh, do shut up about the old tosser, would you? I’m trying to have some fun tonight.”

“Well, don’t let me stand in your way of that.”

He ignores me in favor of staring at the girls. “Yeah, she’s fit, she is.”

I can tell from his tone he’s already dreaming of getting her out of her knickers. I’m positively manky thinking that my brother could be lusting after the girl I haven’t been able to get out of my mind for an entire week. Not many women can resist his charms. It’s true that I agreed to one night only and upon its conclusion that would be the end of things between us, but I’m not certain that I can stomach the idea of my brother enjoying the same arrangement with her. With Jennifer.