Love at Large (13 page)

Gwen started to leave, but stopped. She turned to face Cynthia, her expression serious. “I really want to meet Clark and I want you there when I do. Please re-write the ad and let’s go on a double date like we agreed.”

“Gwen, I told you when you first got this silly idea into your head that I don’t want to meet anyone. I’m perfectly happy being a divorced single mother. I like my life just the way it is.” She looked at Gwen’s determined face and sighed. “Tell you what; I’ll go with you when you meet this Clark person. I’ll even stay for the entire date, if you like. Tell him he’s got a two-fer; that’s every man’s dream, isn’t it? If he’s as nice as you think, then the second date you’re on your own. Deal?”

A shadow came over Gwen’s lovely face and her brows knitted together.

“Okay, okay,” Cynthia told her quickly, “I’ll go out with you as a third wheel until you tell me to take a hike or until this guy has me bumped off, whichever comes first. Deal?”

Gwen perked up. “Deal.”

C
LARK AND
D
AVE
Baxter waited in the bar at Houston’s in the Century City Mall for Gwen and Cynthia to arrive.

“I don’t know why you need me here,” Dave told his brother over the happy hour noise.

“I told you, Gwen didn’t want to meet me alone, so her friend is coming. I thought it would be nice to make it a foursome. It’s not like I expect you to marry her, just be civil and charming for a few hours.”

“So what does this friend look like? Did you bother asking?”

“No, I didn’t, but Gwen is in her late thirties and very attractive, so I’m sure her friend is about the same.”

“Don’t bet on it,” Dave said, giving his brother a nudge in the direction of the door.

Clark turned and saw two women walk into the bar area and look around. Based on the photo posted on Love Bytes, one was definitely Gwen Rodgers, and he thought her every bit as beautiful as her photo, maybe even more so. By her side was a very attractive full-figured woman with honey colored hair cut in a high-fashioned bob. She looked a bit older than Gwen and carried herself with an air of confidence and success. Both women were beautifully dressed from head to toe in fashionable business attire, and he noted with a smile that the friend’s suit was cut to accentuate her full bosom and curvy hips.

As the women approached, Clark couldn’t help but notice the striking deep blue of the older woman’s eyes. He also couldn’t help but notice his brother’s surly look. “I know it’s a stretch, Dave,” he whispered in his brother’s ear, “but I think a few hours of grown-up conversation might do you good.” Dave gave his brother a vulgar but discrete hand gesture.

“Hi,” Clark said cheerfully. “You must be Gwen.” He held out his hand to her and they shook politely.

“And you must be Clark,” Gwen answered back with a nervous smile. “This is my friend Cynthia Quinn.” Cynthia and Clark shook hands and Clark felt himself pulled into the woman’s eyes as if diving into a deep lake.

Clark turned to Dave. “And this is my brother Dave. He’s staying with me for a few weeks so I asked him to join us.” Dave smiled slightly at Gwen but his smile faded when he looked at Cynthia. He made no move to shake either woman’s hand.

All through dinner Cynthia wished that Clark had come alone. Where Clark was considerate and charming, his brother was rude and sullen. They were both very distinguished and successful looking and resembled each other a great deal. Cynthia guessed them to be close to six feet tall. The differences were that Dave’s body was very toned and his hair was dark with graying at the temples, while Clark’s physique was a bit soft and his hair was salt and pepper. Too bad, she thought more than once, that Dave was so unpleasant. It would have been fun to do more together.

“So you’re a lawyer?” Cynthia asked Dave when there was a lull in the conversation.

“Yes,” he replied curtly and gawked around the dining room, never looking at her.

“My brother is a sole practitioner. He specializes in real estate law,” Clark added to bridge the awkwardness.

Gwen chimed in. “Cyn and I specialize in legal staff placements. You’ll have to give us a call if you ever need a temp or a new secretary.”

“I doubt that I will,” Dave said, looking briefly at Gwen.

Clark smiled at Gwen. “Dave’s staff has been with him forever. They never leave or get sick. He wouldn’t stand for it.”

“Somehow, I believe that,” said Cynthia just before taking a sip of her water.

Dave shot her a scowl.

“You’ll have to excuse my brother,” Clark told them. “He and his lady friend just broke up and he’s not himself.”

“Both Gwen and I are divorced,” Cynthia said to Dave with a sympathetic smile. “We understand how tough that can be.”

Dave looked down his nose at Cynthia with glaring disdain. Across the table Gwen sucked in her breath.

“My brother has been married several times, I’m afraid,” Clark added, giving his brother a stern look. “Too bad he doesn’t treat his wives and girlfriends like he does his secretaries.”

“I do,” Dave replied with a smirk. “Both require large sums of cash to keep around. The secretaries just don’t have to live with me.”

Cynthia laughed softly. “Now there’s an employment perk I could sell to an applicant.”

“
C
AN YOU BELIEVE
it?” Clark asked his brother on the way home in the car. “Cynthia is the woman who called herself
middle-aged
and
menopausal
in her ad.”

“And don’t forget the part about owning a gun,” Dave added sarcastically. “That was also classy.”

Clark shot his brother an annoyed glance. “You certainly did your best to ruin the evening. Any special reason?” Clark made a right-hand turn off of Olympic Boulevard onto Beverly Drive, and soon after onto Sawyer. He and Nancy had lived in the Beverlywood area of Los Angeles, just south of Beverly Hills, for years.

“I prefer picking my own dates, thank you.”

“Both of those women are charming, intelligent, and beautiful.”

“Well, one of them was.”

“I would stack Cynthia Quinn up against any of your silicone enhanced bimbos any day. You know, she started up that agency from almost nothing after her husband abandoned her and her daughter.” He received no response. “Too bad you prefer flash over substance.”

Dave laughed. “
Substantial
, now that is an adjective I would use to describe Ms. Quinn.”

Clark pulled the car into the driveway and opened the garage door with the automatic opener. When they got into the house, he poured them both a brandy.

“I have another favor, little brother,” he said, handing Dave the snifter.

Dave looked at him suspiciously. “Maybe I should pay you rent while I’m here. It’d be less stressful than all these favors.”

“Aw come on, admit it, you had fun tonight in spite of yourself.”

“I will admit that the filet mignon was perfectly cooked and the wine particularly good.”

Kicking off his shoes, Clark settled himself on the sofa and took a sip of brandy. “I have four tickets to the Ahmanson Theatre this Saturday evening. I want to take Gwen and I want you and Cynthia to come along. We’ll go to dinner after. It’ll be my treat.”

Dave took several sips of his brandy before answering. “First of all, Clark, you’re acting like Ms. BBW of the Year and I are dating. We’re not. I don’t date fat chicks and you know it. But I’ll tell you what, why don’t we go to dinner first, then I take that hot little number Gwen out dancing and you and Cynthia can go to the theatre.

“What is wrong with you, Dave? Cynthia Quinn is a very beautiful and accomplished woman. You should be proud to be seen with her.”

“Then you date her. In fact, why aren’t you dating her? Seems you’re quite taken with Cynthia. You talked more with her than Gwen during dinner and you’ve talked more about her than Gwen since dinner.”

“I have not,” Clark shot back, but noted his brother’s raised eyebrows.

Later that night in bed, Clark thought about the evening, going over the dinner conversation. Dave was right; he did spend more time conversing with Cynthia than with Gwen. Gwen was smart and delightful, a perfect companion, but she didn’t have Cynthia’s poise or razor-sharp intelligence. She was also more withdrawn and guarded about herself and changed the subject when asked personal questions. And it had been obvious to him that Gwen looked to Cynthia as her mentor and not just because of the age difference.

He thought about their physical attributes. Gwen’s figure was firm and trim and perfectly proportioned; exactly the type of body every woman vied for. Her face was angelic, though bore a deep sadness. He wondered about that. Maybe that was part of her reluctance to talk about herself. Cynthia’s face, on the other hand, although also beautiful, was etched with fine lines around her incredible eyes, lines that spoke of hard-earned wisdom. Her body was far from perfect, but Clark couldn’t deny the stirrings in his own body when he remembered how her full breasts pushed against her silk blouse or the sway of her hips as she walked ahead of him to their table. When he thought about Cynthia’s body, the word
lush
came to mind. Why, Clark thought to himself in the dark, couldn’t Dave see that?

“
N
O, NO, NO,”
Cynthia said the following Monday morning. Gwen had just approached her about attending the theatre Saturday. Gwen started to speak, but Cynthia cut her off with a raised index finger. “I said no.”

Gwen placed her two hands on Cynthia’s desk and leaned forward. “Please, Cyn. I really like Clark and I think he likes me. We were on the phone last night for over an hour.”

Cynthia shook her head slowly. “I can see
no
means about as much to you as it does to my daughter.” She looked at Gwen. She had never been this excited about a man before and Clark Baxter did seem very nice. In fact, Cynthia was a bit envious. She would have liked to have been paired with him over his obnoxious brother, any day. “I think Clark is a true gentleman. Why don’t you see him one on one now? You don’t need me or his pain in the butt brother hanging around.”

Gwen suddenly looked panicked. “No, Cyn, not yet, please. I know he seems wonderful, but I just need to make sure first. Please do this for me.”

Cynthia knew she was beaten. She wanted happiness for Gwen almost as much as she wanted happiness for her daughter, Emma. If Gwen needed her support a little bit longer, she would provide it.

“Okay,” she finally said, “bring on the Baxters, both the good and the evil.” Gwen skipped around the desk and hugged Cynthia tightly.

C
YNTHIA
Q
UINN HAD
had enough. It seemed to her that Dave Baxter was going out of his way to make everyone miserable. It was obvious that he had been drafted into the evening just as she had been, but at least she had the good graces to make the best of it. The evening should have been delightful; drinks, the theatre and a lovely supper afterward. But Dave was behaving like a spoiled and petulant child forced to visit a great-aunt with twelve cats. And she knew it had to do with her. Dave pointedly ignored her and spent much of the evening so far ogling cocktail waitresses. When he did speak, it was curt and to his brother, with a few sparse words to Gwen. He had not said one word to her all evening.

They were finishing up cocktails and getting ready to leave for the theatre when Clark reached into his pocket and pulled out a vibrating cell phone.

“Sorry, folks, but my boys said they’d call about now. I’ll take this outside.”

“Cyn,” Gwen said after Clark left the table, “would you like to go to the ladies room with me?”

“No, thank you, Gwen. I think I’ll break tradition and stay right here.” Cynthia flashed Dave a big saccharine smile. “Besides, I think it’s time, Brother Dave and I got to know each other better, don’t you, Dave?”

Dave narrowed his eyes at her but said nothing.

Cynthia turned back to Gwen who was now looking like a scared rabbit. Gwen knew very well what that tone meant. Without another word she left the table.

Cynthia turned back to Dave, her fake smile gone. “Now listen up, counselor, my friend Gwen really likes your brother, and I won’t have you ruining what should be a nice evening for the two of them. I don’t want to be here with you anymore than you want to be here with me, but them’s the breaks. We do what we have to for the people we love. So get over yourself and fast. You can go back to being a self-centered and selfish idiot tomorrow.”

“Me, self-centered and selfish? Boy, that’s rich.” Dave tossed back the last of his martini and called to the waitress for another, not bothering to see if Cynthia wanted one. “Why don’t you lose some weight so you can get dates on your own and not have to sponge off your cute friends?”

“What?” Cynthia sputtered. “Sponging off my friends? Is that what you think this is all about?”

Dave turned to face her, his face tight and bitter. “Clark told me how Gwen won’t go on a date without you. If you really are Gwen’s friend, you’ll get a life of your own. Or better yet, stay home and eat bonbons so I can have some fun.”