One-Off (13 page)

Her eyes widened slightly, probably just as surprised by my stupid mouth. “Do we know what they want?”

“Dallas emailed the options.”

“Speaking of wedding guests,” she started. “Colin is a little concerned about the rest of his party. He thought it was just going to be you and me, but I guess Dallas has her two sisters?”

“Right.”

“He’s not sure what to do. He’s got his dad and our favorite cousin, Logan, but I think he wanted to let his dad just be his dad at the wedding and Logan can get a little tipsy when there’s free scotch.”

My brow furrowed. “He doesn’t want to ask any of his friends?” He had a few good friends that he spent poker nights with or saw at the gym. He shouldn’t have trouble rounding up two other guys. “Does Dallas know?”

“No, and that’s part of the problem.”

“That he won’t tell her or doesn’t feel comfortable telling her?”

“Both. Just more proof that they may not be suited.” She glanced away almost guilty for having voiced the thought. “I’m worried. Aren’t you? If they can’t talk about something this simple, how can they make a life communicating together?”

She had a point. I’d been more worried that they might not know each other well enough yet, but I didn’t let it go to thinking they might not be suited for each other. I just thought they had to communicate better like they do on their show. This wedding party thing was a pretty trivial matter. I could see why he wouldn’t want to disrupt Dallas’s idea of a perfect wedding party with the hard reality of his less than stellar choices. It was hard to disappoint Dallas.

“It’s not like Dallas can keep her sisters out of the party. They’ll never speak to her again.”

Her shoulders hiked up. “He wants it to be just me.”

I contemplated the various options. “It’s already unique enough having a woman stand up for him. I don’t see why having only you would be so unusual.”

“That’s what I told him.” She seemed delighted that we agreed on this. “He’s going to try to break it to Dallas later today.”

“I’ll support whatever he decides. The sisters might actually like the idea of walking in and out alone. More attention on them.”

“I’ll let him know.” She glanced around again. “Fancy some dinner before we get on with the gifts?”

That didn’t sound like something to get because we were hungry and had other things to do later but more like she might enjoy sitting down to dinner with me. These past two weeks had been the oddest of my life.

Seventeen

The doorbell interrupted an attempt to rid my skin of the day’s grime. Another mini-crisis on one of the political talk shows had some of the guests getting their panties in a twist over something one of the hosts said. Agents were called, handlers were brought in, and political party heads had their asses kissed. I’d ordered more flower arrangements than Morgan could manage in one afternoon. Fruit and gift baskets went out as well.

I dunked my head under the spray to rinse out the conditioner then ripped a towel off the bar. Wrapping it quickly around my body, I raced to my bedroom for a robe.

Downstairs, my hand reached for the doorknob as I searched the foyer table for my wallet. Cash in hand, I turned back to accept the pizza I’d ordered and found myself staring into Ainsley’s chest. My eyes flipped up to hers in confusion. No pizza and Ainsley an hour early?

“Are you paying me for something?” Her eyes looked at my outstretched hand.

“I thought you were pizza.”

“I’ve been called a lot of things, but never pizza.”

I felt naked as her eyes drifted over me. I’d managed to slip on the robe over the towel, but with wet hair and bare legs, she knew I was just out of the shower. I shouldn’t feel odd about that. We’d shared a tiny apartment with one bathroom in New York. She’d seen me in a towel before, most definitely in a robe before. My hair wet, my face scrubbed of makeup, and the worst bedhead imaginable. Roommates saw each other that way, but for some reason, this felt very different.

“I ordered pizza.” My stupid mouth was taking over again and stating the obvious.

“You’ve said.”

We were still standing on the doorstep. Me, almost naked, she, looking gorgeous in charcoal colored slacks and a pink patterned shirt. Her hair hung loose again, billowing out around her shoulders. I wanted to reach up and shove my fingers into it. It would be soft, I was sure. Silky, too, because she wasn’t using products like gel or mousse. If she did, her wispy curls would be under more control and look nowhere near as soft.

I started in place, realizing I hadn’t let her inside yet. Today had really done a number on me. I stepped back and waved her inside. “Did you take a cab instead of Metro?”

“No.” She looked at me oddly, or maybe she was still hung up on the fact that I was dripping and nearly naked.

“Weren’t you coming over in an hour?”

“Half seven, you said.”

“Right,” I confirmed.

Her head tipped toward the wall clock in my living room. My eyes bulged when I noted the time. I’d really spent that much time in the shower? Or maybe it was the time spent zoning out in my closet stripping off my clothes or staring vacantly into the bathroom mirror trying to forget the constant stream of EPs from every show complaining about how hard their jobs were going to be now that one of the political parties threatened to keep their people off our shows. Days like this one made it difficult to like my job, but I really couldn’t give it more thought or I might act irrationally for the first time in my life.

“Damn,” I whispered.

“Take your time,” she said understandably. “The nice thing about the internet is that it’s open twenty-four hours.”

I gave her a wistful smile. “I’ll go change. If the pizza comes, will you hand over the money, please?” I pushed the fistful of cash into her hand and dashed back up the stairs.

Without thinking, I chose a pair of dark slacks and a sleeveless blouse. Dressier than I’d normally go for an evening at home, but I’d make an effort because Ainsley looked so nice. I ran a brush through my hair, inspecting the color variations. The worst thing about going back to a natural color was the time it took to rinse out the dye while hiding the root growth. I could visit the salon for a coloring to match my natural, but I’d never seen a red dye job that looked good. It hadn’t been a conscious choice to go back to my natural color. Once the wedding plans were dumped on us, I didn’t have time to think about it. The fact that Ainsley complimented my red had nothing to do with it. Nothing at all.

Back downstairs, Ainsley was placing the pizza box on the counter. My stomach gave a low rumble once my nose took a whiff. I’d forgotten to eat lunch today and couldn’t remember if I’d even had my standard toast for breakfast this morning.

“Feel better?” Ainsley turned to face me.

“It was a rough day.”

“Fire someone again?”

It felt good to be able to discuss some of the hardships at work with her. She’d proven to be a good listener. “Probably should have. A conversation on-air got a little heated. The host didn’t follow the usual protocol when dealing with high profile incumbents. The politician took offense and it was left to the producers to genuflect appropriately.

“And you?”

“Being the boss’s boss means spending a lot of time calming the waters to make sure we keep getting guests on our shows and don’t blow it with advertising sponsors.” I pulled out two plates and set them on the counter.

“I’ve eaten already.”

“It’s your favorite.”

Her eyes searched the toppings on the pizza and came back up to meet mine. “You remembered?”

I had to look away at the wonder that sounded in her tone. “Sit. Have a few bites.” I slid a slice onto the plate in front of her. “Chardonnay?”

“A smidge.”

I hid my smile as I retrieved two wine glasses. “After we get these reservations tonight, there’s not much left before the twins return.”

“The twins?” She giggled around a mouthful of pizza.

“Van calls them the twin beauties. It’s caught on.”

“I like it.”

We ate and talked about what she’d done for the day. She seemed to like Washington even if she was spending most of her summer vacation working. After dinner I brought my laptop over to the counter and plopped my iPad next to it.

“You look through the hotel photos online while I look up what’s available.” I loaded a hotel search site on my laptop and did the same on the tablet. Dallas and Colin were springing for their immediate family, but everyone else had to be able to afford to stay at the same places or nearby. The internet connection was spotty at their hotel in South America, so once again, the task fell to us.

My favorite hotel had six rooms available. Nearby the other two acceptable hotels had another nine rooms. That wouldn’t be enough for Colin and Ainsley’s family. Ainsley had guessed right about all the distant relatives taking the opportunity of a free chartered flight to bring guests and kids to America for the first time. Every one of their RSVPs came back with up to plus six, which had Dallas fuming. The guest count had blown past a manageable two hundred to three hundred. Ainsley seemed just as disappointed that some of her distant relatives were taking advantage of their rich American cousin. Not that some of Dallas’s old school friends weren’t doing the same thing. All her single friends were adding an uninvited guest. At least she wasn’t paying to fly them in.

“Would bed and breakfasts work for some of them?”

“I should think so. They might even like it better. Probably not these.” She put marks on the guest list next to the ones with kids.

“What about your parents? Colin’s dad will be staying at the loft, so that takes up the guestrooms.”

“I might move to a hotel so they can stay with Colin and his dad. I think they’ll like that better than a hotel.”

“They could stay here.” My mouth was making offers again. I didn’t like houseguests any than I liked weddings, but for some reason the idea of Ainsley’s parents staying didn’t give me pause.

“Are you feeling quiet well?” Her hand came up to check my temperature.

I knew she was kidding and tried not to close my eyes when her palm cupped my forehead. “I’ve got an extra room, and I won’t be around much anyway.”

“Em,” she hesitated, her eyes going to the stairwell that led up to the bedrooms. “I’m not sure they’d be comfortable.”

My teeth clenched. “Them or you? I thought we’d worked past whatever this animosity is between us. I really like your mum and your dad seems pretty great. You said they wouldn’t be as comfortable in a hotel.”

“You’re right.” Her eyes wouldn’t meet mine. “I’ll ask them. It’s very kind of you to offer.”

That sounded like she was trying hard to politely decline. “It obviously makes you uncomfortable. It’s not like I really want more pressure with having houseguests while I’m trying to keep Dallas sane and her wedding on track.”

“I said you’re right,” she admitted grudgingly. “I’ll ask them.”

“I’m glad I didn’t offer to have you stay here to free up a room at Colin’s.” I didn’t bother to hide the contempt from my tone.

Her eyes flared momentarily before anger filtered in. “Right, because I’d be far more work than my parents.”

“Since you can’t seem to be around me without picking a fight, yeah, I think that’s about right.”

“I’m not always picking fights.”

“You’re picking one right now,” I shot back. “I’m over it, Ainsley. Seriously. I don’t know what problem you had with me when we first met. It couldn’t just have been that I was subletting for less rent than you were paying. Your problem should have been with the roommate who rented me the room. Instead you took it out on me.”

“You aren’t a complete innocent in this story, Skye. You were just as petulant then as you sometimes are now.”

I shook my head and stood abruptly. “This is pointless. Help yourself to anything. I’ve got a phone call to make. Excuse me for a moment.”

I didn’t know why I thought we could get along. Just because we’d managed not to kill each other these last two weeks didn’t mean we were becoming friends. She obviously still wasn’t happy that her mother really liked me. After fourteen years, it should be easy for me to put it away. I’d gone through management training to deal with the most difficult of employees including on-air talent, but for some reason, Ainsley could cut through all that professionalism and kick start my anger immediately.

Dropping onto my bed upstairs, I blew out several audible breaths. Not even when Dallas and Colin were constantly at each other’s throats in the beginning of their employment partnership got me this riled up. I rubbed my shaking hands on my thighs to calm the tremors. No one else had ever been able to do this to me. I’d fought with my other roommates, but they never got under my skin like she had.

“I’m sorry,” Ainsley said from the doorway.

I jumped a foot off the bed. My heart pounded from the scare and pounded some more in anticipation of another confrontation.

“I can be a shit sometimes.”

I hated that I liked the way she said that.
Shite.

“It was a nice offer. I’ll ask them.”

“No, you’re right. They’ll want to stay with Colin,” I admitted, searching her face for any sign that she was looking to get in another dig. “Your mum will be missing her sister a lot when she watches Colin get married. She’ll want to be really close to him. Your idea of taking a hotel room to let them stay with Colin is a good one.”

“I’ll probably just end up on his couch to stay close.”

“Dallas may need my guestroom as an escape when her family descends anyway,” I allowed.

“That’s all sorted then.” She smiled and tipped her head toward the doorway. “Should we get everyone else arranged?”

“I’ll be down in a second.” My heart rate was slowing but hadn’t gone back to normal yet. I’d need a few minutes to get my head around the fact that Ainsley Baird had backed down from an argument for the first time since I’d met her. Progress, but we probably wouldn’t be making each other friendship bracelets anytime soon.