Running From Fate (26 page)

The p
hone rang eight times before it was picked up. 
A man’s voice could be heard in the background and
Amy
sounded out of breath.
“What do you want?”
she
asked belligerently.

“Is that how you answer all your phone calls?” Mira asked in amusement.
“What if it had been work calling?”

“Is that you Mira?
I’m sorry, but you’ve caught me at a bad time.
Could you maybe call back later?”

Mira leaned back against the counter and crossed her ankles.
“I suppose so, but I could really use your help with something.”
She waited a beat.

“What kind of help?”

“Actually, I’ve been invited to a party on Friday, but I don’t have a thing to wear.”

“Who invited you t
o a party,” Amy asked curiously.  “A
nd what kind of party is it.”

“Well, James Kelly invited me, but it’s strictly business,” she rushed out.

“You mean to t
ell me that you’re going to one of the
premier charity event
s of the year
with th
e hottest bachelor in the state.  Hell, i
n the whole country?”
Her voice was so loud now that she was almost shouting.
“Why didn’t you say something before?
We’ve got to get moving.”

“It’s ju
st business,” Mira reminded her.
“
Not
a date.”

Amy snorted.
“Whatever you say, but don’t delude yourself.
There are plenty of other women that he could have asked and don’t tell me that you haven’t noticed the way he looks at you.
His eyes practically burn.”
She moved the phone away from her ear.
“John,” she ye
lled
. 
“We’ll have to reschedule
. 
I’ve got something to do.
Just let yourself out.”

“I didn’t mean t
o interrupt anything
.
”

“Don’t worry about it.
I’ll meet you at Triang
le Town Center in half an hour. 
They have a Saks so I’m sure we’ll find something.”
The phone clicked.

It was fairly late on a Thursday evening so the mall wasn’t that crowded.
A few elderly women walked around the mall, pedometers keeping track of their steps and several women were shopping at a back-to-school sale at one of the ubiquitous clothing stores that every shopping mall seemed to have.

When Mira
met
Amy at the entrance it took
everything she had not to
laugh. 
The normally flamboyant woman had gone even further than usual.
She was wearing an expensive looking black dress that left one shoulder bare and ended inches above her knees.
This wouldn’t have been so bad, but she had paired the dress with a pair of multi-colored, striped stockings and a pair of scuffed, black combat boots
.
Mira thought that she looked adorable, but she wasn’t sure
what the employees of the exclusive clothing store that they were making a beeline for would have to say.

Saks
Fifth
Avenue was almost empty o
f customers when they walked in
.
 
Immediately,
an elegantly dressed saleswoman
came over to greet
them.  She glanced approvingly at Mira’s dark blue tailored pants and jacket
and, after a quick glance, ignored
Amy.

“My
name is Janice,” the woman said.
“Is there something I can assist you with?”

“Yes,” Mira answered.  “I’ve been invited to a benefit
gala
tomorrow night and I’m in need of a dress.’

Janice pursed her lips and studied Mira
in consideration
.

“She’s going to this party with the sexi
est busin
essman in the state.” 
Amy
winked
at the saleswoman.
“We need a dress that will make his eyes pop.”

“I’ve t
old you that it’s just business,
” Mira interrupted
.
“Something elegant, but subdued will be fine”

The woman
walked to a rack and started sorting through clothes, speaking the whole time. 
“She has good shoulder
s and arms and a decent chest. 
I think we should go with something strapless.”

“I like the idea of floor length as well,’ Amy cut in, “but slit up the side.” 

The woma
n
looked at
Amy in something bordering
on
approval and the two of them
walked off discussing the merits of various styles.

Twenty minutes later, Mira found herself being shoved into the changing room with three dresses.
She discarded the first one beca
use the cleavage was so deep that
her breasts were almost spilling out.  The second one clung in all the
wrong places. 
The third dress made her stop and stare in awe at the woman in the mirror.

On the surface, it looked elegant and understated.  It left her upper chest and arms bare, but the tight sweetheart bodice showed only a hint of cleavage and the flowing skirt of the dress frothed around her ankles.  It was the color of the dress, however, that she really loved
. 
It was
a deep,
rich fores
t green that deepened her
eyes
,
making th
em appear dark and mysterious. 
The back of the dress was a deep V that ended just shy of
indecent
, but even that, she admitted, made he
r spine look long and elegant. 
She too
k a deep breath and stepped out
.

Amy gasped in wonder. 
“A pair of strappy sandals and
an
upswept hair style that shows off your cheekbones and James won’t stand a chance
.” 
She turned to the saleswoman and smiled
. 
“We’ll take it.”

The phone was ringing when Mira stumbled through the d
oor of her house an hour later. 
After buying the dress
she had needed shoes and, after some deliberation, had decided that she also needed a new bag and some sexy underwear.
What use was a glamorous new dress if your undergarments didn’t live up to it?
Either way, her feet were killing her.
The phone could wait
. 
Right now she needed to pour a nice big glass of wine and sit down for a while.

Ignoring the ringing, she toed off her shoes and hung her n
ew dress up in the hall closet. 
With exaggerated care she walked into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of chilled, white wine from the refrigerator.
With a full glass in her hand she settled down on the sofa and vaguely considered watching the news.
As she reached for the remote the phone rang
again
.
With an audible sigh she
sat down her wine
and lifted the wireless off the coffee table where she had left it earlier
.

“Hello.”

“Mira Sweeney Anders that better be you!
I have been calling you for hours.
Where the hell have you been?”

“Hello Lily.
It’s always nice to hear from you.”
With a small smile Mira settled back and picked up her wine.

“You called hours ago and left me that garbled message,” Lily said, “something about goi
ng to a party with James Kelly. 
I’ve been dying of curiosity over here so spill.”

“That’s about it,” Mira said.
“There’s some kind of charity gala coming up and James asked me to go.
Don’t get excited, though, because it’s purely business.
He said so himself.”

“Yeah right,” Lily scoffed.
“If it was only business he could have invited any number of women who know the business and the players better than you.
I’m sure he’s the type of man who has a not so little black book.
What about that girlfriend, Kelly something?”

“
You mean Kim?
They’re
no longer an item.”
Mira took a long sip of wine before staring down at the s
wirling liquid contemplatively. 
“Lily,” she finally said.
“I’m a little scarred.
I feel like a
teenager around him, all wobbly-
kneed and unsure.
How
am I supposed to get through an
entire evening with him without embarrassing myself?”

“For God’s sake, Mi
ra, pull yourself together. 
What happened to the girl who could freeze a guy with just one look or the woman who walked into a room and not only knew that all the men were staring at her, but relished it?”

“
Are you sure you’re not talking about yourself.”  She sighed despondently.  “Anyway James is a
different
. 
He’s the man I’ve
been waiting for
since I was seven.”

“Yeah and you’ll never catch his attention if you act like a weak-brained idiot.
Every time you start to feel
insecure
just remember one thing
. 
He’s
also the guy who made you cry for weeks when he didn’t answer your letters and
the man who
didn’t even bother to show up at your parents’ funeral.
Make the bastard crawl.”

She was a little skeptical about her ability to make a man crawl, especially a man who dated
women who looked like supermodels but, Mira thought
as she
put
on a dangling silver
earring
, she
did look pretty good.
She
was
just
putting
the final touches on her makeup when
the doorbell rang imperiously. 
Quickly, s
he dropped her lipstick and a compact into a tiny green, beaded purse and headed downstairs.