Trusting You (Second Chances #2)(3)
Going to bars, I guess, I thought to myself.
“I’m not sure,” I said slowly, curious as to why she’d ask. “Why? What do you have in mind?”
“Well,” she began, “there’s a party tomorrow night and I want you to come. Galen’s company is celebrating the expansion of his firm, and I thought it would be something you’d like to take part in. It’ll be fun with lots of people.” After pausing for a brief second, she delightfully added, “…good people.”
I knew that tone and I knew it very well. Korinne had a reason for me going to this party and it wasn’t so she could see me. Exasperated, I groaned and muttered, “Kori, seriously. Have you not learned your lesson yet? You need to stop trying to play matchmaker … I’m not interested. After me telling you no the past few times I thought you would’ve gotten the hint.”
She begged, “Please, Mel, it’ll be fun. I’ve wanted you to meet this guy at our firm for the past couple of months. He’s really hot and Galen just hired him as his lead architect for the West Coast accounts. Come on, what else do you have to do tomorrow? If all else fails you can hang out with me the whole time.”
I sat in silence for a moment, contemplating. Korinne was a good judge of character, so if she said the guy was a good man I had to believe her, but I couldn’t help feeling like I was a charity case. I can get men on my own. I just tend to get the wrong ones. It wasn’t like Korinne was setting us up on a blind date or anything, and if I didn’t want to talk to him I didn’t have to.
“Please,” she pleaded. I rolled my eyes and hung my head. There was no way I’d get out of it. She would beg me until I gave in.
“Are you going to give me an answer sometime this year?” Korinne asked, snickering.
Sighing, I huffed out a breath and gave in. “Okay, fine. I’ll go, but it’s not a blind date. I’m going for you and you only since you asked me to. I’ll meet your friend and that’s it. I don’t want any expectations you hear me?”
Korinne burst out laughing. “You are still the little firecracker that you were in high school. Don’t worry though. He has no clue he’s meeting you tomorrow either. So whatever you’re thinking, I didn’t plan on it being a blind date. I just think you need to meet him. He’s extremely good looking. Very nice, too.”
Well, at least he didn’t know about me, which was good. Blind dates were awkward enough without that pressure. “Good. Well let’s keep it that way and not tell him about me,” I told her. “I don’t want you going into detail about my past. You tend to talk too much.”
“Hey,” she scolded. “You have nothing to worry about, Mel. I don’t think he’d want to hear about your loser ex-husband anyway.” Korinne’s daughter began to fuss in the background. “All right, my lovely friend, the little one needs to be fed and put down for a nap. I’ll see you tomorrow night, seven o’clock, at the firm downtown. The party will be on the very top floor, but there’ll also be people there to guide you. Dress nice and you better have a smile on your face when I see you.”
Grinning, I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Okay, you have my word. See you then.”
We both said our good-byes and hung up. The last thing I wanted to do was let my friend down when she’d done so much for me. Who knows, I might actually have fun.
Two
The dress I picked out for the evening was a one shoulder, olive green sheath gown that was classic but not overly formal. I had bought it long ago when Daniel and I would attend dinners and parties every weekend. It was one of the dresses I never got around to wearing. Since it was still hot and humid outside, I decided to wear my hair up, placing it into a messy ball of curls at the nape of my neck and adding in a white flower to help decorate the style. Once I completed the finishing touches of makeup to my green eyes, I was ready to go.
I was running a little late, but I didn’t want to get there too early anyway. Hopping into my red Lexus LFA, I slowly made it out of my gated neighborhood and then onto I-85 once I got through all the residential areas. Traffic wasn’t too bad downtown, so it only took about twenty minutes to get from my house to the front of the M&M Architectural building that Korinne’s husband owned. When I pulled up, the whole group of valet attendants gaped with their mouths hanging wide open.
Getting out of the car, I smiled and passed the keys to one of the wide-eyed valet attendants who then handed me a ticket, keeping his eyes completely glued to my sports car. It was a rare and expensive mode of transport, and was one of the things Daniel got me that I didn’t want to get rid of. I was never a materialistic girl, but I had never had a brand new car until that one. I loved it.
“Do you mind if I take a picture of it?” the valet guy asked sheepishly. “I’ve only ever seen one other of these around here before. My fraternity brothers are gonna freak out.”
Grinning, I nodded and motioned toward my car. “Go for it. I don’t mind at all. Just take care of her for me, okay?”
“You have my word,” he promised, staring at it in awe.
Shaking my head, I left him to do his thing while I started through the revolving glass doors. The elevators were up ahead and I saw several people waiting to board them, so I joined them in the wait. When the doors opened, I sidled into the same one with another couple who both acknowledged me with a grin.