“We’ve weathered worse storms, Will. What are you going to do, let that shrew dictate the terms of your personal life? Where does it end then?”
He makes a fair point.
“All I’m saying, Will, is that you deserve freedom in your personal life. If you want to sit there and lick your wounds after Terrence, by all means, I’ll get us a tub of chocolate chip mint ice cream and give you a shoulder to cry on.”
“Funnily enough, I don’t feel like crying over him,” I confess. “It hurt a while back, when I realized Terrence would always resent me for being more successful, more dedicated?—”
“More hard-working.”
“Yes,” I say and sigh deeply. “I don’t think I need to lick my wounds. I just need to move on.”
“And you’ve got three of New York’s most eligible bachelors eager to seduce you.”
“It’s weird.”
“But hot. Admit it.” Jamie laughs and reaches for his coffee.
I can’t help but give him another point here. “It is hot. I’m looking to build a relationship, though. How will that work with three guys?”
“You won’t know until you try it.”
“Wow, Jamie, you’d make one hell of a devil on any woman’s shoulder.”
Jamie gives me an evil grin, wiggling his perfect eyebrows for dramatic effect. “Honey, I will pluck the wings off the angel on your other shoulder with tweezers, if that’s what it takes to see you happy.” He pauses and leans forward. “Go on. Send them a text. Let them know the date is on. You know it’ll piss Terrence off the most. Forget Sheila. Stick it to that bastard! He deserves it.”
I nod and take my phone out. With trembling fingers, I let my heart do the talking for me.
Whoosh.
The message is sent.
A coupleof days go by, and Jamie and I find ourselves sighing with relief when the rest of our current clients confirm their contracts and send through some of their required payments. It’s enough to keep us afloat for the next couple of weeks, at least, but it’s not enough to get us through the whole winter. We should’ve had at least a couple of Christmas parties booked by now, but aside from Jamie’s club buddies, with their Christmas-themed raves, there’s nothing on the horizon.
Not yet, I keep telling myself.
“Nervous about the date?” Jamie asks.
He’s been on his laptop on the other side of my desk for the past half hour, going over contract and event details, but I’ve felt his eyes on me the whole time. Work is the last thing on his mind now that I have three beaus interested in making myacquaintance.
“Get out of my head,” I jokingly snap. “I’ve got enough on my plate as it is.”
“They’ve been texting, though.”
“How would you know?”
“Your face lights up when the phone pings, and I know business doesn’t put that pink blush in your cheeks.”
That’s the trouble with having a ridiculously observant bestie. He sees everything. Nothing escapes Jamie’s eagle eye. “They set up a group chat for the four of us,” I admit with a tiny smile. “They do know how to communicate; I’ll give them that.”
“Well, at least you’ve got that going on. I’m still going over the accounts, and I have to say, I’m not sure we’ll be able to cover December or January with what we’ve got on the roster so far.” Jamie exhales sharply. “February might bring us some spring weddings, but I was hoping we’d get some events for Valentine’s Day, at least.”
“The requests usually come in around early December, don’t they?”
“Unless they’re last-minute psychos, but given our pricing, we’ve always been able to deter those.”
“We might have to drop the prices then and deal with their lot, too, if push comes to shove.” Even so, I’m not getting my hopes up.
“God, I just wish I could understand why Sheila hates me so much,” I say after a long, heavy pause. “I mean, Terrence dumped me. You should’ve seen her at the gala. She enjoyed watching me squirm as she and Terrence and that airhead, Katrina, humiliated me in public. I don’t get it.”
