“When you stop smoking,” he broke the cigarette in half and let it fall to the floor.
Esther came up to us, sighed, and took a seat, plopping her head down in her hand. “Ain’t he a dream?”
Bobby had white hair and a beard, but he was in shape, with a hard look to him, like a Santa who was in a motorcycle gang. The kind of gang that consisted of reformed bikers. “Sure, Esther. You just need to quit smoking to get what you want.”
Mags and Barb laughed, and Esther lifted her pinky and sipped her coffee.
“What? What am I missing?”
“Doll, I don’t smoke. Things can kill you, and my body is a temple.”
“Then why…”
“Because it gets him so riled up! It’s hot. It builds the sexual tension.”
I spit my coffee out on the table, the cinnamon burning my nose as I laughed.
“Prude,” Esther huffed.
I wiped my nose with a napkin. "You guys have been around here a while, right?"
“Why, cause we are old?” Mags said, looking like she was about to whip out a knife and threaten me with it.
“No, because you’ve lived here longer.”Yes, because you are older.
“Yes, why?” Esther said, shooting a wink to Bobby.
“Do you know any charities that need help or community projects?” I asked, and all their eyes lit up. Then, they were all speaking at once, and I could hardly understand all the options available as a result. I wrote down a few and decided to follow up on it later. I was running late.
I grabbed my bag and shoved my chocolate chip croissant in my mouth “I’ll see you later. It was nice to meet you, Mags, Barb. I have to get to work.”
“We won’t be here. We are going to Mexico for a week, baby!” they cheered and drank out of their takeaway cups like they were shot glasses.
Crazy ladies. I waved them off, pushed the door open, and started thinking about themes again.
Coming up with a bunch of nothing, I headed toward the resort in my car that had finally arrived after weeks of me waiting for it. It got lost in transit and arrived in Texas. Texas! I shook my head in bemusement.
While driving, I scanned the mountains and the snow, looking for inspiration, but nothing came to mind.
“Skiing into Love,” I whispered to myself when I pulled into the parking lot of the strip mall. I could have red, pink, and silver cupcakes with little skis and snowboards on them. The punch could be coming from an ice sculpture. I had a thousand ideas. I just had to get them approved by Chris Bates.
I had to make a pit−stop beforehand. I hit the strip mall and walked into a craft store, getting paint, heart cutouts, balloons, heart pinatas that the singles could hit to break a heart, and instead of candy, I'd fill them with tiny bottles of alcohol, like the ones you usually found on airplanes. Sure, it was a gala, but that didn't mean the adults couldn't have a little fun.
Chris would probably turn it down because he was a bucket full of no fun. It was as if he got some sadistic pleasure out of saying no to me.
I went to take my wallet out of my purse when I realize it wasn’t there. Crap. I must have left it in the café. Chris was going to lecture me about being late again. I dropped the things in my arms and ran to my car, slipping on a patch of ice. “Oh, crap!” I yelped when I kept sliding and sliding. The entire sidewalk was a huge patch of ice, and I was flying.
Right into the hood of my car.
The air got knocked out of me, and my hands grabbed for leverage when my feet slipped and slid against the ice. Carefully, I skated on the ice to the driver’s side and opened the door. “I hated winter!” I huffed, throwing myself inside my car. It was a sad day when I felt the safest in my car. Particularly as I was seeking protection from myself.
Turning the car around, I hurried back to the café. I was walking with my head down, peering into my purse, hoping that somehow, some way I had missed my wallet earlier, when I ran smack into a wall. Reaching out, I grabbed the first thing my hands got hold of and gasped when I saw Chris staring down at me as he held me in his arms.
“You haven’t forgotten the meeting, have you?” he said, his deep voice awakening those butterflies in my belly again. He settled me back onto my feet and pushed me a safe distance away, unwrapping his arms from around me. “You need to be on time.”
Why was he being so crass with me after the night we had together? Again, I had my suspicions about him being a sadist.
“I’m going to be there, Chris. I just need my wallet that I left in this café here by mistake earlier.”
