I nod. “See you there. Unless you change your mind about coming or get a better offer or something. Whatever. I’m breezy.”
“No, you’re not. But that’s okay. I like you the way you are.” He reaches up and tucks a lock of hair behind my ear. “And I will be there.”
“Right,” I say, my voice going all breathy. “Because of the free meal.”
Chuckling, Leo says, “Exactly.”
“Bree! Move it!” Valerie calls, causing me to snap out of my Leo-induced haze.
“Okay. I’ll see you then.”
“Good, because I have some very important things to discuss with you,” Leo says.
“Brianna!” This time, it’s my mum doing the shrieking.
I hurry off, turning no less than three times to smile at him over my shoulder. When I get in the limo, I stare out the window, my entire body both numb and buzzing with excitement at the same time as I wonder what the very important things are he needs to discuss with me.
***
It’s evening now. The toasts have been given, the meal—lobster and chicken with rice pilaf and grilled veggies—has been eaten. The first dance has happened, which if you ask me is just plain awkward—two people swaying side-to-side while four hundred eyes watch their every move for three minutes and forty-one seconds. Well, in our case, three hundred ninety-nine. Uncle Dave lost his left eye in a terrible rescue cat incident back in 2009.
I’ve had just enough champagne to not care that my mum is trying to set me up with anything with a penis despite the fact that Leo’s here as my date. My date, who, incidentally, I haven’t had so much as twenty seconds alone with since… Well, since he moved out really. At the moment, I’m standing next to the bar while Isabelle and Leo bust a move on the dance floor. Dolores and Izzy are so thrilled to see him, they haven’t left his side once since the church service, but there’s something about the way he looks at me that is giving me some very hopeful feelings. It’s sort of an ‘I want to get you out of that dress and do all sorts of delicious things’ to you look, which coming from any other man would earn him a kick to the business, but from Leo, oh my…
I take the opportunity to go to the ladies’ room to freshen up.
My mum stops me at the ballroom entrance. “The bellboy? Really, Bree, you can do so much better.”
“I’m not so sure about that, Mum, but it doesn’t matter anyway, because we’re just friends. He came as a courtesy.”
“Well, his presence here isn’t exactly convenient. Do you know how many eligible men there are here?” she asks in a hushed tone.
“That’s why I invited him,” I say. With that, I push open the door and walk into the bathroom, happy as silence fills the air when it swings shut behind me.
Walking over to the sink, I turn on the water to wash my hands. Aunt Dolores comes out of one of the stalls, her dress still hiked up above her navel while she struggles with her nylons. “So? Did you tell him yet?”
“Tell who what?” I ask, even though I know what she meant.
“Your hot date that you love him.”
“First of all, I don’t even know if I love him. Second, he may just be here as a friend, which would make it super awkward were I to start professing my love to him.”
“Knew you didn’t have the ovaries,” she says, clicking her tongue as she washes her hands.
The bathroom door swings open, and Valerie and Kandi stumble in, both looking worse for wear.
Valerie points at me. “There she is! Bitch One!”
Kandi giggles as the two of them lean on each other. Suddenly, she straightens up. “Is that hottie your boyfriend?”
“We’re just friends,” I say.
“Nice, because I’ve been thinking about breaking it off with Jared, and that sweet slice of man cake would make a perfect rebound.”
“Oh, he’s not on the market for rebounds,” I say, feeling a surge of protectiveness.
Pouting, Kandi says, “Why not?”
“He’s…extremely religious. He doesn’t believe in sex before marriage,” Dolores says with a smug smile.
