“Find out.”
“Love you boo.”
“Ditto and text me back. You’re going to look fire.” She drew out the word fire, singing it, while the call was disconnected.
I sat there for a minute, staring at my phone. I felt guilt creeping in. She was so happy for me because she thought I potentially found someone to fill the hole Dick had left. He always went by Rich, short for Richard, but times have changed and I decided to go the other route.
I popped my head out of my office and gave my assistant the name of my plus one and inquired about the dress code. Black tie. Simple. General.
I quickly texted Lizzy back, then Callum, then checked the recs and was happy to see I had fifty notifications and a few repeated recs. Tonight was going to be a good night. Bottle of wine, my reader and some take out sushi.
I flipped my phone face down so it wouldn’t tempt me anymore and got to work.
Finally.
It was only seven after two. Not my best day, admittedly.
I crushed the next two hours, knocking out several reports, put together a bid for another client, answered twenty-seven emails and deleted over sixty and prepared for the meeting. Maybe I should have sex in the back of a car on my lunch break more often.
I was riding the elevator down at forty-three after. Crushing it!
Lizzy was downstairs waiting for me with her car parked out front. “I know this will be the first time in a while you’ve been in a car without having an orgasm, but let me remind you how us common unsexed folk have to live. I’m also not opening your door for you.” She cackled, running around the front of her car.
“It’s so hard to find good help these days.”
“Don’t I know it?”
“So where to?”
“There is one shop I want to hit first. I’m fairly certain they will have what you need and we can be done.”
“Is it La Belle?”
“Oui.”
“Their dresses are so expensive.”
“But totally gorge!”
I couldn’t argue there.
“Can’t you write it off as a work expense?”
I let out a sound somewhere between a snort and a laugh. “No. I can’t. Are you mad?”
She shrugged. “A girl had to ask.”
We were at La Belle, forty-five minutes later. Traffic getting out of downtown was a nightmare, but we kept busy talking about her and Tony. I felt most of our conversations lately had been centered on me and I wanted to share the love. We talked about Lizzy’s infatuation with a Valentine’s Day proposal. She said Tony was acting cagey, and they were going to a very nice restaurant, even though he wouldn’t tell her where. Lizzy said she was joking that he was going to propose, even though it had only been a couple months because he’s been dropping hints over the last week or so. I told her I didn’t think it was a good idea, but she reassured me that if he did, she’d have a super long engagement, which we both knew was a lie.
Her goal in life since middle school was to find a man, settle down, get married, and have a dozen kids. I thought that was my goal too, until Vixen happened. Now, I don’t know what I want.
“Welcome ladies.”
“We had an appointment at five- thirty. Apologies for being a couple minutes late. Traffic.”
“No worries at all. You’re the last appointment of the night, so there’s no need to rush.” She laughed. “Well, we close at six thirty… so only rush enough for that. Champagne?” She asked the same time a light brown-skinned male with a shaved head wearing some sort of block pattern suit walked around the corner carrying a tray.
“Yes, please.”
