“But youdidlook dowdy in that suit. It was literally hanging off you,” she says firmly, then seeing the look on my face, she adds, “I’m sorry, but you did. You don’t anymore though. Tell her Heath. Nora doesn’t look dowdy now, does she?”
“Not at all. She looks…what’s the opposite of dowdy?” His face turns pink at having to compliment his wife’s best friend.
“Well dressed, and thank you, Heath. Hadley, never make your poor husband compliment me again. He’s clearly uncomfortable.” My mind goes directly back to Theo, and I realize that even after careful friend-assisted analysis, I’m still as clueless as I was before regarding Theo’s intentions. That’s probably because he doesn’t have any, other than the ones I’ve dreamed up. “Anyway, none of it matters in the end, does it? He’s only here for another week, then he’ll be gone forever. If he were going to make his move, he should have done it last night. But he didn’t, so it’s over. Not that it ever got started, but you know what I mean.” They both stare at me. “It means he doesn’t like methatway, which is a good thing, because I can’t stand him anyway.”
“Uh-huh.” Hadley nods.
Heath screws his face up in confusion. “Then why have we spent all evening talking about him?”
“It’s a woman thing,” she tells him.
“To try to sort out the exact thoughts and feelings of a guy you have no intention of ever dating?” he asks.
She and I nod. “Yes.”
“But… why?”
“It’s a form of entertainment,” Hadley says, scraping her nearly-empty cup with her tiny spoon.
“Oh yes, quite fun,” I say.
“No offense, but I am so glad I’m a man. Things are much simpler for us.”
“That’s because you’re simple creatures,” she tells him with an evil grin.
I eat another spoonful of ice cream, the phrase “simple creatures” bouncing around in my head. If there’s anything Theo Rojas is not, it’s simple. Sadly, neither are my feelings for him.
* * *
TO-DO LIST (Home Version)
Laundry – whites and darks (fold and put away for once to prevent digging around in dryer before work)
Clean out one bathroom drawer. Just one. You can do it.
Vacuum and wash floors
Look into cost of purchasing fake plants that actually look real
22
The Not-So-Great Pretender
Theo
After returning from Eden,my day was so packed with meetings and emails, I’ve barely had time to process what happened, or more accurately, try to discern the origin of Nora's odd behavior this morning. Gone was the flirty, confident woman I spent the evening with, having been replaced by someone whose spirit animal is a flightless bird in a cat café. If I had to guess, I’d say she was worried that Harrison would think something happened between us last night. But the fact that she seemed worried (or possibly even a little guilty) leads me to wonder if our time together last night softened her opinion of me more than I could've hoped.
Not that I'm hoping for anything. Obviously, we don't have a future together, and more to the point, I'm not looking for a future with anyone, but somehow I have a strange niggling hope in my chest as I rush along the path from Building C to the Carib Asian fusion restaurant, where I am meeting my brother and Carolina for a late supper. I’m running fifteen minutes behind schedule, whichneverhappens. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been late for anything since I took over the company. But because I stood up Robin, my COO, yesterday, I could hardly rush through our meeting today. I hate being late with a passion.
Although having a few moments to think isn't the worst thing, since I know as soon as I arrive at the table, Markos and Carolina are going to pepper me with questions about last night. Markos will want to find out if something unprofessional happened out there with the woman he believes to be my perfect match. He's going to tease me mercilessly, especially after he discovers I did not take advantage of an opportunity he most certainly would have. Carolina, on the other hand, is likely to be relieved by that very same information.
Oh, this is a lot longer walk than I thought. Between the suit I'm wearing (without a tie, I might add), the sweltering night air, and the pace at which I'm moving, I'm going to be a mess by the time I get there. I glance around for a golf cart ferrying guests around the grounds, but no such luck. The ones I have spotted so far have all been filled with people dressed up for dinner.
I finally see my destination—a large open-air restaurant with a thatched roof. A young woman greets me when I arrive at the reception desk. “Good evening, do you have a reservation?"
Making sure I look her directly in the eye, instead of what I would usually do, which is glance around for Markos and Carolina, I say, "Yes. I'm meeting my brother and a friend, who are here already."
"I believe I know who you're referring to." She takes a menu off the pile and leads me to the other side of the restaurant, where Markos and Carolina are waiting.
