Lucky Charm (12 page)

“Need me already?” Janine poked her head through the door with an air of someone indispensable.

“Hi, yes. Janine, could you do me a favor and deliver the final portfolio to Stephen Vargas?” Annabel reached to the far corner of her desk where the presentation for Stephen Vargas’s account lay completely assembled.

“Stephen Vargas!?” Janine’s pink-lipped mouth opened in disbelief. “Yes, sure, I’d be glad to.”

“Here you are. The appointment is at twelve o’clock; his address is on there.” Annabel handed Janine the folder, doing her best to suppress a smile. From the moment Stephen Vargas became a client, Janine had been dying to work on his account
. W
ell
,
now that the real work has been done, there was no harm in Janine’s getting her wish
. E
ven Janine could make a portfolio delivery.

“Great, thanks
,
Annabel. I mean
,
I can definitely squeeze it into my schedule,” Janine added haughtily.

For the rest of the day
,
Annabel concentrated on the website content for Marlene Parker’s Artemis Club as well as some follow-up work on her other accounts. That and answering the constantly ringing phone did not leave her any time to think about Jeremy. Sally, the office receptionist, was on vacation, which left Janine and Annabel answering the phones, but mostly it was Annabel who answered the phone, as Janine had been notoriously absent from her desk since twelve o’clock.

At four forty-
five
,
Janine burst into Annabel’s office without knocking.

“Sorry I ran so late
. T
hat portfolio delivery I had to make to Stephen Vargas took longer than I thought
. H
e kept me waiting for quite a while.”

“Aha.” Annabel nodded without looking up from her computer
. S
he had spotted Janine sneaking Lord and Taylor shopping bags underneath her desk a few minutes ago when she heard her walk through the front door.

“By the way, Stephen is having an opening party for his club next Friday
,
and we are invited. I bet there’ll be all kinds of hot guys there.” Janine put the invitation on Annabel’s desk.

“Thanks
,
Janine.”

“You will be going, right?”

“Only if Paige wants me to.” Annabel slid the invitation into the side pocket of her purse, hoping that Janine would finally get the message and leave. The last thing Annabel wanted was to go to a party swarming with men like Stephen Vargas: men who were as suave as they were shallow, men who changed women like gloves. She had already received her invitation a few weeks ago
,
and now this one was going to join its predecessor in the garbage bin. Paige would most definitely attend the event
,
and that should suffice
. T
here was no need for the entire agency to show up, no matter how important Stephen Vargas was.

“Are you sure? He specifically said that he was hoping that you’d come. In fact, he was surprised when I showed up instead of you today,” Janine added. “You know, I think he likes you, but since you are already engaged, I’ll be more than happy to step in.” Janine winked.

Annabel did her best to keep her voice steady
. S
he was no longer wearing her engagement ring, but apparently Janine failed to notice that.

“Stephen Vargas is a client, Janine, and I certainly hope that he likes the work that I did on his account.”

“I think he likes more than just your work, if you take my meaning.”

“Men like Stephen Vargas like anything with two legs in a skirt,” Annabel snapped, thinking that perhaps it had been a mistake to entrust the minor errand to Janine
. A
harmless flirtation was one thing, but getting involved with a client was out of the question.

“I was only kidding.” Janine shrugged her shoulders. “Well, I think I’ll be going now
. I
t’s five o’clock. See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow, Janine.”

Usually Annabel left work at about six, but tonight there was nowhere for her to rush
. T
he thought of coming back to the empty apartment loomed eerily in her mind
,
and she thought she would work late instead, if only to avoid the company of Haagen-Dazs that she was not sure she would be able to refuse otherwise.

Her plan was unexpectedly interrupted w
hen her cell phone rang at five-
fifteen. By the sound of the ring tone – Cindy Lauper’s
Girls Just Want to Have Fun
–
she knew that it was Lilly. This was Lilly’s favorite song, or to be more specific, Lilly’s mother’s favorite song, and Annabel stil
l remembered how as twelve-year-
olds they would put on makeup and dress up in crazy outfits at Lilly’s house and dance to the song together with Mrs. Clayton.

For a moment Annabel toyed with the idea of not picking up
. I
f she did, she would have to tell L
illy about Jeremy, and right now
, she was not up to rehashing her heartbreak.

“Thanks for standing me up last night,” Annabel heard Lilly’s voice as soon as she answered the phone.

Gee, Lilly
. Y
ou
don’t even bother to say hello
, she thought. But then her friend had a right to be upset
. T
hey were supposed to meet for drinks last night
,
and Annabel
ha
d not return
ed
any of Lilly’s calls. “I’m so sorry
.
I got your messages, but I was laid up sick all day yesterday. I think I had a touch of the flu or something. I’ve been meaning to call you all day, but it got so crazy at work,” Annabel mumbled, hoping that her lame excuse would pass muster.

“Anything else you want to tell me?” Without waiting for her answer, Lilly burst out, “How could you not tell me, Ann? I’m your best friend
,
and I have to find out from Meredith that you broke up with Jeremy?”

“Meredith told you?” Annabel blurted out, ignoring the fact that she was instantly admitting her guilt.

“So it’s true?” Lilly demanded. “I thought Meredith blew the whole thing out of proportion as usual.”

“Yes, it’s true. I went to see my mom yesterday
,
and Meredith showed up. Believe me, I did not want to tell her right away, but she kept going on about how she wanted to bake me a cake for my wedding
,
and I had no choice but to tell her that there will be no wedding. She had a fit about it
. Y
ou would have enjoyed the show,” Annabel added, smiling in spite of herself.

“Yeah
. S
he called me this morning and told me that it was my responsibility as the maid of honor to talk sense into you and persuade you ‘not to throw your life away
.’
I’m quoting her exact words. At first I was waiting for you to call, but since you didn’t, I figured I’d make sure you were all right. Are you all right?” Lilly’s voice rang with apprehension.

“I’m fine,” Annabel did her best to keep her tone steady. “And I’m sorry for not telling you
.
I wasn’t sure I could talk about it yet.”

“I understand. I’m sorry. What can I do to help? Do you want to talk about it?”

Annabel was not sure if she did
. O
n the one hand
,
the heavy weight that hung in her heart seemed an impossible burden to carry without sharing it with someone, at least verbally
. O
n the other, each time she said Jeremy’s name she felt like she was reliving his betrayal all over again.

“Hey, I know exactly what you need,” Lilly’s voice rang in the receiver before Annabel could answer. “Meet me at Fifty Seventh and Fifth in half an hour.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“It’s a surprise, but I guarantee that you’ll like it.”

“I’ve got some work to finish up at the office...”

“Nonsense. I won’t take no for an answer.”

Knowing Lilly as well as she did, Annabel was fairly certain that short of disappearing off the island of Manhattan
,
there was no way she was going to bail out o
n
her best friend’s offer.

“Ok
ay
, fine. But I can’t promise that I’ll be any fun tonight.”

As Annabel crossed the street to meet her friend, she could spot Lilly impatiently pacing the pavement.

“You’re late,” Lilly remarked.

“Well, hello to you too.” Annabel looked at her watch
. S
he was only five minutes late. “Since when are you Miss Punctuality?”

“Since I’ve got an appointment with one of the best hairstylists in the country.” Lilly motioned at the swanky window of the hair salon behind her. “I had to wait over a month for my appointment, and I only managed to pull that because I’m a good friend of Terry’s. But….” Lilly paused dramatically. “Being the good friend that I am, the appointment is now yours!” she finished triumphantly.

“Thanks
,
Lilly, but I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Annabel stammered guiltily. She knew how much Lilly valued her grooming routine
. T
his was a major sacrifice. “I mean I really appreciate it, but I just don’t know if I’m up to it,” she added, thinking that the last thing she wanted was to go to a hair salon when she was not even sure if she would be able to sit through a haircut without breaking into tears.

“It’s my treat,” Lilly added. “It’s about time you changed your look
.
I want you to do the works – cut, color, highlights.” Lilly fizzed with
the
excitement that she always elicited whenever
the
conversation turned to make
up, hairstyles, and especially clothes. “You’re going
. N
o excuses,” she added firmly.

“But it’s too expensive,” Annabel protested. “I can’t let you spend so much money on me. How about you keep the appointment, I’ll wait for you, and we c
an
go for drinks afterwards.”

“Come on!” Lilly grabbed Annabel’s hand and headed for the front door. “Good thing I told you to meet me ahead of time
. T
he appointment is at six, so we’ll be perfectly on time.”

“I have a six o’clock appointment with Terry,” Lilly announced to the rail-thin, platinum blond receptionist once they were inside.

“Terry is running about an hour late today. I’ll tell him you’re here.” The receptionist lowered her charcoal-dark eyelashes as she picked up the phone.

“Lilly, you know, I just realized that I’m starving
,
and I don’t think I can make it through another hour without food. How about I grab a bite to eat while you wait
?
” Annabel attempted one last escape. Already she could feel her stomach twisting in nervous knots at the sight of the perfectly made up women in flashy designer clothes who filled almost every chair in the waiting room. She smoothed her simple blue blouse and her Ann Taylor black pencil skirt, thinking that if she had known that she would be going to a fashion show, she would not have dressed like a librarian.

“It’s too late now
.
I see Terry is coming.” Lilly nudged her.

“Lilly, what a pleasure! How long has it been?” A gorgeous man with
the
body of an Abercrombie and Fitch model glided across the floor as he stretched out his arms to Lilly in a welcoming hug. The two kissed daintily on both cheeks. “So what are we doing today? My, your hair has grown! Do you want to keep it short or do you have plans to change to something longer?”

“I want to keep it short for a while, but, actually, Terry, I was hoping that you’d be a darling and cut my friend’s hair instead.”

Annabel tensed up momentarily, worried that Lilly might spill the reason why she was giving away her appointment
. T
he prospect of being pitied by a hair stylist she had just met was mortifying, no matter how much of a hair-cutting expert he was.

“Annabel has a big date tomorrow
,
and I was hoping you could work some of your magic,” Lilly added playfully. “Terry,
this is my best friend Annabel;
Annabel, this is Terry – the best hairstylist in the
U
.
S
.
and in
Europe
, I might add.”

“Oh, you are being too kind!” Terry gushed. “But of course
. A
nything for my favorite client! It is a pleasure to meet you, Annabel.” Terry shook Annabel’s hand.