Sleeping with Beauty (25 page)

“I have a moment,” she blurted quickly. She glanced at Grady, whose expression was unreadable. “I’ll be right back,” she promised him. “If you can wait.”

“My time is yours.”

Now she was left wondering. He was being entirely too inscrutable.

“Friend of yours?” Jason asked, as he took her gently by the elbow and led her several steps away.

“Yes,” she said, more breathless than she should have been. Damn, but his hands were big. And warm.

“Date?”

She laughed. “No. Not in the sense you mean. We’ve known each other since we were kids.”

“Ah,” he said.

And for a split second, she wondered if Jason had actually been worried that Grady might be competition for him.
Boy, wouldn’t Grady get some serious mileage out of that.
She hid the amused smile that accompanied the thought.

“I guess I was a little surprised to find someone like you here, unattached. Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t stepping on any toes.”

Her first thought was that if he was so enamored of her, he surely hadn’t shown that back inside the party. But then she felt petty for thinking so selfishly. After all, it was his reunion, too. Surely she couldn’t hold it against him that he wanted to visit and chat with everyone. Considering he’d known everyone—most everyone, anyway, present company excluded—he had a lot more visiting to do than most.

She glanced up at Jason then, saw the same unshakable smile, and realized that despite the polite chatter, he’d already completely dismissed Grady. Grady might not be competition in her specific case, but it bugged her a little that he’d been so easily dismissed as a challenge. She imagined it was the old us-versus-them, cool-kids-snubbing-the-geek-kids thing that had provoked the feeling. And God knows, Grady was the last guy who needed, much less wanted, defending. But it put a little tarnish on her White Knight’s heretofore blindingly shiny armor.

“I suppose the same could be said of you,” she replied. Not the snappiest of responses, but she was happy to be stringing intelligible words together. It was far more attractive than just staring at him, entranced and drooling.

He chuckled. “True. I haven’t been in town much of late. I’ve been defending a big case up in New York.”

There was a slight pause, and she wasn’t sure if he was setting up a let-me-impress-you name drop (she’d overheard he was defending some NBA star on a felony charge) or if he was expecting her to bat her lashes and ask him to please, please, tell her all about his big case.

The moment passed. And she couldn’t tell if she’d gained or lost momentum by not responding in the allotted time. “I suppose that makes it hard to date anyone steadily,” she said.

“Exactly.” If he was miffed that she hadn’t shown appropriate exultation over his big-time occupation, he didn’t let it show. “But I’m beginning to think that’s a good thing.”

She raised her perfectly plucked eyebrows.

“Because I would have hated to run into you tonight and not been able to pursue you.”

She couldn’t help it. It was such a line. And yet it made her knees go woozy. Yes, yes, she should say something like, “Well, just because I’m here alone tonight doesn’t mean I don’t have men lined up for blocks. Maybe I’m not available for pursuit.” If only she had the nerve to say something so provocative. Bait the big cat.

But she was pretty much overwhelmed with just standing and not falling over while keeping up the barest pretense of maintaining her end of the conversation. All the while her inner voice was jumping up and down and squealing, “He wants to
pursue
you!”

“Well, then,” she said to him, “yay for Fate.”

Somewhere, Gloria Steinem was weeping.

He laughed then, a charming little self-deprecating laugh. “You know, I can’t believe we’ve danced, had drinks, the whole bit, and I still don’t know your name.”

He’d missed the part about the kiss. He couldn’t have forgotten that kiss, could he? Maybe he didn’t want to embarrass her.

“You are an alumnus, right?” he asked.

She’d confirmed she’d come alone, so it was the only conclusion he could have drawn. But she experienced a moment of panic. She wanted to cling to the relative safety net of her princess front. At least for now. As long as she wasn’t Lucy Harper, she could pretend she was capable of pulling this off.

He was looking at her chest, but she was pretty sure he was just looking for her badge.

“I was absent for senior pictures,” she blurted. “So they didn’t have a name tag for me up there. Some sort of snafu.”

“Ah.”

Again with the all-knowing “ah.” Except he looked sort of cute when he had that deep-thinker look on his face.

“Well, I’m Jason,” he told her, the same self-deprecating smile edging at the corners of his mouth. “Jason Prescott.”

“I know,” she said, motioning to his badge, lest he get a swelled head, thinking that he was just that popular. Even though, of course, he was. Still, point for the former geek. She stuck her hand out. “I’m Lucy.”

“Lucy,” he said, shaking her hand, then not letting it go. Making her pulse do a little samba and shaking her train of thought.

Point for the former prom king.

She knew he was waiting for a last name.

His smile turned sheepish. And it was just as affecting. He must be amazing in front of a jury, she thought, partly dazed to be the exclusive focus of all that charm.

“I must admit, I don’t remember you from our senior class. It was a big group, but I’m surprised at myself. Someone like you, well, I should remember.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she told him. “I’ve changed a lot over the years.”

“Yes, well, I’m just glad I’ve found you now.” He squeezed her hand.

She tried not to sigh too obviously.

“I’m sure you’re probably a busy woman, and like I said, I’ve been traveling a lot, but I’d love the chance to take you out to dinner. Get to know each other a little better.” He chuckled. “Well, get to know each other, period.” He motioned to the ballroom behind them. “This is better suited to catching up on old times.” His smile broadened to a grin and she swore she heard a wolf howling at the moon. “Not creating new ones.”

Okay. She so did not have the skill set to handle someone like this. Shew! Her circuits were already on overload and he was just holding her hand, asking her for a simple date.

“Agreed,” she somehow managed. First thing, as soon as she got home, or tomorrow morning, whatever, she was calling Vivian’s private line and setting up some kind of appointment with her. Multiple appointments, if necessary. She needed pointers. Hell, she needed a whole new toolbox of skills. Her credit card was going to melt, but she didn’t care.

“I’m taking the train back up to the city tomorrow, but I’ll be back home in a week,” he was saying.

Concentrate, Lucy. This is important.
This is your dream moment. Relish it. Her mind was a huge jumble of worries, thoughts, insecurities, excitement, and anticipation. “Uh-huh,” she said.
Oh, brilliant. Scintillating. Christ.

“Could I call you? Or should we just make plans now?”

“Now,” she blurted. Because who knew what might happen five minutes from now? He might never call. He might meet someone on the train. But if they
had plans,
wouldn’t he at least be compelled to see them through?

She tried to cover her complete social awkwardness with a smile. “I’d like that.” There, much better. Almost cultured. “When would be good for you?”
I’m pretty much free until the next millennium.

“I wish I could say right now—”

So say it!
She swore she felt the condoms vibrate inside her clutch. Or maybe that was just her.

“—but there are a few people I haven’t had the chance to talk to tonight,” he finished saying. “I don’t know when I’ll get the chance again. You know how it is.”

Not really,
she wanted to say.
There is not a single person in that room I’m compelled to talk to.

He surprised her by pulling out a BlackBerry and flipping it open. Ever the busy, important attorney, he apparently didn’t leave home without it. Even to his high school reunion.

He tapped the screen with the stylus. “How is a week from Tuesday?”

She had course-development classes with the other third-grade teachers on Tuesday nights. Rats! “Actually,” she said, somewhat tremulously, “Tuesday is difficult for me.” She mentally crossed her fingers. “How about a week from Friday?”

A few more taps. “That will work.” He grinned up at her.

And she beamed with pride.
See?
she wanted to say.
I’m not a loser with no social calendar, even if I don’t need a personal digital assistant to keep track of mine.

“There’s a little Mediterranean place in Adams Morgan I’ve been wanting to check out. Chirra. Have you heard of it?”

She just nodded. She’d Google it later.

“We could meet there, or I could come pick you up.”

Torn, she went with the one less likely to give her a heart attack. “I’ll meet you there. Would seven be okay?” She ran the pregame play-by-play over in her mind. She would have a full two hours after she got home from school to have a complete nervous breakdown, try on everything she owned, phone Jana at least a dozen times, and debate the merits of moving the volatile contents tucked away in her evening bag tonight, to whatever purse she took with her that night.

Like you’re going to sleep with him on the first date.

Her little voice—which sounded a lot more like Vivian as the night went on—just laughed and laughed.
Like you’d be able to say no if he asked!

“Seven is fine,” he said with a satisfied smile. Then he finished off the fairy-tale evening perfectly after all, by lifting her hand, pressing a hot kiss to the back of it, and lifting his head just enough to give her a secret little just-between-us kind of intimate smile. “Until next Friday, then.”

“Friday,” she gasped.

Then he stepped back through the ballroom doors and was absorbed into the crowd before the doors swung shut.

She, on the other hand, floated through the lobby and out of the building, completely unaware of the blisters on her heels. She beamed giddily at the Glass Slipper driver as he opened the door of her limo and gently ushered her inside its warm, purring interior.

“Sleeping Beauty has left the building,” she murmured as they pulled away from the curb. Then the wide smile she’d been harboring finally broke through and she gave in to the overwhelming urge to celebrate. She kicked up her heels, laughed like a loon, and did just as Vivian instructed. She reveled.

And it was good.

Chapter
20
                                                                                                                                       

S
o, he’s not coming, right?” Lucy sighed and slumped down on Jana’s couch.

Jana and Dave lived in a nice two-bedroom condo on the top floor of one of Alexandria’s nicer buildings. It was comfortably furnished with a mix of prints and solids, sturdy furniture suitable for team get-togethers, along with the requisite sports-journalist-and-athlete must-have: a television set in every single room, with a satellite dish feed of every sporting event on the planet.

“No, he’s not,” Jana said as she opened two peach Snapples and set them on the small kitchen table. “But you can’t blame him. You ditched him. You of all people know what that feels like.”

Lucy hung her head. “I know, I know. I owe you both a huge apology. And since Grady won’t answer the damn phone to accept his, I’ll give them both to you.”

“For?”

Lucy looked up to find Jana leveling a steady gaze on her, and realized just how badly she’d screwed things up. Jana was always the understanding one. Good cop to Grady’s bad cop. She didn’t look much like nice Officer Pelletier today.

“For having my head stuck so far up my butt these past couple of months.” She’d wanted to tell Jana all about the reunion the minute she got home. Hell, if Jana hadn’t been so sick lately and not getting enough rest, she’d have called her from the limo. In fact, it was when she’d picked up her cell to leave Jana a voice mail, telling her to call as soon as she got up, that she’d remembered Grady. “For the record, I did have the driver turn around. I went all the way back. He was already gone. I called his cell and his house. Last night and all day today. But he’s not picking up.” She sighed. “I’m really sorry we all seem to have gotten so off track lately. I know I’ve been preoccupied and you guys are sick of me, but I never meant for it to cause so much grief. If I’d known, I’d have never signed up for the stupid course.”

Jana sighed, too, unable to keep up the stern front. “Don’t be silly. You were just doing something for yourself, and God knows, you’re allowed. Don’t beat yourself up too much. It’s not like you’re the only one who’s been preoccupied of late.” Jana laid her hand across her still-flat stomach, an instinctive gesture Lucy found endearing and terrifying all at the same time. “I think we all need to pull our collective heads out of our butts. Shoot,” she said with a weary grin, “I’d be happy just to pull mine out of the john.”

Lucy shuddered in sympathy. “I can’t even imagine what that’s like for you.” She shifted her gaze to Jana’s stomach, really thinking about the fact that a life was growing inside there. “I work with kids all day, but they’re all potty-trained and talking in complete sentences.” She smiled at Jana. “‘I don’t know nuthin’ ’bout birthin’ no babies.’ ”

Jana laughed a bit shakily. “Neither do I. And if anyone is sick of anything, it’s of me being sick.”

“We’re not sick of you, or the baby,” Lucy said, wanting to reassure her friend. She really had no idea what Jana was dealing with. It was overwhelming to Lucy, and she was just an innocent bystander. “Worried about you, yes, but this is such a huge thing, Jana. And you’ve still managed to be a good friend to both me and Grady, and I haven’t.”

“We all go through Me-Me-Me phases,” Jana said.

“The difference is, Grady isn’t treating you like a leper because you got pregnant and talk about things like mucous plugs and jaundice. Me, on the other hand, I don’t know what to say to him anymore that won’t make him suddenly moody or withdrawn.” She slumped back in her chair. “And just when it seemed like we’d finally found accord, I go and do something so stupid, even I don’t blame him for never talking to me again.”

“So your head was in the clouds.” Jana raised her hand. Not the one protecting her belly. That one stayed put. A permanent shield, perhaps. Lucy could use one of those right at the moment.

“Listen,” Jana said, “I know how it feels. I get so preoccupied by the idea that something is growing inside me right now that I lose track of entire conversations. I can’t tell you how badly I’ve screwed up at work lately. And no one around me understands. I’ve made a real conscious effort not to bore everyone else to tears with the subject, but—”

“You haven’t ‘bored’ any of us. Terrified us, maybe. I mean, that Miracle of Birth PBS special? That’s true friendship right there, watching that on Pizza Night instead of a rerun of
Pretty Woman.
”

Jana smiled, and Lucy couldn’t help but notice just how deeply the fatigue was lining her friend’s face. She’d tried to ask Jana how she was really doing, but she always deflected the answer or cracked some joke. Potty humor, literally.

“I do understand that this has been a major change,” Jana said, “and that it hasn’t been as easy handling the new you as maybe you thought.” Jana sighed a little, sipped her Snapple. “And I know that we haven’t exactly been the support network you’ve needed. But you have to understand that you being so dissatisfied with yourself, to the point you felt the need to remake yourself . . . well, it’s kind of like saying we’re not good enough.”

Lucy’s mouth dropped open. “That’s so not true!”

“I know that. Which is why I’ve been the good guy. But Grady . . .”

“Does he really think that just because I wanted to feel better about myself, that I’m condemning him somehow? Because that’s ludicrous. Yes, we were all misfits, but you guys were always more accepting of it than me. You came into your own in college. You got the job you coveted, met a fabulous man, married, bought a nice place, you know, settled. Felt comfortable. Grady has never once questioned who he is. I think he came out of the womb certain of his role in life. Me? I never got over feeling like a misfit. I never got past the idea that I wasn’t supposed to turn out like this, all nerdy and forgettable.”

Lucy lifted a hand, stalling Jana’s response. “No, really. I’m not memorable. I’m likable enough once you get to know me, sure. But it’s hard as hell to get a guy to know me when they never see me in the first place. I’m invisible. I’m human beige.” She rubbed at the condensation on the label on her bottle. “I don’t look at either of you that way. You have to know that. And changing how I look, or learning how to be more confident about myself, my body, whatever, doesn’t have a thing to do with what bonded us together. I know it was our misfitness that brought us to one another, but I’d like to think that there has been a whole lot more keeping us together all these years.”

“Of course there has been,” Jana said gently. “I do know this. I think Grady knows this, too. He’s just . . .” Jana let the sentence dangle and Lucy didn’t know what to say. It hurt that, through all of this, Jana had seemed to understand Grady’s bad attitude, while Lucy was baffled by it.

“I understand why he’s mad now,” Lucy said. “But he’s had such a hard-on about this from the very beginning. He’s acting all hurt by this, but I’ve been a little hurt by his rejection, too.” She looked down at the designs she was tracing with the water ring left on the table. “When he first showed up at the reunion, it didn’t go too well. But then he was still there later on, and maybe it was because the stupid thing was finally over and we were literally leaving it behind us, that things finally looked brighter.” She swore and scrubbed the water off with her fist. “I can’t believe I screwed that up.”

“That you did,” Jana said, blunt as ever. “How could you forget him?”

“I already told you all about that night,” she said, frowning a little. Jana’s moods were definitely more unpredictable of late. Lucy never knew what to expect. One minute laughing, the next bitchy, the next sobbing, then back to laughing again. She didn’t know how Jana coped with that kind of roller coaster, so Lucy wasn’t sure how much of her current irritation to take personally. “You haven’t been married so long that you don’t remember what it was like, crushing on someone like that. And I did it again and again. Only to be invisible, again and again. Guys I’m attracted to
never
give me a second glance. So to have one finally notice,
and
have that one be Jason Prescott? Are you kidding me? I was lucky to be able to string two sentences together.”

Jana just sighed, sipped her Snapple, and remained noncommittal.

“Yes, I know that’s no excuse, there is no excuse for abandoning Grady or anyone. But it wasn’t intentional. God, he has to know that! And he would if he’d just pick up his damn phone and let me explain and apologize.”

Jana raised an eyebrow. “Somehow I don’t think telling Grady that Jason Prescott had just asked you out on a date, which made you so giddy with vindication that you completely forgot about your best friend, is going to be the apology that will get you back in his good graces. Call me crazy.”

“So what can I do? He’s hated Jason forever for what he did to me, and yet
I’m
the one who got dissed and
I’m
over it. I just want him to let it go. Be happy that I’m happy. Am I supposed to turn Jason down to make Grady happy? I’ve never told him who he could date and not date.”

“You soaked Grady’s shoulder for months over Jason’s asinine treatment of you. And now you have a hot date with the guy.”

“I guess I’d hoped he’d see it as I do. Like some kind of poetic justice, retribution, karma coming full circle.”

“I doubt that will ever happen,” Jana muttered.

“Why? What is it you seem to get about his attitude that I don’t?”

Jana didn’t say anything, seemed lost in thought for a few moments. And Lucy noted again how tired she looked. Only looking at her now, it seemed like maybe there was more to her weariness than battling morning-noon-and-night sickness. Lucy shifted closer and reached across the table to take Jana’s free hand in her own. “I’m so sorry I’ve put you in the middle of this. You shouldn’t have to play referee to the two of us. We’re adults and we should start acting like ones.”

“No, that’s not it. In fact, I’ve been happy to have the distraction.”

Lucy squeezed her hand. “Are you okay? Is there something else going on, with the baby, or Dave, or you, that you haven’t told us about? You know, we might not understand, but we really do want to be here for you.” She smiled encouragingly. “Isn’t that what godparents do?”

Jana smiled a little, glanced her way, then back to some vague point across the room. “I think godparents are supposed to take care of the baby, not the mommy.” She let out a shaky breath. “Mommy. God.”

Lucy dragged her chair around until she was seated facing Jana without the table between them. “Maybe we take our jobs more seriously than others. We like to start our watch while the baby’s still in the works. Which means taking care of its housing and development.” When Jana didn’t smile, Lucy tugged at her hand, worried now. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

Jana looked at her closest and dearest friend, and her heart tightened up a little. Sure, Luce had been preoccupied of late. Like she’d said, they’d all had their problems. And if she hadn’t felt so torn between her loyalty to Grady and her loyalty to Lucy, she’d have been right in there with her best friend, poring over every detail of Lucy’s princess-at-the-ball night, examining every nuance of what Jason had said, how he’d looked at her, the whole neurotic girl-talk ball of wax.

But knowing what she did about Grady and his feelings for Lucy made her feel like a traitor if she gave even the appearance of rooting for Jason.

“Is it the baby?” Lucy asked, concern clear in her eyes.

Jana shook her head. “Not the way you mean, no. As far as we know, things are moving along like they should. Our first sonogram is coming up.”

Lucy smiled uncertainly. “That’s a good thing, right? Are you going to find out the sex?”

Jana shrugged a little, then suddenly burst into tears, surprising them both.

Lucy immediately pulled her into a hug and Jana accepted the moment of solace like a battered ship finally finding port in a storm. She’d been telling the truth when she said she hadn’t minded the Lucy-Grady-Reunion drama. Between that, work, and puking her guts up every few hours, she’d had blessed little time to worry about what was really bothering her. But now that the dam had broken, she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to pull it back together.

“Oh, honey, what’s wrong?” Lucy asked, still holding her, rubbing her back, stroking her hair. “Is it Dave? Is he freaking out or something? Because, you know he’ll come around. He seemed really excited about this.”

Jana was crying too hard to answer. All she could do was shake her head. She reached across the table, grabbed a few napkins, and finally managed to pull away from Lucy to blow her nose.

Lucy stroked Jana’s hair from her forehead. “Can you talk about it? I know I haven’t gone through anything like this, so maybe I won’t be any help. But it still might make you feel better to get it out, whatever it is.”

Lucy was sweet to offer, and Jana knew she didn’t have a big support network. Her colleagues were all men, and most of them considered her the enemy at any given moment, depending on who got the most inches in print that week. She was also a little competitive about winning that particular who-has-the-biggest-penis contest on a semiregular basis, just to shut them up. Which certainly didn’t endear her to them, either.