Suzie
I let out a slow breath, watching how it moved the little fuzzies on the feather I held. I had found the feather on the tablecloth when we sat down, like it fell out of a boa. I puffed it into the air and tried to keep it from falling back down.
“Suzie.” Ford stood uncomfortably straight next to me.
I let the feather fall. “Sorry.”
We had been at this shindig for over an hour and I had yet to be introduced to anybody. Ford looked damn fine in his tux and I obviously looked like a million dollars, so I wondered why we were hiding at a table on the outskirts of the room. This was supposed to be an opportunity to test my conversational abilities but we were basically decoration.
The ballroom was something out of a fairytale. The amount of money that must have gone into every detail blew my mind. Each table was decorated in heavy crushed velvet black tablecloths and tiny votive candles and sculptures made of wire and crystals shaped to look like scraggly, old trees. Every surface was covered in black or crystals so it was both perfectly spooky and classy as cluck.
“What’re you thinking?” he asked.
Ford must’ve been watching me closely because when I turned to him he blinked rapidly and looked away. I wondered how long I’d been staring around like a slack-jawed yokel.
“It’s magical,” I said.
He nodded then studied his drink.
“How did you afford this?” It wasn’t just the gold-encrusted chairs; it was the tux and my dress. When Gretchen helped me pick it out the other day, I had placed it on hold and Ford bought it on his way home.
He cleared his throat and furrowed his brow. “It was part of the package from the investor.”
“Really?”
Ford studied the couples walking by. “Yeah, he said he’d pay for a limo and all that too. But I told him that wasn’t necessary.”
“Phooey. A limo is always necessary.” I pouted.
“Fine. Next time, a limo.” Ford almost smiled.
We held each other’s gaze and something folded over in my chest.
I looked away to the gowns swirling all over the dance floor. “I do have a question though. Why’re we just sitting here? It’s a party but I feel like I’m at a funeral. Let’s go mingle. I’m ready to embarrass you—I mean meet people.”
He frowned at my teasing but then said, “We are. We will. I’m working through the logistics.”
“Well, you go up to people you know and say hi. Not sure that it has to be much more complicated than that.”
“It’s not that simple. I need to make sure that I introduce you in a way that isn’t condescending but highlights the gravity of my research without sounding trite…”
I stopped listening because he tended to get lost in his ramblings. Seeing him in a fitted tuxedo was a magical thing. The thin dark mask emphasized his features. A few passing women had tried to catch his gaze until I glared at them. In so many ways, he was a mystery. So confident in standing up to Occum, but so unsure of small talk. Not that I blamed him—I frickin’ hated it too.
“Are you listening? What are you looking at?” His question brought me back into focus.
I wasn’t about to tell him I’d been watching how his lips moved to the side a little when he talked without a filter and there was something about the action that made my neck warm.
“I’m listening.”
He made a face like he didn’t believe me. “There are the implications of a relationship we have to be wary of, too.”
“Why’s that?” I shivered.
“Obviously we can’t have people thinking.” He cleared his throat. “It could potentially inhibit the, um, that is—if people assume there is some sort of uncouth behavior.”
“You don’t want people to think we’re screwing?”
“Suzie.” He blushed.
