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Party Prep
Zanerockedinhis office chair staring out the window. He was supposed to be holed up working on his speech for the gala but his thoughts wouldn’t deviate from Maggie. He thought back to their picnic last weekend, the way her lips felt on his, the way her body fit into his so perfectly. He couldn’t wait to see her all dressed up for the gala. She was so spectacular in just jeans, he couldn’t even wrap his head around how her curves were going to look in a ball gown, or out of one.
A soft knock on the doorframe dragged his attention back to the present. “How’s it coming?” Carol asked, raising one eyebrow. He was abashed to be caught not working on his speech, yet again, by his eagle-eyed office manager.
“Slow but steady,” Zane assured her.
“Uh, huh,” Carol said, obviously unconvinced. “Anyway, I forgot to tell you. A woman came in asking after you yesterday afternoon. I told her you didn’t have office hours until Thursday but she didn’t want to make an appointment. It was weird. She was looking around the office like she was looking for something in particular.”
“Did you get a name?” Zane asked, suddenly concerned.
“No, when I asked her she told me ‘Never mind’ and left. It was all very strange.”
“What did she look like?”
“Tall, blonde, very...Dallas Cowboy cheerleader vibe,” Carol explained.
Well, that didn’t narrow it down much. That described pretty much all of the women he had dated over the last few years prior to Maggie. Zane shrugged. “No idea. If she comes back, let me know.” he glanced at his watch. “It’s after five. What are you even doing here? Go home!”
“I was catching up on some billing since you were here, too but you don’t have to tell me twice! I’ll see you tomorrow!” Carol gave him a little wave and swept out of his office.
Zane rubbed his hands down his face. He really did have to get this speech finished and he had a stack of consults to review as well. He sighed and put on his glasses, focusing on his laptop.
Dani blew into Common Grounds behind a gust of cold wind. A ‘blue norther’ had been blowing through since last night bringing an unusual cold snap to the East Texas town. As she shrugged out of her Northface jacket and released her riot of curls from the knitted cap she wore, she was happy to see her favorite table in the front window was available this late in the lunch hour. Maggie waved to her from the counter and held up a ‘hold on a minute’ finger. Soon Sofia was at the table with a Diet Dr. Pepper for her and menu.
Dani smiled broadly in thanks at the waitress. “Thanks Sofia! You read my mind! What’s on special today?”
“Sliders and purple potato fries,” Sofia announced.
“Purple? Really?”
Sofia nodded enthusiastically. “Dark purple! They’re really cool!”
Dani handed her back the menu without a glance. “I’ll take that. Medium well on the burgers and just bread and butter pickles and mustard. And how about adding a hot chocolate to that? My hands are frozen!”
“Gotcha! Be back in a jiff!” Sofia swung around and trotted back to the kitchen.
“I hope you’re paying that girl what she’s worth,” Dani commented a few seconds later when Maggie pulled out a chair and sat with her hands wrapped around a large caramel macchiato.
“I’d have to give her the restaurant to pay her what she’s worth,” Maggie confessed, her spoon tinkling in her mug as she stirred to cool off the coffee. “I’m incredibly lucky to have her. I hope her little crush on JT doesn’t eventually bite me in the patootie.”
Dani stifled a giggle at her friend’s language. She’d only ever heard Maggie say a real cuss word once or twice in her whole life, but she could be really creative in coming up with alternatives. “So, JT doesn’t reciprocate?”
“No, and even if he did, he couldn’t date an employee,” Maggie explained, “that would be totally unethical.”
Dani nodded distractedly. She had already moved on in her mind to figure out how to get Maggie out of the café and go dress shopping. As much as she loathed shopping herself, she knew how much time her friend would need to find the ‘perfect’ dress and she had just over a week before the gala Zane had invited her to.
“So, since you have such an amazing employee, you have no excuse not to play hookey with me this afternoon and to dress shopping,” Dani said, gratefully taking her hot chocolate Sofia had just placed in her hands.
Maggie looked chagrined and Dani could tell she was about to refuse when Sofia piped up. “You have to go! We’ll be fine! It’s so cold, I doubt people are going to venture in much this afternoon anyway. You know you want to look pretty for Zane.”
Maggie’s face reddened. Sofia had caught her more than once this week daydreaming over Zane. She was embarrassed by acting like a teenager with her first crush, but she couldn’t seem to help it. She could still feel his lips on hers, his hands caressing her body, his mouth on her...She shook her head. Stop it, Margaret Elizabeth Wade!
“Ok, you win. I’ll go,” Maggie said with a huff but then grinned. She did love to shop in Dallas.
Dani dropped into a chair in the large dressing area of yet another boutique and huffed.
“I may actually die if we don’t find a dress soon,” she complained to Maggie, pulling a hair tie off of her wrist and attempting to wrangle her riot of red curls. “This is worse than finding my wedding dress!”
