AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It cast a pall on the evening. Felicity had considered calling it off even before the date started. Then Kevin played the FI charity ball card. He would buy a table if Felicity went out with him and would be his fate to the gala. So, she took one for the team and tried her hardest to make the most of the evening.
The gala was right around the corner. She didn’t have to see him again after that. And she shouldn’t because her heart just wasn’t in it.
How could it be when it belonged to someone else?
Someone else who had a date with another woman this evening. The thought of Austin with beautiful Macks made her stomach queasy. The best thing she could do would be to keep busy.
Felicity looked out the window and saw Maia’s car in the driveway. She let herself out the back of her duplex and knocked on Maia’s door. Through the French door, she could see Maia wave her in. The phone was pressed to her ear and she appeared to be talking to someone about hair color.
“Candice, I’m sorry you aren’t happy with the color,” Maia said. “When you asked me to blend your gray with the rest of your hair, I thought you meant you wanted an overall gray look. You know that’s very trendy right now. We could even put a lavender tint on it and you’d look very chic.”
Maia flinched and held the phone away from her ear. “Candice—Candice—” She rolled her eyes and motioned for Felicity to sit down.
Felicity had the urge to grab the phone and tell Candice to be quiet and let Maia make it right. She would, which was exactly the reason Felicity was there to talk to her.
“Candice, listen to me, please. If you’re unhappy. I’m happy to fix it. No charge. I want you to be happy, Candice. I was just offering you options by suggesting the lavender—I understand. Yes. Right. I hear you. Why don’t you come in tomorrow at nine o’clock and I’ll get you all fixed up?”
Maia could be pushy and act like a mother hen, but she didn’t have a mean bone in her body. Even before Felicity had a chance to ask her what she came to ask, she knew the answer. Still, she needed to ask. After she got the answer she knew she’d get, she needed to vent.
“Do you remember mentioning to Kevin that I work for Fortune Investments?”
Maia frowned. “Why?”
Felicity relayed last night’s happenings to her friend.
Maia closed her eyes and for a moment she looked as if she might implode.
“Don’t hate me. We did talk about you working for the Fortunes. It was only in the name of me trying to fix the two of you up. I wanted him to know you had a good job, that you’re successful. I had no idea that he was working an angle. That’s just not right and I’m going to tell him that the next time I see him. Unless you want me to call him right now.”
Maia punched her pass code into her phone.
“No, Maia, don’t. I’m not mad at you. I just needed to know if it was some kind of a crazy coincidence or if Kevin purposely targeted me. I’d say it’s kind of half and half. You wanted to fix us up—that’s the coincidence half. He got interested in getting to know me after he found out I worked for the Fortunes.” Felicity shrugged.
“That little—” Maia called him a colorful word. “I don’t appreciate being used. I don’t fix up people very often, because when I do and it doesn’t work out or if it does work out and they have a breakup—or if something weird like this happens—” She threw her hands in the air. “I feel bad.”
“You shouldn’t feel bad,” Felicity insisted. “This isn’t your fault. I shouldn’t have told you, but I wanted to get to the bottom of it. Make sure I had the full story.”
Felicity followed Maia into the kitchen.
“How did the Beast take it?” Maia asked. “Was he mad at you?”
Felicity shrugged. “He wasn’t happy, but in true Austin form after he went off about Kevin, he surprised me by saying that he’d finally pinned down a time to talk to his father about creating that advertising position for me.”
Maia’s mouth gaped. “And?”
“I don’t know. I mean, it’s not definite. I didn’t see him after the meeting. That probably means that he doesn’t have any news for me. I’d think Miles would want to interview me before he offered me the position. But it’s way early for that. Austin just broached the conversation today.”
