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“Behave,” I tell them in the mirror. “Don’t make me hair spray you.”
Red lipstick the color of the dress pops against my dark hair. I’m ready. Anxious. If Drew doesn’t see me as something more than an employee tonight, then this whole experiment has failed, and the fates have decided.
A knock at the door makes me jump. I take one last peek in the mirror to be sure there’s no lipstick on my teeth, then head to the living room, picking up my purse on the way. The weather is perfect, chilly but not so cold that I need to ruin the lines of the dress with my puffy coat. It has long sleeves, at least.
When I open the door, I take a step back. Drew wears a charcoal-gray suit, a white shirt, and a deep-blue tie. He looks even better than he did at the wedding.
“Wow,” I say. “You’re taking this dinner seriously.”
His gaze touches on key points of my outfit. “So are you.”
I turn in a circle. “Go ahead and gawk. I’m here for your perusal.”
When I make it back around, his face is so serious that I think he’ll surely say something about our professional relationship again, but he doesn’t.
“Red isn’t wasted on you.”
I grin at him, but his expression is hard, almost pained. Good. I like making him uncomfortable. Knock him off-center.
“Is there any color you can’t wear?” he asks.
“You’ve already forgotten. Navy blue.”
“Oh, right. It’s for police officers and pilots.”
“And I look like death.” I lock the door, and we head down the crumbling porch with broken steps. I feel no self-consciousness about the humble house or the fact that my dress cost seven dollars at a thrift store. This is Drew. He knew me when my family barely got fed, when the only clothes were dumpster dives.
For us,richwas new clothes, even from Walmart. Food in the fridge between meals. Lights that stayed on. A prepaid mobile phone with minutes left on it.
I’m rich now by those standards. I rarely buy new clothes, because I’ve adapted my style to my circumstances. But I can do it every once in a while. And I bought doughnuts for my coworkers today. That’s super rich. Buying food for somebody else.
I follow Drew to his gleaming black SUV. I grin when he opens the door and realizes there’s a cat carrier in the passenger seat and a pile of pet food samples on the floor.
I stand by as he quickly clears it all out with a mumbled, “Sorry.”
I love it. Even Drew Daniels can be flustered, can fail to plan ahead.
Eventually I’m in the seat, inhaling the faint smell of dog kibble and the pine air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror. It’s comfortable. Clean, but cluttered. The sign of someone with more in his life than being perfect.
“The restaurant is a bit of a drive, but it’s worth it,” Drew says, peering at the backup camera screen as he reverses into the street.
I settle against the leather. “I don’t mind.” More time with Drew.
“First time I’ve left Sasha alone at my place.”
“You worried about her?”
“I’m worried about my house.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Think she’ll destroy everything?”
“I think she’ll find a million places to hide, and I’ll spend half the night looking for her.”
He really cares about that cat.
Sasha. For my mother. My heart turns over. “She won’t come out when you return?”
“No idea. I’ve never left her. But she has the terrible habit of squishing herself into places she doesn’t belong. This morning I found her sleeping in a tissue box.”
