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Chapter 3 - Kayla
Sitting at the bar several hours later, Kayla still didn't feel ready for her date. It felt as though it had taken an age to prepare; waxing, hair, makeup, those damned red boots with about a mile of laces to hitch up. And yet, she still didn't feel ready.
Hell, she didn't even know why she had gone to so much effort when she hadn't even wanted to go on the date in the first place.Sarah!she thought begrudgingly, wishing her friend would just ease off the pressure on demanding it was time for her to get back out there. She would have done so on her own eventually, maybe.
Glancing at the clock above the bar, she saw that she had only five more minutes left to wait. That was, if he turned up at all. What if he didn't? Whether she had wanted to come or not, the rejection might well eat her alive. She cringed at the thought.
“You waiting for someone?” Eddie, the bartender asked, appearing before her with a bottle of wine in hand.
“I guess I am,” Kayla said, shrugging. She forced a smile, though she was sure that it looked as fake as it felt.
“On the house,” Eddie told her as he refilled her glass.
Do I really look that pathetic?she wondered, but all she said was, “Thanks.”
She grabbed the glass, drained half of the contents and reached for her phone. Maybe she still had time to cancel. It was better than sitting here all night looking like an idiot when he didn't show.
Her phone buzzed then. Maybe it was him. Glancing at the screen, she saw the notification that popped up. Bile rose inher throat. There was no name, only a number. And the message read,Kayla, it's me. I know you don't want to hear from me but…
The message cut off, but there was no way she was unlocking her phone to read the rest. It didn't take much to piece it together. She'd had messages like that every few months for the last three years. Never from the same number, because she always blocked them. But it didn't take much to guess who it was.
“LunaLover01?”
Kayla tensed, her heart skipping a beat when she heard her account name being muttered. A shiver ran through her at the realization she did not only recognize her username, but the voice whispering it.
How?she wondered. The only people who knew it were her, Sarah and her supposed date. The voice that sounded behind her most definitely didn't belong to her best friend. The alternative was too horrendous to comprehend, and so, slowly, she turned on her stool and prayed that she had imagined it.
“Mr. Leafson!” she exclaimed, all of the heat in her body rushing to her cheeks.
Salt and pepper-haired, mature and handsome, well-groomed and just plain dreamy, Mr. Leafson was practically Kayla's perfect mate. There were just two problems. The first: he was Sarah's father. The second: he was also her boss!
She watched the blood drain from Lance Leafson's face and tried not to think about how he was even more good-looking in the dim light of the bar, considering he had clearly made the effort to groom his close-cropped beard and had his hair trimmed.
He did that for me?she thought, before quickly reminding herself,no, he did it for his date, who just so happened to be me.
“Kayla? There must be some mistake,” he said, shaking his head. Kayla didn't miss the way he glanced down at her red boots.
There was certainly no mistake, she was sure of that.
“WolfMan78?”
She gulped, seeing what remained of the color in his face draining away.
This was such a bad idea!
“Kayla, I had no idea that you were LunaLover01!”
Kayla glanced around quickly, relieved the bar was fairly quiet save for a couple of regulars stooped in the far corner. Though Eddie was within earshot, she thankfully knew him well enough to think he would mind his own business. At least until she mentioned it to him. Which she most definitely wouldn't, because this was simply too mortifying to voice.
“I…I should go,” Kayla said, stammering hard on her words as her entire body started to tremble with humiliation. She slipped off her stool and prepared to leave, brushing her blonde hair back behind one red, hot ear. Why did she have to go all out? She'd even put in her most prized pearl earrings, the ones passed down to her from her grandmother and her mother before her. All to meet…her boss. Somehow, mortified didn't cut it.
“I'm sorry,” she apologized, turning away. “This is just too—”
Her breath caught in her throat when a warm hand encircled her wrist, urging her back around.
“At least stay for a drink,” Mr. Leafson suggested. How could she possibly even begin to call him Lance now? “I did tell you to go out and socialize, after all. The least I can do is help you with it.”
Help me. Kayla blushed fiercely. As if she was some charity case who needed help to socialize. Well, it wasn't exactly untrue. Save for Sarah, she liked to keep herself to herself.
