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I can’t quite tell if she’s flirting with me or not, but I feel compelled to say, “I’m not looking. I’m just coming off an unexpected divorce.”
Her body tenses in a way that makes it clear she wasn’t making a play for me.Yeah, that’s embarrassing. “I’m so sorry.” She sounds like she’s consoling a member of her cast.
Thankfully she didn’t come right out and shoot me down, so I hurry to think of something else to say. “A friend of mine is going to be on your show this season.”
Trina looks surprised. “Really, who is it?”
“Paige Holland.”
Trina throws both hands across her heart and enthusiastically gushes, “I adore Paige! She’s so sweet and authentic. I’m hoping she’ll fall for the lawyer from Chicago. That would make for some great television.”
“Why?” I’m not sure why the thought bothers me, but it does. Probably because I left Elk Lake for something bigger and wound up getting punched in the fellas for my troubles. I’d hate to see the same thing happen to Paige.
“Not only is Fielden Marsh a wildly successful lawyer, but he’s gorgeous. He and Paige would look great together.”
“Fielden?”
She nods her head.
I’m not a name snob, but I hate the fad where people take ordinary words or names and simply add an “en” to the end to try to make them sound more pretentious.
She feels the need to tell me, “I think that’s a perfectly lovely name.”
“If Fielden can be a name, so can Fencen and Posten and Courten.”
She laughs loudly before adding, “Drivin’, rockin’, rollin’.”
“You see what I’m saying then?”
Trina pats my arm before standing up. “I do. But just so you know, I think you’d benefit from being onMidwestern Matchmaker. Too bad we’re done casting.”
Pushing my chair away from the table, I tell her, “Too bad, nothing. I wouldn’t go onMidwestern Matchmakerif I needed a kidney transplant, and you offered me the perfect match in payment.”
Her face contorts. “That’s harsh.” She suddenly sticks her hand out to shake mine. “Meanwhile, we’re excited you’re allowing us to film here. Your club is going to make a beautiful backdrop for season six.”
“We’re pretty excited too.” I don’t mention that’s mostly because of the seventy-five thousand dollars they’re paying us for the privilege. We’re going to remodel the Player’s Grill with the money from the proceeds. I take Trina’s hand in mine and tell her, “You’re going to have a great season.”
Trina is nearly as tall as I am in her heels, so she looks me directly in the eye. “I’m good at bringing people together, Tim. Maybe I can keep an eye out for a companion for you.”
My posture goes rigid. “I was serious when I said I was done with dating.”
“You can’t be done forever,” she says almost scoldingly.
“Maybe not. But I promise you, you’ll be long gone by the time I’m ready to get back in the game.”
Her eyes narrow like she’s trying to see inside my soul. “Whatever you say.” She walks away, leaving me with the sense that she doesn’t believe me.
I want to shout after her, “There isn’t a woman alive who could tempt me into going on a date anytime soon.”
And I mean it.
CHAPTER FIVE
PAIGE
After standing in my closet for a full twenty minutes, I finally decide to wear my light pink cashmere sweater dress for dinner tonight. It’s form-fitting enough to show off my curves while making me feel like a million bucks. My love of ultra-feminine clothes comes from having to wear that stupid brace through most of high school. I wore over-sized clothes to camouflage it and wound up looking like a pint-sized linebacker as a result.
The only downside to this number is that it’s dry clean only so if I spill on myself—which I regularly do when eating—it’ll cost me ten bucks to have it cleaned. That’s ten dollars that doesn’t go to my house repair fund.
