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“You look so bored,” Monique said, approaching and squeezing her knee. “You can jet. I’ll catch a ride with Lorna.”
“Isn’t she the one who sells fruit?” she yelled in Mo’s ear.
“Totally her. But she’s chill tonight.”
Jamie had no idea why she wouldn’t be chill. “You sure?”
“Beyond. Get some sleep. I’ll call you, babe.”
She placed a quick kiss on Monique’s lips and watched her bounce to the beat back to her friends. Jamie was heading home. She had a mild headache and a haunting case of nostalgia she needed to shake off, and fast.
All the wonderful moments with Leighton had been fictional. So why were they all up in her space now? Annoyed and out of sorts, Jamie headed for home, way past her bedtime.
Tomorrow, all of this would be in her rearview again. Thank God.
* * *
“Lennox, you’re late.”
“I know. Take me to court. You’ll win.” Leighton’s friend Jessica arrived at the bar, looking like an ad for women in kick-ass corporate America, in a black pinstripe suit with a white collared shirt underneath. Her dark hair was in a semitwist with tendrils escaping, an effortless look on Jessica.
“No litigation needed, but you might have to buy the first round to make it up to me.”
“Done. Is there red? Beg the people here for it,” Jessica said, searching for the bartender. “We need red.”
“Down, girl. You’re getting wine in mere moments. Have a day?”
Her dark blue eyes flashed in exasperation. “We’ve taken on a new client, this zany millionaire who opened a candy bar company with national distribution.”
“I don’t see the problem.” She signaled to Stevie, the bartender she’d come to know well over the past three years. Stevie held up two fingers and Leighton nodded, knowing she’d just ordered two glasses of her favorite merlot. She and Stevie had fantastic nonverbal code, developed after many a night. Leighton loved Puzzles and spent her evenings here whenever she needed to unwind or feel better about something. Jessica, who had her own personal connection to the bar, joined her on occasion.
“Let me enlighten you.” Jessica began to count off the issues. “This man insists on calling five times a day and refuses to speak to any members of my team. Only me. He also starts off every call with one of those two-line jokes and won’t ever share the punchline, so I’m left to simply guess and guess.”
“That’s hysterical.”
Jessica glared and carefully moved a strand of hair off her forehead. “Brooklyn thinks it is, too, because she almost went after his account.” She shook her head. “I should have encouraged her.”
Leighton laughed. Jessica and Brooklyn were married but worked for competing advertising agencies, which made for great stories. “Doesn’t sound so horrible. Millionaires and candy.”
“The money part isn’t. He’s throwing cash at us. But my timeis valuable, too.” Jessica sighed. “Lay, we can have a thirty-minute strategy session, and he will erase everything we decided one week later, and we’re back to square one with me trying to figure out why the frog got on the elevator.”
“Why did he?” Leighton asked.
Jessica dropped her head. “I don’t know. That’s the problem,” she said weakly. Jamie laughed. This was too good. “He wanted a TV spot with dancing bananas eating the chocolate bars, and now we’re talking about nuns and penguins. It’s a lot, Lay. I need the wine.” Jessica touched the space in front of her. “Is the red here? Where are you, little red?”
Leighton’s laughter only grew because frazzled was not a version of Jessica Lennox that she was used to. Jessica was the calm, commanding type that sent competition quaking in their boots. Right on cue, Stevie appeared with a bottle of Tangle Valley merlot and a corkscrew. Jessica sat taller and regained her in-control status, leaving her lamentation in the rearview. Impressive how she turned it off so effectively.
“Leighton, that woman from last week asked about you,” Stevie said. “She knew your name, too.”
Jessica sipped the merlot and smiled in victory. “Perfection. I love this wine. I needed it.” She exhaled in satisfaction. “Who’s the admirer?” She turned to Stevie. “I’ve tried setting her up several times and have failed miserably. Not that I’m done.”
“I’m not settling,” Leighton said. “I want what you have, or I don’t want it at all. Life’s too short for mediocre relationships. And she’s just a nice woman who bought me a drink. Cute enough. Nice enough. We flirted some, and she went on her way.”
Reliable Stevie leaned in. “Until she came back looking for you.”
Leighton took a sip and regarded them both. “I ran into Jamie.” Stevie arched an interested brow and lingered close as they talked.
Jessica went still. “Did you now?”
