Under a falling star, p.21
Under a Falling Star, page 21
“So other than the COO keeping you chained to the desk, everything is okay?” Dawn finally asked.
Austen cleared her throat as images of Dee tying her to a desk danced through her mind. “Never been better,” she said, and it wasn’t a lie. The last two weeks had been amazing.
“Good,” Dawn said. “Listen, I just found out that Lucille from that Chinese brush painting class we did last year managed to get some of her work included in a showing, and I thought it would be nice if we went to support her.”
“Sure. When is it?”
“Tonight.”
“Oh.” Austen’s mind raced. She hated lying to her friend, but she couldn’t very well tell her that she had a date with her boss. “I’m sorry, Dawn, but I can’t make it tonight. I have to… Something else came up.”
Again, only silence from Dawn. Finally, when Austen couldn’t stand it anymore and was just about ready to spill the beans, Dawn said, “When Aiden and I first started dating, I had a hard time getting her to open up and talk about her emotions.”
It wasn’t hard to imagine that. Befriending the kind, approachable Dawn had been easy, but her partner was much slower to open up. “I know, but that’s not what—”
“Hush. Let me finish,” Dawn said. “She would withdraw and not call me for days, just so she could avoid talking about whatever was upsetting her.”
“I’m not upset. I’m just…”
“Yes?”
Austen inflated her cheeks and then blew out the breath. How could she explain without giving too much away?
“Want to hear how Aiden and I now handle situations like that?” Dawn asked.
“I’m listening.”
“She tells me that something happened at work that upset her, but that she’s not ready to talk about it,” Dawn said. “That way, I don’t feel like she’s lying to me or shutting me out of her life, and she’s not forced to talk about things before she’s ready.”
The message was clear. Austen hung her head. Initially, they had bonded over their common interest in art and the fact that they’d both lost one parent as teenagers. By now, she considered Dawn her best friend. She deserved better than this. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shut you out of my life.”
“I know. And I didn’t mean to pressure you.”
Austen inhaled deeply. “I met someone. But I’m not ready to talk about it.”
“Just tell me one thing. Is she good for you?”
“She’s a stubborn, challenging workaholic, but she’s the best thing that has happened to me since…ever,” Austen answered without having to think about it.
Dawn laughed. “I know exactly what you mean. So will I see you at art class next week?”
“I’ll be there.” No more neglecting her friends. “Dawn?”
“Yes?”
“What did you wear on your first date with Aiden?”
A chuckle rang through the line. “A pair of ice skates.”
Austen kicked a blouse off the bed. “Not helping. I don’t think they’ll let me into the restaurant wearing ice skates.”
“Why don’t you wear that emerald green dress that you bought for your cousin’s wedding in November?”
Austen struggled out of the clothes pile, opened her closet, and peeked at the dress. That might work. “Thanks,” she said for more than just the fashion advice.
“You’re welcome.”
* * *
Dee threw the folder into her out-box. Now just a quick check of her e-mails to see if Rick’s salespeople had managed to keep their expenses down this month, and then she’d get out of here. That would give her just enough time to drive home, change into something less businesslike, and meet Austen for their first official date.
A last-minute reservation at Le Pigeon had nearly cost her a kidney, but if Austen wanted a date, a date was what she would get. Dee just hoped Austen had understood her secret message in the break room this morning and would meet her at the restaurant at seven.
Her fingers darted across the keyboard, entering her password.
Sixty-eight new messages since she’d last checked a few hours ago, but none of them from sales.
“What the…?” Had her cousin forgotten to CC her on the expense reports, or had he left her out of the loop on purpose? Last time she had called him onto the carpet for his team’s exorbitant expenses, he hadn’t been too happy about her intruding into his area. Not that Dee gave a damn about his hurt pride. She was just doing her job, and if he had been doing his too, she wouldn’t have to deal with this now. Cursing, she snatched up the phone.
It took forever until someone answered, and it was neither Rick’s voice nor that of his administrative assistant greeting her. “Kudos Entertainment, sales department, Brenda Van Lese speaking.”
The words she had wanted to say died on Dee’s lips. What was Austen’s ex doing here? Hadn’t they transferred her to New York or Siberia or some other, faraway place months ago? “Uh, this is Danielle Saunders.”
“Oh, Ms. Saunders, what can I do for you?”
Crawl over shards of glass and apologize to Austen for what you did to her. Dee bit her tongue and said, “Is my cousin, Richard Haggerty, in?”
“He already left, and so did everyone else.”
Dee frowned. “So they left you to answer the phone?”
“No. I was on my way out to catch my plane when I heard the phone ring. I was just here for our quarterly meeting.”
Rick has his sales people fly in from all over the US for a meeting? Why couldn’t he do it over the phone or Skype? No wonder his department’s expenses were so high. And why the hell did his staff leave work so early? It wasn’t even… She glanced at her wristwatch.
Oh, shit! It was much later than she’d thought. How had that happened? No time to figure it out now. She ended the call without saying good-bye and ran to the elevator, not bothering to stop to boot down her computer. As the elevator carried her down to the lobby, she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet as if that would make it move faster.
On the seventh floor, the elevator stopped.
Not now! Dee glared at the opening doors and the woman getting in before realizing who it was. Brenda. Great. Just what I needed on top of everything else.
“Ms. Saunders.” Brenda pressed the button for the lobby. “We somehow got disconnected.”
Dee waved her away. Ignoring Austen’s ex, she kept her gaze on the red numbers counting down.
Finally, the number changed to zero and the doors pinged open, but Brenda still blocked the way. She turned toward Dee as if she had all the time in the world. “I hope you’ll have a nice—”
“Excuse me. I’m in a hurry.”
“Oh. Sure. I know how that is.”
I just bet you do. Dee tried not to imagine how often Austen had sat in a restaurant, waiting for Brenda, never suspecting that she’d been held up at home, with her other partner. Nearly pushing Brenda out of the way, she sprinted across the lobby and toward her car. But no matter how fast she ran now, she’d be late. Just about now, Austen was probably arriving at the restaurant.
She’d messed up. Big time. It had happened before, more than once, actually, with past girlfriends. Her work had always come first, and she didn’t care if the women in her life knew they were playing second fiddle. But with Austen, everything was different. The thought of Austen sitting alone at the table, waiting and feeling like a fool, made her cringe.
She stepped on the accelerator and took a corner a little too fast, nearly bouncing the right front wheel into the curb.
Her thoughts were racing. She had to think of something to make it up to Austen. Flowers. Jewelry. Chocolate. But none of that sounded right. She had a feeling that even Austen’s beloved chocolate couldn’t save her now. Austen deserved better than her showing up an hour late with cheap excuses and a not-so-cheap pair of earrings and a box of chocolates.
She slowed down a little, fumbled her cell phone from her pocket, and pressed number two on the speed dial. Number two. Work still held the number one position, on her speed dial and in her life.
“Yes?” Austen’s voice interrupted her thoughts and sent her heartbeat into overdrive.
“Um, hi, it’s me. Dee.”
Before she could find the right words to tell her, Austen asked, “Did I misunderstand about meeting at Le Pigeon at seven? I thought that’s what you were trying to tell me this morning in the break room.”
Dee dug her teeth into her lower lip. “No, you didn’t misunderstand. It’s just…”
“How late are you running?” She sounded so calm, not angry at all, as if she had halfway expected it would happen, which made Dee feel even worse.
For once in her life, she didn’t want to be an unreliable girlfriend. “I can be there in fifteen minutes if you don’t mind me showing up in my work clothes.”
The red and blue lights of a patrol car flashed behind her.
Dee groaned and pulled over. “Make that thirty minutes. I’ve just been pulled over for talking on the phone while driving.”
“Dee!”
“I’m so sorry. I warned you that I make a lousy girlfriend.”
Austen sighed. “Yeah, you did. You know what? Let’s forget about the restaurant. Meet me at the Peninsula Park rose garden.”
“Okay. Austen, I really am sorry.”
A knock on the side window startled her. The police officer gestured at her to roll down her window.
“I have to go,” she said into the phone. “Austen, I…”
“Go before your fine climbs even higher. And drive carefully.”
“I will.” Dee hung up.
* * *
Dee hurried down a few steps and then jogged along the red-paved path. The roses all around her were in full bloom, but she didn’t take the time to enjoy their sweet scent or to admire the manicured hedges. Her gaze immediately zeroed in on Austen.
She was sitting on the ledge of the large fountain in the middle of the rose garden. In her emerald dress, too elegant for a visit in the park, she looked like a princess from a fairytale. She’d taken off her strappy sandals and dangled one hand into the water.
God, she’s beautiful. Dee slowed and broke off one buttery yellow rose.
Austen didn’t look up when she sat next to her.
Dee held out the rose, putting it into Austen’s line of sight.
She took it without saying anything and fiddled with its leaves before finally turning toward Dee. “Friendship.”
“Friendship?” Dee’s stomach knotted. Did that mean Austen wanted to go back to being friends, now that she’d found out firsthand what a horrible girlfriend she was?
“Yeah. Yellow roses mean friendship.”
Great. She couldn’t even get that right. Why did relationships have to be so complicated? “Oh. I hoped it meant forgiveness.”
Austen shook her head. “Only when it’s fifteen of them.”
Dee stole a glance at the nearby flowers. Should she…?
“Leave the poor roses alone.”
Was that a hint of a smile on her face? Dee slowly reached out and put her hand on top of Austen’s, hoping she wouldn’t be rebuffed. “Am I forgiven anyway?”
Austen turned and entwined their fingers. “I’ll let it go this time. The fine you had to pay for driving while on the phone was probably enough of a punishment.”
“Ouch, yes. Five hundred dollars, can you believe it? But I don’t care about the money. I only care about you.” Oh, Christ. When had she started to sound like a lovesick fool? But it was the truth.
“I know you care. I also know how important your job is to you. You get wrapped up in work and forget everything around you. I knew that from the start.” Austen sighed. “But sitting in the restaurant, waiting for you, and then that phone call… It was like being with Brenda all over again.”
Being lumped in with Brenda, the two-timing bitch, hurt more than the five-hundred-dollar fine. “It’s not the same.”
“I know. I’m only telling you how it made me feel.”
Dee bowed her head.
Austen squeezed her hand. “Okay, now that I made my feelings clear, let’s just move on.”
“I’m forgiven? Just like that?” It hadn’t worked like that in any of her previous relationships. Her girlfriends would have milked it for all it was worth and laid weeklong guilt trips on her.
“On one condition. Two, actually.”
Dee rubbed her thumb over the back of Austen’s hand. “Anything.”
“Set an alarm on your cell phone next time we have a date.”
“I will. And the second condition?”
“You carry the bag over to the picnic table.” She pointed at the bag at her feet.
Dee bent and peeked inside. Heavenly scents drifted out. Apparently, Austen had ordered their food to go. “Is there a chocolate dessert?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?”
Dee laughed and kissed her, not caring who was watching. “Give me a second, and we’ll head over to the picnic spot. But there’s something I need to do first.” She pulled her cell phone from her pocket.
Austen laughed. “Are you setting the alarm already? We haven’t even agreed on a time for our second date.”
“No. I just have to change one of my contacts.” With a few touches to the screen, she made Austen number one on her speed dial before pocketing the phone and reaching for the bag of food. “All right. Let’s have a picnic.”
Chapter 23
“Dee?” Tim’s voice from behind stopped her from getting into the elevator. “Do you have a minute? I could use some feedback on the drafts for the new glow-in-the-dark animal ads.”
Stopping the elevator doors from closing with her shoulder, Dee turned. “Does it have to be now?” She hadn’t been late to a date with Austen since that first time nearly two months ago, and she wasn’t about to change that now.
“Uh, no.” Her brother studied her from head to toe. “Why? Are you heading to an out-of-the-office meeting I’m not aware of?”
“No. I…well…no. I have an appointment, but it has nothing to do with work.”
Tim flashed her a smile. “I knew it. You’ve met someone, haven’t you?”
Dee put on the poker face she had perfected in boardroom meetings, even though her stomach knotted. She hated lying to Tim, the only one of her siblings she was close to. “Why would you think that?”
“When was the last time you had an appointment that had nothing to do with work?”
“I had a dentist’s appointment, a meeting with my financial adviser, and I went to the hairdresser this month.” Dee ticked them off on her fingers.
“But you weren’t grinning on your way to those appointments,” Tim said.
Dee touched her mouth and then dropped her hand. Had she really been grinning? Probably. She’d been imagining the expression she hoped to see on Austen’s face when she surprised her with the photo. “Can’t I be in a good mood without it having to do with a woman?”
Tim sighed. “Okay, I’ll let you keep that miracle-working woman to yourself for a bit longer. But you’ve got to introduce us sometime.”
Dee said nothing and escaped into the elevator. You’ve got to introduce us sometime, echoed through her head all the way to the lobby. Damn. Now her good mood was gone.
* * *
“Keep your eyes closed,” Dee whispered from behind.
As warm breath bathed her ear, goose bumps erupted all over Austen’s body. She leaned back and enjoyed the safe feeling of Dee’s arms wrapped around her. Without her sight, her other senses intensified, and she drank in Dee’s scent and the feeling of her breasts against her back. “If you wanted to play sexy games, you didn’t need to lead me out of the bedroom.”
Dee chuckled. “Let’s leave the sexy games for later.”
“Does that mean I’m allowed to look now?”
“No. Nice try.” Dee guided her through the house. Judging by their steps echoing over tiles, they had entered the kitchen now. “Okay, now you can look.”
Austen opened her eyes.
A chocolate cake sat on the table, and two candles flickered on top. A gift-wrapped package lay next to it. “Um, you do know that it’s not my birthday, don’t you?”
“I know. And I hope you have a few more candles on your birthday cake; otherwise, I’m seriously robbing the cradle.”
Austen’s mouth watered as she eyed the chocolate cake. “Don’t worry. Candle-wise, this is clearly not my birthday cake. What is it, then?”
Dee pulled her around to look into her eyes. “Happy two-month anniversary.”
A wave of warm affection swept over Austen, and tears burned in her eyes. She threw her arms around Dee and hugged her for all she was worth.
Dee held her tightly. “I know it’s a bit weird to celebrate a two-month anniversary,” she said quietly, “but for me, making it to this point without messing up is kind of a big deal.”
Austen rose up on her tiptoes and kissed her. “I don’t think it’s weird at all. It’s very, very sweet.” She loved knowing that their relationship was important enough to Dee to go to all this trouble.
“Don’t let it get around. I have a reputation to uphold, you know?”
“Your secret is safe with me.” Even if she could tell her colleagues at work, no one would believe her anyway. All they saw was Attila, not the Dee she knew.
After a few more moments, Dee let go and urged her to turn around. With both hands on Austen’s shoulders, she led her over to the table. “Come on. Blow them out. And don’t forget to make a wish.”
Austen pulled Dee next to her. “Let’s do it together. It’s our anniversary after all, not just mine.”
Dee wrapped one arm around her. “On the count of three. One. Two. Three.”
They took deep breaths, leaned forward, and blew out the candles.
May we celebrate many more anniversaries. Austen turned and looked into Dee’s eyes. Had she wished for the same?
