Blogger Girl (17 page)

We planned to meet at Uva, an Italian restaurant near my apartment, for dinner at 8, and so at 8:05, wearing dark blue skinny jeans, a green one shoulder rayon top that gathered on the side, and knee-high black boots, I walked through the front door, opened the red velvet curtain and peered to the bar on my right hoping Nicholas had arrived before me. The lighting was dark and romantic and the place was packed with couples but I didn’t see Nicholas. I was contemplating pushing my way to the bar to order a glass of wine when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Before I had a chance to turn around, a breath of warm air caressed the back of my neck.

“You beat me,” Nicholas whispered.

When I turned around, he was looking down at me with his warm brown eyes. I joked, “I tried to be fashionably late but I guess you’re more fashionable than me.”

When he moved to the side to let two girls walk in front of us, we were pushed closer together and I felt my arm brush against the hair on his. “Go easy. Isn’t this your neighborhood? I had to commute all the way from the village,” he said.

“All the way, huh? Wow, I’m flattered,” I said with a giggle.

“I had to take the local!”

“Well, I’m honored you deem me worthy of the long trek uptown.” I swatted him playfully on the arm.

Nicholas winked. “Absolutely.” Glancing at the bar, he leaned in towards my ear and murmured, “Our reservation isn’t until 9. I thought we’d get a drink first. Is that cool?”

His low but soft voice always made me feel like he was confiding a secret and my knees wobbled. “It’s cool,” I said.

Nicholas grabbed my hand and led me to the bar where two spots had conveniently opened up.

A few minutes later, we sat side by side, each with a glass of Montepulciano in front of us. I angled my body toward his. “So besides writing diddies like ‘Kimmie Long was in my pants’, tell me more about your love of music.”

His face turning red, Nicholas started laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

Still laughing, Nicholas covered his mouth with one hand and held two fingers of his other hand up to me.

“What the…” I started laughing along with him even though I wasn’t in on the joke.

Finally, Nicholas stopped laughing and wiped a tear from his eye. “I’m sorry about that.” He started laughing again.

“C’mon!”

“Okay. It’s really stupid.” Nicholas clamped his lips together.

“What’s really stupid?” I took a sip of my wine.

“Diddies,” he said without embellishment.

“What about them?”

His lips trembling again, he said, “I assume you mean ‘ditties’, as in the plural of ‘ditty’ or short song. But it sounded like you said di
dd
ies, which is different.”

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for the grammar lesson, counselor.”

Nicholas scooted closer to me and gently moved a hair away from my face. Smiling softly, he said, “I’m sorry. It’s just that ‘diddies’ is slang for titties and, well, hearing it come out of your mouth made me…” he started cracking up again.

I threw me head back and laughed out loud. “
That’s
why you broke out in uncontrollable laughter? Because you thought I said ‘titties’?” Shaking my head at him in disbelief, I said, “How old are you?”

Nodding, he said, “I know. I’m totally embarrassed that I lost it.” He started laughing again.

“I can see that!” We laughed together for a second until we both stopped at the same time and smiled at each other, neither of us saying anything.

Breaking the silence, Nicholas raised his shoulders in a shrug. “I’ve always loved music. Started listening to punk and new wave as a baby and saw my first concert as a toddler – The B-52s.”

I pictured a young Nicholas clapping his hands and dancing along to the music. “So even as a young‘un, you enjoyed diddies, huh?” I flashed him a devilish grin.

Nicholas winked. “Yeah. And I thought music was pretty cool too.”

About two hours later, we finished our Moscata while Nicholas paid the check. We had shared artichoke salad and ricotta cheese and black truffle honey bruschetta to start and then I had eaten almost an entire plate of gnocchi. If anyone besides Nicholas had been my dining partner, I would probably have been in a food coma, but he kept me alert and on my toes. Enjoying the brisk air that met us when we left the restaurant, I led Nicholas in the direction of my apartment. When we stood in front of the entrance, I said, “This is me.”

Nicholas looked up at the white seven-story building and back at me. “Seems like a nice place to live.”

I nodded. “It is.”

We stood facing each other in silence until Nicholas gave me a sheepish grin. “I feel like we did this sort of backwards.”

I tilted my head to the side. “How’s that?”

Nicholas rubbed his lips. “Isn’t it supposed to be first comes date, then comes sex? We had sex before the date.”

“I think the correct words to that
ditty
are ‘first comes love then comes marriage.’ But lots of people get that order wrong too.”

Nicholas smiled and before I knew what was happening, he drew me to him and kissed me with force, one hand grabbing my hair. When he released me a few moments later, I stared at him, breathless. “What was that for?”
Not that I’m complaining.

“I don’t know. I couldn’t help myself.” He gave me another sheepish grin.

“Good answer. So…” I motioned toward my front door as my nerve endings stirred. “You coming in or not?”

Nicholas raised his eyebrows. “I’m right behind you.”

ROB HAD BEATEN ME TO WORK
for a change and was behind closed doors when I arrived on Monday and so I printed out his emails and posted some updates on my blog while I waited for him to come out. I was still riding the high from my night with Nicholas and while I completed my morning tasks, I replayed the events of the date in my mind, from the glass of wine at the bar, to sitting across from each other at our cozy table in the corner where we talked about everything from my favorite books to his favorite music. And last but certainly not least were the hours spent rolling around in my bed after dinner and the next morning where we collaborated on his
Penny Lane
remix. Then he showered at my place before heading into work on Sunday.

At about 10:30, Rob’s office door finally opened and I heard a female laughing before Rob walked out with a tall, pretty girl who looked to be about my age with straight auburn hair that fell past her shoulders.

Rob smiled and approached my desk. “And this is Kimberly, my loyal assistant. Kimberly, meet Daneen, the newest member of the squad.”

I smiled into her amber eyes. “Hi there. Welcome to the group!”

She gave me a tight smile, her upper lip disappearing into her gums. “Nice to meet you.”

“Kim was my assistant at T & F before I came here,” Rob said.

“Feels like forever,” I joked.

Looking at Rob, Daneen said, “I’m sure.”

Giving me a crisp nod, Rob said, “Well, Kim’s invaluable. No one else can multi-task like her.”

I knew he was making a jab about my blog and shook my head at him. “Rob’s a great boss. You’ll see.”

Daneen glanced at me dismissively and turned back to Rob. “Should we go find Nicholas?”

Rob nodded. “Yeah. He should be here by now. Kim, can you make a reservation for five at A Voce? 12:30?”

“Sure,” I said, reaching for the Zagat guide on my desk.

“Thanks. We’ll be in Nicholas’ office,” Rob said.

“Okay. See you guys later,” I said.

With a toss of her hair, Daneen said, “Thanks” before walking away with Rob.

After I made the reservation at A Voce, I chewed on my pen, accessing my initial impression of Daneen. I had a sour taste in my mouth I couldn’t swallow down. I scratched my head and let out a deep exhale. I didn’t like her.

After I finished printing and filing Rob’s emails, I went to make copies of some letters. When I got back to my desk, there were sounds coming from Rob’s office, most notably an irritating female laugh. Imitating it, I muttered, “
ahahahahaha
” and snorted. And then I heard the muffled sounds of Nicholas’ deep voice. I stood up and walked to Rob’s door. “Sorry to interrupt.”

“No worries,” Rob said.

“You’re all set for A Voce at 12:30.” I could have called Rob with the information, but I was dying to see Nicholas. I looked over at him and smiled. He smiled back and gave me a slight wave.

“Great,” Rob said. “Can you email Lucy and David and tell them to meet Nicholas, Daneen and me outside my office at about 12:25?”

I tore my eyes from Nicholas and caught Daneen watching our exchange with intense concentration. I met her eyes and she quickly flashed me a smile. “No problem,” I said. As I walked back to my desk, I gave an extra shake of my hips since I knew Nicholas was watching.

I emailed David and Lucy and then switched my focus from work to my blog.

“Terminally Single” by Emily Anderson

Twenty-nine-year-old Tamara Woodland hasn’t had a boyfriend since senior year of college and does not predict a wedding in her foreseeable future. Correction: she doesn’t see a
marriage
in her future. Although Tamara’s love life leaves much to be desired, she has been a bridesmaid six times in the past two years. When her closest friend’s boyfriend asks Tamara to help him choose an engagement ring, she’s positive she’ll be a lady-in-waiting again very soon.

I stopped typing and looked up from my computer for at least the tenth time since I started writing the review. I concentrated on the sounds coming from Rob’s office, trying to hear what Rob, Nicholas and Daneen were talking about. From what I could make out, it seemed to be work-related, but then Nicholas or Rob would say something and Daneen would cackle in response. I gave up drafting the review and was trying to distract myself with thoughts of what I would eat for lunch when David and Lucy came by.

“You coming to lunch with us?” David asked.

Rob hadn’t said anything to me about joining them but since almost everyone else in the group was going, I momentarily thought maybe I was invited and Rob assumed I was a mind reader. It wouldn’t be the first time. But then I remembered that the reservation was for five people and I would make six. I shook my head. “I guess not.”

“Too bad,” Lucy said. “I love when you and Rob bicker.”

“Kim and I bicker? Never!” Rob said with a laugh as he walked out of his office with Nicholas and Daneen. Looking from David to Lucy, he said, “You guys ready?”

In unison, they said, “Ready.”

“Alright then, let’s go.” Turning to me, he said, “If anyone calls, tell them I’ll be back in about an hour.”

“Oh, should I bring my legal pad?” Lucy asked.

“Not necessary,” Daneen said. “This is actually a fun lunch for me to meet the crew, although I have a feeling this will be my only non-working lunch for the next several months.” Daneen smiled sweetly at Lucy and I watched her upper lip disappear into her gums again.

I would have understood being left behind if they planned to discuss a case or something, but at the realization that I wasn’t considered part of “the crew” for the purposes of a friendly lunch, I felt like a door had been slammed in my face. I forced out a smile. “Have fun guys.”

As they walked out, I felt Nicholas’ eyes on me. I reluctantly met his glance and gave him a closed-mouth smile before turning back to my keyboard. I was afraid to make prolonged eye contact at the risk of tearing up.

Squeezing my shoulder on his way out, he whispered, “Talk to you later.”

I nodded and absently tapped my keyboard until “the crew” had left the vicinity.

***

Thanks to a really good book I was reading, written entirely in emails, I felt better about being left out of lunch. I was sure Rob hadn’t intentionally left me out and I knew the topic of conversation at the restaurant was probably work, work and more work, a topic I found endlessly boring. The only upside to attending a work event was to stare at Nicholas, but since office functions were no longer my only outlet for that, I was more than happy to be left out of department lunches, working or not. This change of heart, however, did not affect my impression of Daneen. I still didn’t like her. I wondered what Nicholas really thought of her but didn’t want to come out and ask, especially since his ability to delegate a big portion of his work to her gave him the freedom to leave work early enough to take me out to dinner later that week.

After sushi at Haru, we went back to my apartment, had mind-blowing sex and then like an old married couple, he caught up on the hundreds of work emails he’d received in the last two hours while I checked my personal email. My inbox was full of messages from authors and publicists, including Candace Adams. I had almost forgotten about my agreement to review Hannah’s book and wondered if maybe Candace was writing on behalf of a different client. I bit my nails and opened the email which, of course, was about
Cut on the Bias
. Candace had sent me an ARC of the manuscript and wanted to confirm I had received it. I moved my laptop to the side, got out of bed and walked to my kitchen table where I had dropped the package I had received in the mail that day but was too busy kissing Nicholas to open. Inside was a book with a mannequin draped in silk on a pale blue cover and the words “Cut on the Bias, a novel by Hannah Marshak.” With the book in my hand, I walked back to my bed, sat on the edge and stared at it.

From behind me, I felt Nicholas’ breath in my ear as he said, “What’s the matter, Kimmie?”

I sighed loudly, turned around and lifting and raising the book, said, “The bitch’s book.”

Grabbing it from me, Nicholas opened it to the first page and I watched his eyes move across the page. “It sucks.”

I laughed. “You’re basing that on the ten or so words you’ve read?”