Page 32 of Mr. February

“Come on. Let’s go find some seats. Are you meeting with any of your friends for this part, or is that later?”

Wade liked how she completely ignored his half-hearted suggestion as if his comment wasn’t worth a response. He bitback a smile as he followed her through the aisles until she stopped short and whirled around to face him.

“Do you care where we sit? I like sitting close to the aisle, but if you’d prefer—“

“That sounds good. Why don’t we take those two seats?”

They seated themselves and made idle chitchat until the plenary started. Wade tried to pay attention, but Jenny was more interesting. She periodically leaned over and whispered insightful or snarky comments, which showed both her sense of humor and her intelligence.

Once the opening plenary ended, he led them to meet with his friends. As he approached the group, he realized he hadn’t asked Jenny how she wanted to be introduced. He should have known she’d already have a plan. When a former coworker, Brian, hailed him, Jenny smiled and introduced herself as his girlfriend.

It was hard not to get a swollen head as each of the guys sent him an awestruck look. Jenny was every nerdy guy’s dream: busty, smart, friendly, funny, and approachable. He didn’t understand how she was unaware of her appeal. The guys she dated must have been real tools.

If he ever had the chance to date her for real, he would do everything he could to help her rewrite how she saw herself.

Wade remembered Gloria’s comments about her hooking up with a geek at the conference. Gloria was right about Jenny’s ability to have her pick of men here.

After chatting for a few minutes, they moved inside and claimed a table. Wade’s friends continued their efforts to charm Jenny, who seemed amused by it. When Brian offered to get drinks for everyone, Wade asked Jenny her preference and joined him.

Jenny looked at ease, so he caught up with Brian. He couldn’t tell if his friends were trying to make her comfortable, or if theywere hoping to charm her. If he wasn’t careful, he’d have to fight his way back to her side.

“How did you score a girl like that?” Brian asked. “She’s gorgeous, yet she’s obviously smart, and she seems nice, too.”

Wade decided to stick with the truth as much as possible.

“We met at work, though she’s not on one of the tech teams.”

“After the shit with Suzanne, you were due for some good luck.”

When it was their turn, they ordered the drinks for the table. He got Jenny two glasses of wine so she wouldn’t have to wait as long next time. Wait staff circulated hors d’oeuvres throughout the room, so they had a respectable collection of small plates of food scattered around the table to balance the alcohol.

Wade enjoyed beer, but he didn’t drink much at conferences since the days were so long. Tonight, though, he felt like he needed a little extra to calm down. An hour after the reception started, both he and Jenny each had two drinks, and he had a nice little buzz going. She was telling a story to the group when someone tapped Wade’s arm.

“Wade, I thought that was you. Good to see you. Can I pick your brain for a minute?”

Wade turned from the conversation to see one of his former grad school classmates. Roger worked at a hardware company that did amazing things. The two men spent a few minutes catching up before Roger detailed his problem. He pulled out his tablet, and they migrated to a nearby table to look at his code.

Wade was fascinated by the issue and got drawn into Roger’s explanation. He completely forgot where he was and what he was doing until he heard Jenny’s trill of laughter a little while later. His buzz had worn off, but by the flush on her cheeks and the empty glasses in front of her, hers was still going strong.

He stared at her to gauge her mood.

“Everything okay?” Roger asked when he continued to watch the table.

“Yeah, I’m just checking to make sure my girlfriend is doing okay. She doesn’t know anybody here, but she’d never say anything if she was miserable.”

“Damn, why didn’t you say anything? She’s probably bored out of her mind.”

But when Wade checked on her, she smiled happily at him.

“Your friends are so nice,” she gushed. “I was worried I wouldn’t have anyone to talk to, but they’re all being super sweet. They keep bringing me snacks, and they’re so funny.”

I’ll bet they are, he thought to himself. “That’s good,” he said as he made eye contact with each of his friends. Brian laughed at him and winked good-naturedly.

Wade leaned closer to Jenny’s ear to whisper in her ear.

“Are you doing okay, or would you rather head out? I’m sorry for talking so long with Roger and ignoring you.”

“I’m doing great.” She gave him a brilliant smile. “Everybody’s been lovely and funny, and I’m having the best time. You don’t need to worry about me.”

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