Page 8 of Park Avenue Princess

“Not her, dickhead,” I chuckle. Yeah, my friendship with Hollis has become comfortable enough that I can get away with talking shit to him. “My Addy is honey blonde, curvy, and single. Or, at least she was when I met her.” I shrug.

“If she’syourAddy, then what happened?”

I’m not reluctant to talk about it, but I keep the finer details to myself. Seeing the happiness of my friends has caused Addy to be on my mind a lot lately, anddamnif I wasn’t wishing there was some way I could find her. But knowing that task is impossible, I move on, trying to make myself believe her memory doesn’t affect me as much as it really does.

“I met her in Oahu. We were both parasailing. She was gorgeous. And nervous.” I chuckle. “I just started talking to her, trying to relax her. Hell,Iwas nervous just striking up a conversation with her. As beautiful as she was, I thought there was no way she was solo or that she’d even give me the time of day.”

Hollis tsks and shakes his head. “First mistake: judging her based on looks. Ask me how I know?”

I laugh. I could only imagine the first meeting between him and Elodie, knowing the story of their car accident. Hollis had been distracted and hit Elodie but initially claimed it was her fault. That went over like a brick balloon. Turned out Elodie had been on her way tounknowingly meethimfor a job interview to be Hailey’s nanny. Let’s just say that interview hadn’t gone well. But it all turned out wonderfully in the end.

“Yeah, well, natural impulse,” I shrug. “Anyway, once we got to talking, she seemed to be at ease, and after we went up together, she loved it so much we went again later that same day. Well, after I convinced her to have lunch with me where we proceeded to talk for hours.”

“And afterward?” He grins expectantly, obviously wanting more details.

“Afterward we had a fabulous no-strings week of fun, never to see each other again.”

Hollis’s face falls in disappointment. But not as much disappointment as I had felt or ever felt before.

“Well, shit, that sucks. You never got her full name? Her number? Any details at all?”

I shake my head again. “No. Those were the rules. Well,herrules.”

“Rules?” He nearly chokes. “You got owned by a gorgeous woman who just wanted to use your body? Gotta love the feminist movement.” He laughs.

“Shut the fuck up,” I mumble jokingly, which only makes him laugh more.

Just then, Elodie returns, introducing Addison and Peter. I shake hands with each, already having met Addison. “Good to see you again, Addison. And nice to finally meet you, Peter.”

“A pleasure,” the man states.

I look to Hollis’s business partner who’s giving me another one of her quizzical looks. “Still trying to figure it out?” I joke.

“I swear to goodness I’ve met you before, and no, I haven’t figured it out. But I will. You have one of those faces…” She actually squints as she continues to stare, and I try to contain my humor.

“Wouldn’t happen to have met him in Hawaii, would ya?” Hollis jokes.

Addison looks at Hollis then back to me, a more curious look on her face.

“He’s joking,” I say. “I mentioned I happened to meet someone in Hawaii whose name was Addy.” I then look at Peter. “But it wasn’t your wife.” The man simply smiles and nods.

But Addison’s eyes widen as she asks, “Oh, when was that?”

“About six years ago. July. Spent a few weeks there after finishing up my degrees at Queens College.”

“A true hometown boy,” Elodie states.

“Yep, that’s me.”

“Didn’t your dad want to send you to Hofstra?” Elodie asks.

“Yeah, there or Baruch College. Told him QC was more than good enough for me. He just wanted to be able to boast that his son had gone to a more prestigious school.”

“But your parents are from Queens too. Why wouldn’t your dad want to support the burg?”

I laugh at her continued use of burg to describe Queens, one of the five boroughs of NYC. “Like I said, boastful.”

“QC has a very reputable curriculum,” Addison says. “Didn’t they just have an economics symposium there recently?”

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