Page 20 of Summer Weddings
“I’m game,” Robin said.
They stopped at the bank, then headed for the restaurant. They decided to catch the Market Street cable car to Fisherman’s Wharf and joined the quickly growing line.
“So how’s the kid doing?” Angela asked. She and her salesman husband didn’t plan to have children themselves, but Angela enjoyed hearing about Jeff.
“He signed up for baseball through the park program and starts practice this week. I think it’ll be good for him. He was lonely this weekend now that Blackie’s back with Cole.”
“But isn’t Blackie over at your place as much as before?” Angela asked.
Robin shook her head. “Cole left early Saturday morning and took the dog with him. Jeff moped around for most of the weekend.”
“Where’d your handsome neighbor go?”
“How am I supposed to know?” Robin asked with a soft laugh, hiding her disappointment at his disappearance. “Cole doesn’t clear his schedule with me.”
The way he’d left—without a word of farewell or explanation—still hurt. It was the kind of hurt that came from realizing what a complete fool she’d made of herself with this worldly, sophisticated man. He’d kissed her and she’d started crying. Good grief, he was probably doing backflips in order to avoid seeing her again.
“Do you think Cole was with a woman?”
“That’s none of my business!”
“But I thought your neighbor said Cole spent his weekends with a woman.”
Robin didn’t remember mentioning that to Angela, but she obviously had, along with practically everything else. Robin had tried to convince herself that confiding in Angela about Cole was a clever way of thwarting her friend’s matchmaking efforts. Unfortunately, the whole thing had backfired in her face. In the end, the last person she wanted to talk about was Cole, but of course Angela persisted in questioning her.
“Well?” Angela demanded. “Did he spend his weekend with a woman or not?”
“What he does with his time is his business, not mine,” Robin reiterated. She pretended not to care. But she did. Too much. She’d promised herself she wasn’t going to put any stock in the kiss or the powerful attraction she felt for Cole. Within the space of one evening, she’d wiped out every pledge she’d made to herself. She hadn’t said anything to Jeff—how could she?—but she was just as disappointed as he was that Cole had left for the weekend.
“I was hoping something might develop between the two of you,” Angela murmured. “Since you’re obviously not interested in meeting Frank, it would be great if you got something going with your neighbor.”
Robin cast her a plaintive look that suggested otherwise. “Cole Camden lives in the fanciest house in the neighborhood. He’s a partner in the law firm of Blackwell, Burns and Dailey, which we both know is one of the most prestigious in San Francisco. And he drives a car with a name I can barely pronounce. Now, what would someone like that see in me?”
“Lots of things,” Angela said.
Robin snickered. “I hate to disillusion you, my friend, but the only thing Cole Camden and I have in common is the fact that my small yard borders his massive one.”
“Maybe,” Angela agreed, raising her eyebrows. “But I could tell you were intrigued by him the very first time you mentioned his name.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“It isn’t,” Angela insisted. “I’ve watched you with other men over the past few years. A guy will show some interest, and at first everything looks peachy-keen. You’ll go out with him a couple of times, maybe even more, but before anything serious can develop you’ve broken off the relationship without really giving it a chance.”
Robin didn’t have much of an argument, since that was true, but she made a token protest just the same. “I can’t help it if I have high standards.”
“High standards!” Angela choked back a laugh. “That’s got to be the understatement of the century. You’d find fault with Prince Charming.”
Robin rolled her eyes, but couldn’t hold back a smile. Angela was right, although that certainly hadn’t slowed her matchmaking efforts.
“From the time you started talking about your neighbor,” Angela went on, “I noticed something different about you, and frankly I’m thrilled. In all the years we’ve known each other, this is the first time I can remember you giving a man this much attention. Until now, it’s always been the other way around.”
“I’m not interested in Cole,” she mumbled. “Oh, honestly, Angela, I can’t imagine where you come up with these ideas. I think you’ve been reading too many romance novels.”
Angela waved her index finger under Robin’s nose. “Listen, I’m on to you. You’re not going to divert me with humor, or weasel your way out of admitting it. You can’t fool me—you’re attracted to this guy and it’s scaring you to death. Right?”
The two women gazed solemnly at each other, both too stubborn to admit defeat. Under the force of her friend’s unyielding determination, Robin was the one who finally gave in.
“All right!” she cried, causing the other people waiting for the cable car to turn and stare. “All right,” she repeated in a whisper. “I like Cole, but I don’t understand it.”
