Page 71 of A Certain Appeal
“I hate to interrupt,” says Gales, “but I’m pretty sure the two of you are getting into a subject you’d enjoy more without my participation.”
I hold a hand to my chest. “You don’t want to hear about the hottie I made out with in the coat check?”
“I’m sure he’s dreamy.” Gales finishes the last of his beer. “However, there’s a Japanese knife shop in Tribeca I’d like to check out.” He rubs his palms together in excitement. “They have a sharpening demo in about thirty, so I’m going to take off. Unless you want to go, too?” He eyes us skeptically.
Chloe pats his forearm. “I think you’ll get more out of it without us, babe.”
“Fair enough. It’s only an hour long, so gimme a ring if you get into something.” He rises from the stool, leaning in to give Chloe a kiss on the temple. He brings two fingers to his brow, then tosses me a casual salute. “Lizard.”
Chloe’s eyes follow Gales to the lobby, then she meets my gaze. “You good with your drink? We can go to the lounge area, if you want. Better chairs.”
I follow her around the corner to a space with couches and the requisite faux Eames. Chloe takes a seat, placing her drink on the marble table between our chairs. “So, back to you and this Darcy. Does he have any redeeming characteristics beyondintensity?”
I slump forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “He really, really does. And I really, really decided not to let myself acknowledge them because I am a petty poo.”
“Ah, pettiness.” Chloe pats my hand. “It’s a family trait, I’m afraid.”
“The first night he came in, he was... unresponsive to my wiles. And I overheard him tell Charles I wasn’t ‘tempting’ enough for him.”
Chloe scowls. I can practically see her own vanity ruffling. “Yet there was happy time in coat check?”
“Oh, yeah.” I fill her in and explain the letter.
“Now what?” she asks. “He’s at least partially responsible for Jane’s heartache, and I’m assuming you had other reasons for not acknowledging his finer points, outside of the ‘tempting’ thing. What’s making this guy so compelling?” She takes a sip from her drink.
“It’s... different with him. None of the lines from the show work. I can’t fall back on the one-liners or playing the game. Thereisno game. Which is hot. And challenging. Which is also hot.”
“Is there banter?”
“Yes. But again, it’s only effective when it’s natural. Like, when I’m legitimately entertained that he’s stolen finger food from my party.”
“So, he’s into you.You,you.”
“Yes,me,me.”Delightfully the sum of my parts.“It’s freaking me out.”
Chloe snorts out a laugh. “I’m not going to warn you about the sheer depth of the smit you’re in, because I think you know, but freaking out like this? It’s a good sign. What’s he like?”
“He’s generous. Ambitious, but thoughtful about it. Like he wants to do something that matters. He lets me handle my own shit,” I say, thinking of Jane’s accident and the groper on the stairs, “then comes in with a solid assist. He said some things about burlesque that werea little too close to crappy comments guys have made about it in the past. Now I know it was part of him trying to come to terms with it all. I’m not used to that, to people reconsidering their first impressions of the scene.”
Chloe nods.
“I was also receiving some solid misinformation from another guy he has bad blood with.” The allusion to Wickham makes my skin crawl. I called Marley yesterday, claiming Darcy had recommended her as a character reference for Mr. George Wickham, which isn’t too much of a stretch. She wentoff,revealing an endearing protectiveness for Darcy and no shortage of colorful descriptors for the “feckless con” who betrayed him. Her input made a text to the Twins all the more imperative, though I only heard back from Ginn, who sent a thumbs-up and reminded me they weren’t on the schedule at Meryton this weekend.
I shake my head. “Anyway, it was easier to believe whathehad to say about Darcy because it jibed with my first impression.”
“Nothing like a little confirmation bias to skew your perspective.”
I groan. “You sound like Gales.”
“It’s sexually transmitted. Anyway, I have no doubt that you and this Darcy will find a room with a proper door and hash it out,” she says with an air of finality. “How is the show? I looked up their website. It needs some work.”
“I’m hoping Charles will get on that once the building changes hands. Probably when they remodel.”
Chloe sips from her champagne flute. When I get to “remodel,” she lowers the glass. “You still working toward that?”
“Yes,” I say, though I’m telling my armrest, not her. “It was a good distraction while Jane was streaming episodes ofDog Whisperer.”
Chloe waits me out, sipping contentedly at her drink.
