Page 34 of New Girl in the City
“You look real beautiful.”
Oh shit. I swallowed hard and moved my hand so that we weren’t just touching politely, no this was the kind of intertwined hand holding that you did with a man when you wanted to be there with him, and only him. God, I wanted him to kiss me. For him to reach out with his other hand and cup my cheek, lean in and kiss me.
“Thank you,” I breathed, not trusting myself to say more. “I—”
“Melinda?” A voice called out, breaking our moment, and I cursed internally. No, I didn’t just curse, I scream cursed. Who the hell was breaking up what was a perfectly damn lovely moment between Liam and me? I craned my neck, following Liam’s gaze to see a familiarish man standing uncertainly a few feet away.
“Yeah?” I answered.
He rubbed the back of his neck and gave me a sheepish grin. “Ah, it’s me. Your date.”
I winced. Shit.Shiiiiit.
“Ohhh, hey, hi, I mean.” I laughed and cleared my throat, my hand dropping Liam’s like it was hot. I hated to do it, but what the hell else was I supposed to do? My date, the sometimes artist, the featured artist of this damn show, was less than five feet away. And I was standing holding the hand of my driver and wanting the man to kiss me.
Not a good look. Not good timing, Mel.
“Ah, how are you? Wren, right?” I asked, instantly hating how it made me sound. You know, like a woman who couldn’t keep her dates straight or bother to learn people’s names. God, I hated this. How had I gotten so bad at dating that I was practically throwing myself at the man paid to spend time with me rather than the one interested in dating me?
Crap.
“Yeah, that’s me. Wren Masters.” He jerked a thumb back at himself and gave me a warm smile despite my worry over my faux pas with his name. He was a nice looking man, with pretty brown eyes and sandy blond hair. He was in good shape and dressed in a way I guessed artists dressed. He was lean and muscular of the type that made me think he ran marathons, the product of his efforts nicely showcased by a pale linen shirt that was buttoned only at the middle of his chest leaving a good eight inches of exposed skin. Skin that I saw was tattooed and tanned. Distressed jeans tucked into a pair of boots, a small collection of wood beads and stringed turquoise around his neck rounded out the look. I could almost hear Liam rolling his eyes at this man and his necklaces, and his shirt’s boycott on buttons, but I didn’t care. He looked nice. At least his brown eyes seemed nice. Soft and inviting. I liked that look in his eyes. Eyes like that made you want to lean into a man. I might have accepted that except...there was Liam at my side.
Liam who was still as a statue and silent as one. He was watching us, and I couldn’t tell what he thought. Not by the impassive and cool look in his eyes. I hated that he was so tough to read at that moment and turned, giving him a tight smile.
“I’ll text later when I’m done.”
“Yeah, Princess. Sounds good.” He gave me a nod and turned on his heel, walking past Wren who he offered a jerk of his chin and a grunt that was probably ‘hi’ and continued on his way. I watched him get back into the car and drive away without a second look.
“He seems...nice.” Wren came to stand beside me, and I gave him a sidelong look.
“He is,” I agreed, not sure I liked the way the warm smile had disappeared from Wren’s face. I looked back towards the gallery. “So, how is tonight going for you?” I asked, opting to change the subject.
He took a sip of his wine and shrugged. “As good as any open, you know? Once you’ve been to one of these you’ve been to them all,” he said, and I nodded dumbly. I hadn’t been to ‘one of these’ before. Not in New York City. This was my first, but I didn’t say that.
Instead I pointed a finger at the cup of wine in his hand and asked, “Anymore where that came from?”
He brightened and nodded at me. “Oh, plenty. My friend owns a winery, so he brought out the good stuff,” he said, motioning for me to follow him, “it’s a very exclusive vintage.”
I hummed at his words and followed him inside the gallery. People were louder here, more animated and a few waved at him in greeting when we entered. I smiled at them, noticing how they took note of me immediately. I cleared my throat when I saw that everything was just as Liam had described it would be.
There was even a sad looking ice...something...dripping away at the center of the room. I turned my head trying to puzzle out what it was but gave up a second later when I saw Wren take an interest in what I was looking at.
“You have an ice sculpture,” I said with a grin when he handed me a plastic cup of red wine.
“Yeah, I made it with a friend. Just something to stay loose and stay calm, you know? It’s about love and passion. Those are two bodies twisted together,” he said, giving me a look that was undoubtedly meant to be soulful, but only made me take a quick swig of my wine. Wine that was definitely, as Liam had said, being passed off as something it wasn’t. Exclusive my ass, this wine had no legs at all. I took another sip, trying to chase the flavor of it, only to have it vanish off my tongue a second later.
Damn.
Why did Liam have to be right about this? But I guess Wren had nailed it right on the head when he had told me that once ‘you’d been to one, you’d been to them all.’ Damn that ice sculpture and Wren’s attempt at passion because I could see that he was already looking at me in a way that I didn’t much care for.
It was a look that I might have been fine with on any other night, or date, before. But not now. Not when I was trying to find someone to share my life with, not chase the lonely away. I cleared my throat and nodded at the painting on the wall. I could do this. It was just one night, and this was just one date. There was going to be a rough start, after so long out of it. Even if I knew this wasn’t going anywhere that didn’t mean that I couldn’t have fun.
This date wasn't about him. It was about me. And I was going to have fun, dammit. Even if the wine in my plastic cup was cheap. I could be charming and pleasant, enjoy wine buzz, but not too much, because I would need to keep my head if I was going to set a new plan in motion. One that was geared at me havingthe most fun.A plan that involved getting Liam to finally let me buy him dinner.
My stomach warmed at the thought of spending a night sitting on his car hood and sharing takeout. A ritual I had done with Walt many times, but this time it would be different. The thought had me taking a deep drink of wine even as I gave Wren a smile and walked towards the piece of art in front of us, pretending that I was happy to be here with him. When all I wanted to do was text Liam to come and get me so that I could set about forcing dinner on him.
“When did you do this?” I asked, playing at interest. Though I knew Wren was only interested in one thing from me, and it was definitely not something I was selling.
At least not to him anyway.
No, I had a feeling I was saving that for a certain grumpy driver.
