Читать книгу The Ex Factor - Nancy Warren - Страница 10

“WHAT ABOUT THIS GUY?” Dee asked as they cruised the single man ads on the online dating site that she insisted had the best success with Philly singles. They were in her office and Dee had just finished setting up her account. Even twenty-four hours ago, Karen knew she wouldn’t have put up a profile on something called Plenty of Phillys but since that scorching kiss yesterday, she was determined to get out there and try to find a genuine, decent man who wouldn’t screw around the second her back was turned. Wouldn’t melt her with his kisses when he came back into her life.

But the man whose photo she was looking at on her computer definitely wasn’t that guy.

“I want to correct his spelling,” she said.

Dee sighed and moved to the next one. Mohawk, tattoos and a spiked dog collar. “Ick,” they said in unison.

The third profile featured a perfectly average-looking man with glasses, a full head of hair, and, perhaps more important, a profile written by someone who’d obviously passed high school English. “He’s a CPA, never been married, but looking to find a partner.” Dee glanced up at her. “That’s good, right?”

“Yes.” Karen finished reading his profile. “I like that he mentions taking things slow. I really can’t handle fast right now.”

“Great, let’s send him a wink,” Dee said pushing a couple of buttons before Karen could slap her hand away.

“What have you done?”

Dee laughed, the happy trill of a woman who dates regularly and isn’t scarred by love. Yet. “You have to let them know you’re interested. That’s how it works. You send a wink.”

“I am so not ready for this.”

“You so are.” Her assistant danced out of the office. “Call me if you need me.”

Dee hadn’t made it to the door when a funny noise emanating from her laptop made Karen squeak, “I need you.”

Dee peeked over her shoulder. “Hey, he winked back.”

“Is that good?”

“That’s great. Means he read your profile and he’s interested. He’s online now, so you can chat. Look, he’s sent you a message. Click here.”

Hello, Karen. I see you are a virgin.

“A virgin?” she squealed. “What is he, a pervert?”

“Would you relax?” her twenty-three-year-old mentor insisted. “Read on. He means you’re new to the site.”

“Oh. He says, ‘here’s a bit more about me.’ Um, I think he’s included his resume.”

“Just give the guy a chance. And remember, there are lots of guys out there, so don’t be afraid to keep looking.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

She kept reading. He had sent her a profile, obviously prewritten for such an occasion and if he hadn’t included his resume, there wasn’t much about his schooling and work life she didn’t know when she’d finished. In the back of her mind she was thinking how much her business could benefit from a decent CPA, then she remembered she was supposed to be looking for romance, not accounting services.

His name was Ron and he did sound like a nice guy. Nothing flashy, which was good. She was pretty sure, for instance, that he wouldn’t shove a woman against her own desk and kiss her senseless. Certainly not without first asking permission. Then she was for damn sure that he wouldn’t waltz back out of her office, having made the point that she was still desperately attracted to him, and leave her seething with sexual frustration as well as anger at her own stupidity.

Which made Ron a lot closer to perfect than certain men she could name.

She replied to Ron, telling him a bit about herself.

Then she clicked off and got back to work.

When she checked her e-mail again at the end of the day, she had a few random winks, and Ron had replied. She had to admit it was nice to make “get to know you” conversation with a man, even if it was next door to anonymous.

He ended by inviting her for coffee. I always do coffee as a first date, he explained, obviously catering to her “virgin” status. There’s no pressure. It’s only an hour of our time and if we don’t want to continue that’s fine. And if we do, then we go from there. What do you think?

What did she think?

She had no idea, so she decided to lay the entire situation before Chelsea.

“Online dating?” her friend said when she’d walked over to her place to ask for advice. “Wow. I’ve never tried it, but some of my girlfriends met boyfriends and husbands that way.” She shrugged. “And a few use the site to find booty calls.”

“Booty calls? Seriously?”

“Hey, different strokes.”

Karen bit deeply into a lemon dream bar before saying, “Honestly, I don’t even know what I’m doing. I think I’m scared.”

“Honey, you book acrobats for weddings, you drag grooms to weddings on time, solve blended family conflicts that would baffle the entire Oprah/Dr. Phil team. I once saw you personally climb a tree to fix twinkle lights. While wearing four-inch heels. I think you can handle a cup of coffee with a CPA.”

“I guess you’re right.” She put a hand to her chest where her heart was beating rapidly.

Chelsea looked at her with concern. “You seem way more bent out of shape than seems appropriate for a coffee date. What’s going on?”

“Oh, Chelsea, it’s all such a mess,” she wailed and promptly shoved the last of the lemon dream into her mouth. Once she’d taken what comfort she could from the food, she told her friend everything, from her first meeting Dexter at a party, to their wedding, the marriage, the betrayal, to him coming back into her life. She ended with the kiss.

“Scumbag!” was Chelsea’s succinct response to the story. For which Karen was enormously grateful. “And now he thinks he can waltz into your business and try to get back in your pants? I don’t think so.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Getting out and dating new men is a fantastic idea. Really. Get your mind off your ex.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“I am right. And you know what else you need?”

She thought of some of the other well-meaning advice Dee had dispensed from time to time. “Please don’t say sex toys.”

Chelsea grinned at her. “I am assuming that you have a good selection, as every woman should. But no, I was referring to a girls’ night out.”

“Oh, I would love that.” A night off from worries and stress with some of her female friends would be sooo good.

“Okay.” And as she saw Karen’s mouth open Chelsea stopped her, saying, “And, Ms. Planner Extraordinaire, this is one that I’ll be planning. You come and have a good time. That’s all. Got it?”

Impulsively, she hugged her. “Got it. Thanks.”

“WE’RE SEAHORSES,” the voice on the phone explained.

She really didn’t charge enough for this job. “Seahorses? Maybe you need an aquarium, not a wedding planner,” Karen said as gently as she could.

The young woman’s laugh was sudden and loud in her ear. “No, I mean me and Steve, the guy I’m marrying, we belong to the Seahorses Scuba Diving club.”

“Oh, okay, I get you.”

“You must have thought I was nuts,” the woman said, with another boisterous laugh.

Karen joined in, hahaha, without admitting she’d assumed the woman was certifiable. Or that she wouldn’t be the first crazy person who’d hoped If You Can Dream It was a company designed to make any hallucination come true.

“Before I waste both of our time in a meeting, I want to ask you if you could arrange an undersea wedding.”

“An undersea wedding, like The Little Mermaid?”

“I guess, sort of. See, we dive the wrecks off the Jersey shore and we were thinking it would be so cool to get married underwater.”

“Oh, wouldn’t it.” Karen rubbed her temple. Surely you couldn’t get a headache this fast. “Hard to cut the cake, though.”

More laughter greeted her. “I can see we’re going to get along fine. No, what I’m thinking is if we could rent a glass-bottomed boat for the guests and then me and Steve could get married underneath. We wouldn’t have thought of it, but we met a JP who also dives. He could perform the ceremony from the boat, and we’d be wired for sound. Instead of saying, ‘I do,’ we’d give the thumbs up sign. Isn’t that totally cool?”

“Oh, totally.”

“We want to get married next August. We need some ideas. We really want our wedding to stand out as something different.”

No problem there.

“So, will you do it?”

“Arrange a wedding on a glass-bottomed boat so two scuba divers can give a thumbs-up?” She shook her head. “Sure, why not?”

“Great, when can we come in to see you?”

She made an appointment for the scuba sweethearts, and then almost broke down and wept when her next appointment informed her that she wanted a completely traditional wedding. Church, flowers, white gown, bridesmaids, hotel reception, everything simple and staid and normal. How refreshing.

As she was finishing up the proposal, Sophie Vanderhooven called sounding excited. “I heard Melissa Stanhope got the most divine cake for her wedding this Saturday.”

“Yes, it’s lovely. Laurel, our cake maker has a real gift.”

“But Cinderella’s coach? That is such an amazing idea.” She now recalled that it was the Stanhopes who had recommended her services to the Vanderhoovens.

“Even better, the cake is made with pumpkin.”

“I know! She told me. Can I have something like that for my wedding?”

“Of course you can.” Did this woman not have any original ideas of her own? “Not the same cake, of course, because Laurel creates a unique design for every event, but you can give her guidelines.”

A sigh wafted over the phone. “Mother wants a traditional tiered cake complete with little plastic bride and groom on the top, but I want something more romantic, more me.”

“I’m sure we can find something that will make you and your mother both happy,” she said diplomatically.

“I hope so. Anyhow, I’ll see you Saturday.”

“Saturday?”

“At Melissa’s wedding.”

“Oh, of course. Though I’m not a guest. If I do my job right, you shouldn’t even notice me.”

Sophie laughed in her elegant way. “No one could miss you.”

Before she could ask what that was supposed to mean, in a polite way, the woman was gone.

Puzzled, she got up and walked to the front reception area. “Dee?”

Her assistant glanced up from matching the place cards to the Stanhopes’ master guest list. “Mmm-hmm?”

“Do I stand out in a crowd?”

Dee blinked at her. “You have Amy Adams’s face and hair and Marilyn Monroe’s body, and, I don’t know, a sort of commanding way about you. It’s what makes you a great wedding planner. Everyone scurries when you tell them to. So yes. Of course you’re noticeable.”

“Huh. Thought I was being so discreet.” She wandered back toward her office.

“Hey, speaking of discreet, when are you meeting that CPA?”

“We’re having coffee Sunday afternoon.”

“Brilliant. I can’t wait to hear about it on Monday.”

“What’s the weather forecast for tomorrow?”

Dee didn’t have to look, she’d already checked. “Low fifties, no precipitation expected.”

“Wonderful. A perfect day for a late fall wedding.”

And so it was, she realized when she rose the next morning. The day was dry, the sun was shining and there was no snow on the ground. After showering and doing her hair in a restrained bun, she slipped into a navy pencil skirt and white blouse, then pushed her feet into her high-heeled navy pumps. Discreet and professional, that’s how she thought a wedding planner should look.

Amy Adams indeed. Dee must be angling for a raise.