Can't Buy Me Love
Authors: Elizabeth Powers
Can’t
Buy Me Love
Elizabeth
Powers
Copyright
© 2013 Elizabeth Powers
All
rights reserved.
Cover
design: Rinn Siegrist
Charlene
Magill gave a heavy sigh as she quietly inserted her key into the lock of her
apartment and pushed. The door stuck a bit, like it always did, but the
humidity was down today, so the noise it made as it gave in to her pressure was
softer than usual. It was late. Kat was probably already asleep.
Slipping
into the living room, and closing the door gently behind her, she dropped her
tote bag to the floor as she turned to lock the door behind her.
“Lena?
Is that you?” Kat called from the vicinity of the kitchen.
“Yeah,
it’s me,” she called back, abandoning all efforts to be quiet. “What are you
still doing up?”
Her
best friend padded out of the kitchen in her pajamas, holding a cup of hot tea
in her hand.
“I
was just headed to bed. But now I’m glad I stayed up to watch reruns of that
wedding reality show, since it means I’m still awake to hear about your night.”
“’Propose
to Me’?” Lena guessed with a grin.
“No...”
“’Swamp
Weddings’?”
Kat
shook her head seriously. “No, it was something about a crazy bride.”
“Why
is He Marrying HER?’?”
“That’s
the one,” Kat said, then looked over at her friend suspiciously. “How the heck
do you know about all these shows anyway? For someone who supposedly never
watches TV, you have a suspiciously robust knowledge of reality TV.”
“What
do you think blares all day from the rec room?” Lena laughed.
Kat
shrugged. “Well. Since I’m up anyway...”
Grinning,
Lena picked up her bag. “If you make me some tea while I get into my pajamas,
I’ll tell you everything. Where’s Winston?”
“Snoring
in your bedroom. Some guard dog he is.”
Kat
was a sous chef at one of the nicest restaurants in town, and her dream was to
someday own her own catering company, and to cater events like the one Lena had
gone to tonight. So on nights that Lena needed a dog-sitter for her beloved,
but incredibly neurotic, dog Winston, she called Kat. Kat was about the only
human other than Lena that Winston trusted, and she always wanted to hear
everything about the large events Lena got pulled into, while the details were
still fresh in her mind.
After
waking Winston up and letting him out into the backyard to take care of
business and cower from all the shadows in the night, Lena changed into comfortable
drawstring PJ bottoms and an old t-shirt, pulled her dark brown hair up into a
ponytail, let Winston back in, and joined her friend in the living room. Winston
stayed close, but eyed them warily from the corner where he curled up into a
little ball.
“So
tell me everything,” Kat said as she handed Lena a cup of warm ginger tea, and
curled up on one end of the couch.
Lena
curled up on the other end. “Everything, or skip straight to the canapés?”
“Hey,
I’m the best friend first, and the chef second,” she chided lightly. “So tell
me everything, including how the date went.”
“It
wasn’t a date,” Lena insisted.
“Sure
it was. He picked you up, right?”
“From
my parents’ house, yes.”
“Then
it’s a date.”
Lena
rolled her eyes. “Let’s see. I left work at 5:00, hit rush hour traffic on the
way to my parents’ house, got there ten minutes before Chase was supposed to
show up, showered in two minutes, styled my hair in five, expertly applied
make-up, slipped into my dress, stuffed my feet into three-inch-stilettos,
threw my ID and a few dollars into an evening bag, tossed on some earrings, and
made it downstairs to greet a very annoyed Chase, only about fifteen minutes
late. Did I mention the rush hour traffic?”
“OK,
so how annoyed was he?”
Lena
grinned, taking a sip of her tea. “Very annoyed. But he didn’t say a word. Just
kissed me on the cheek, told me I looked lovely, and asked politely if I was
ready to go. I told him that I was absolutely
starving
, so bring on the
appetizers.”
Kate
laughed at Lena as she shook her head. “No, you did not.”
Lena
snorted. “No, of course not. My father would have stomped his designer teak
cane onto my foot. I just smiled and said yes, and off we went.”
“Valet
parking?”
“Certainly.”
“Deep
conversation on the way to the event?”
“Oh
yes,” Lena asserted. “We talked in
great
detail about the weather.”
“Nice.”
“Oh
yeah. It was riveting. Fortunately, we both knew lots of people there, so we
could split up and make small talk with others once we arrived.”
“Did
you dance with Chase?”
“Three
times. All very properly.”
“And
with others?”
“A
few others.”
“Any
goose bumps?”
“Goose
bumps? No way. They were all old enough to be my father. One
was
my
father.”
Kat
threw a pillow at her, missing Lena, but scaring Winston, who jumped to one
side, then looked accusingly up at the humans on the couch. Settling back down,
he kept one eye on Lena and one eye on Kat, his gaze telling them that he was
far from trusting either of them.
“Goose
bumps with Chase, you moron,” Kat clarified.
Lena
sighed. “No.”
“Well
surely he gave you a passionate goodnight kiss when he dropped you at your
parents’ house?” Kat teased.
“Sure,
if you count a quick squeeze of the hand and an ‘I’m sorry to drop you and run,
but I have an early morning.’”
“He’s
so
romantic.”
“I
know. I swoon.” She thought for a moment, and then added truthfully, “But it’s
my fault too. I just don’t even bother anymore.”
Kat
turned serious. “Have you thought about just ending things with him?”
Lena
nodded. “Yeah, I’ve thought about breaking up with him countless times. But
Kat, I’m really not even sure we’re going out. Seriously. How do you break up a
relationship that doesn’t exist?”
“By
just telling him that you don’t want to go out any more?”
Lena
nodded. “I guess. OK, this is going to sound really bad, and I know it. But I’ve
got some huge deadlines coming up at work, and I just don’t have the energy to
fight with my father about dating some other nice young man. Which, as you
know, means ‘wealthy’ to Dad. So as long as Chase and I are getting by with
each other, I’m fine. If he started talking about marriage or something crazy,
I’d stop it.”
“How
did you get into this in the first place?” Kat asked, looking over at her
friend curiously. “You liked him when you first met him, right?”
Lena
shrugged, sipping from her mug and thinking seriously about Kat’s question. “Yeah,
I guess. Sort of. I mean, he was another one of Dad’s recruits, so that was a
strike against him from the start, but at least he was young and attractive –
unlike the previous three guys Dad tried to get me to go out with. Chase seemed
nice enough.”
“So
what happened?”
“I
never told you this?” Lena looked at her friend with surprise. “Geez. Let’s see.
He called and asked me to go to the annual charity ball for the arts – the one
that’s held every year at the art museum in Cherry Creek. I agreed. But instead
of asking me for dinner, or even picking me up, he told me what time to meet
him there. And truthfully, I wouldn’t have minded that at all if he’d told me
that he was running late at work, or had a late meeting, or was going to visit
his dying grandmother at the hospice center or something. Hell, even if he’d
told me that Saturdays were spent hunting for truffles with his mushroom-sniffing
dog, I’d have been OK with it. But he never told me why – just told me to meet
him. When I got there, he was already inside, mingling. Again, no problem. I
mingle with the best of them. But he just saw me, gave a quick wave, and
continued his conversation. I met up with him for a dance later in the evening,
and then we just parted ways at the end of the night.”
“You’re
right. That really was not a date. I’m not sure what I’d call it, but wow. So
that’s how it’s been ever since?” This time, Kat really did look appalled.
“Yeah,
pretty much. We’re occasionally alone together, but I’m not sure he’s
comfortable with me. I think he determined early on that I was an empty-headed
rich girl with no brain, and that’s how he treats me.” She grinned then. “Every
once in a while he asks me a question about the news or politics, but it’s
almost as if he’s quizzing me to see if I might have grown a brain cell or two
since he saw me last. He’ll ask me about something the Supreme Court ruled on, or
my opinion on some foreign affairs crisis, or even a question about some
opinion piece he read in the news. But it’s never a real inquiry on his part. So
I just shrug, thank him for asking, then tell him I don’t pay much attention to
the papers, and change the subject.” Lena took another sip of tea, then eased
herself down onto the floor next to the couch in hopes of getting close enough
to give her dog a belly rub. Winston eyed her warily, but didn't move away.
“I’ve
been having fun lately finding new inane subjects to talk about,” Lena added as
she stretched one hand out slowly toward the cowering dog. “I’ve done fashion,
Hollywood gossip, and gardening. I’m thinking of moving to reality TV next,
since I apparently know so much about it.”
Kat
just looked at her. “Seriously. You're evil.”
Nodding,
Lena said, “I know. It makes me wonder why he still asks me to go to these
things. He’s got to have a good reason, but I have no idea what it is.”
“Sounds
like one hell of a great relationship you’ve got going there,” Kat laughed.
“Oh,
like you’re doing a lot better in this department,” Lena pointed out with a wry
look.
“Point
taken,” Kat admitted as she took a sip of her tea. Looking to change the
subject, she glanced over at Winston, who was watching Lena cautiously, his
little limbs ready to carry him away if needed. Nodding toward the dog, she
said, “Winston has come a long way in six months, Lena. He’s still scared of
everything, but he lets you get closer to him than before. And he’s slowly learning
to take food from my hand.”
Lena’s
dark brown eyes filled with sympathy. “I know. Poor little guy. I hate that he
had such a rough start. I don’t even want to know what he went through, but it
must have been a lot for him to be so scared of everything,”
“He’s
in a good place now. He’ll slowly get better.”
“He
will. He is.” With that, Lena's hand landed on Winston’s back haunch, and she
immediately started scritching him. A few moments in, and Winston lifted his
back leg, allowing Lena to gently reach in and start to rub his belly.
Victory
!
she thought. Every time he let her do this, she was one step closer to winning
his trust.
“You
have such a soft heart, Lena. Which makes me wonder why you haven’t broken
things off with Chase way before now.”
Lena
sighed. “I’m not sure, Kat. I guess if I felt like he had a heart that he might
lose to me, I’d probably feel really badly. But as I said, he’s in this for a
different reason. I think he’s all about the work and the money and the arm
candy. And as long as we’re both OK with that….” she shrugged. “That’s that. But
you didn’t stay up this late to hear about my tragicomic love life. You want to
talk food!”
“Oh
yes,” Kat sighed, settling back against the cushions. “Describe it all for me,
please. Food, wine selections, ambience….”
“Well,
apart from the date, or lack thereof, it was a lovely evening. But you could do
better with the food, you know. I’m looking forward to the day when you’re the
go-to catering company for these things, because I have to tell you, there are
nowhere near enough smoked almonds at these things to suit me.”
Kat
laughed. “When I own the company, I’ll buy you smoked almonds in bulk, Lena. Cross
my heart.”