Love on the Rocks (with Salt) (4 page)

I take a bite of apple and notice
that Kyle’s eyes are the ones bugging out now. Uh oh. I might have
taken this too far. Perhaps I should steer this conversation to
something a little more palatable for a first date, like the
Lakers. Or politics.

“
Too far?” I ask.

And then he does the strangest thing. He
doesn’t run to the bathroom or change the subject to the weather.
He leans over and kisses me so sweetly, yet it electrifies my
entire body.

“
I’ve never met a girl like you.
You’re not afraid to say what’s on your mind. No games. No
bullshit. And you’re sassy! I like you.”

Oh. My. God.

“
I like you too,” I tell him
because he’s right. Why play games? I know it’s only our first
date, but I have a feeling about him. I’m not ready to give him the
name of the guy downtown, but he could be the one.

Julie pokes her head in the back
where Kim and I are eating salads for lunch and says, “Elizabeth is
here with her fiancé to pick up her mom’s dress.”

“
Great,” I say, wiping my hands on
my napkin. I turn to Kim and show her my teeth “Any spinach?” A
good friend will always let you know when you have something in
your teeth.

“
Oh yeah,” she says.

“
Thanks.” I look in the mirror and
pull the offending piece out with my fingernail, as it’s always
best to greet your brides with spinach-free teeth.

I grab Elizabeth’s mother’s dress
and walk to the front of the shop. “Hey, Elizabeth,” I say and stop
short when I see him, thanking all that is holy and good that I did
a teeth check and do not have a huge glob of green between my left
incisors.

“
Hi, Laney. This is my fiancé,
Andrew.”

He sticks out his hand for me to
shake. “Andy,” he says, and I can tell he’s as surprised as I am.
“Nice to meet you,” he says, his eyes pleading with me to keep
quiet.

“
In college we were Andy and
Betsy, but we have our MBAs now. He’s still getting used to Andrew
and Elizabeth.”

“
Hi, Andrew,” I stammer,
swallowing the knot in my throat while I take his hand and will
away the jolt of electricity his touch sends through me. “Elizabeth
has told me all about you,” I manage.

“
That could be dangerous,” he
says, his voice wobbling ever so slightly at the word.

Dangerous.

“
I hope it’s not bad luck to bring
him in here, but I figured it’s OK since I already have my dress.
We were having lunch down the street, and then we picked up our
rings at Tiffany’s. Do you want to see them?” Andy looks down at
his shuffling feet, refusing to make further eye contact with
me.

I hang her mother’s dress on the
t-stand next to the front desk and wipe my palms, which are
becoming quite sweaty, on my pants. “Of course. I’d love to,” I say
with all the enthusiasm I can muster. Rings at Tiffany’s. My
small-business-owning bleeding-heart-liberal mother would call them
overpriced blood diamonds. My definitely-not-cheap-but-frugal
conservative father would call them fools. His jeweler could get
rings that look identical for a fraction of the price. Of course,
East Coast preppies who marry California royalty have to keep up
appearances.

I stare into the box Elizabeth
holds in front of me. Wow. “They’re beautiful,” I say, meaning it.
A diamond band for her that will complement the huge rock that
already sits on her finger and a plain platinum band for
him.

Andy continues to look at his
feet, and Elizabeth places the blue box back in her
purse.

I look at my watch. “I’ve got an
appointment in a few minutes I need to get ready for,” I lie,
unable to do this for another minute. “So, I guess I’ll see you
Saturday afternoon. Two o’clock, right?”

Andy snaps his head up. “You’ll be
at the wedding?” he asks, his voice cracking a little.

“
Yes, Laney is
dressing me,” she says with a smirk, and then I realize.
She knows.

“
I’m so excited to work with you.
I know it’s really you,” she’d said when we first met. I thought
she was talking about Gabriella and her faux designs, but now I’m
not so sure.

“
Oh,” he says, shoving his hands
in his pockets.

I force a smile, which, being a
designer in a couture wedding shop who constantly watches her
bitchy ex-model boss take credit for her work, comes easily to me.
“Yes, I’ll be there to help Elizabeth put on her dress and make
sure everything is right for all the pictures,” I tell him, making
sure he knows we’ll be spending a bit of time together on his
wedding day.

“
We’ll get out of your hair and
let you get ready for that appointment.” She takes the dress off
the t-stand and loops her other arm through his. “Come on, Andrew,”
she says perkily while they’re walking out the door.

I return to the backroom and look at my
half-eaten salad. There’s no way I can finish it without vomiting
so I throw it in the trash.

“
What’s wrong?” Kim asks, knowing
me well enough to realize I always finish my food.

“
You’re never going to believe
this,” I tell her, and without meaning to, I start to
cry.

~~~~

I knock on Kyle’s door, and he
greets me with a kiss.

“
Long day?” he asks.

“
That obvious?”

“
You look like you could use a
margarita.”

Nothing has ever sounded better to me. I see
he already has the ingredients on the counter, including the lime
and salt. He’s not one to miss a detail.

“
Sounds perfect,” I say, peeling
off my coat and hanging it with my purse on the coat rack by the
door. Kyle likes things neat.

I sit on a stool at the breakfast
bar and watch him as he pours tequila, triple sec and sour mix in a
vintage cocktail shaker—his grandfather’s—with some ice and shakes.
Then he runs the lime around the rim of the glass and swirls it in
the salt. He gives the concoction another three shakes—always
three—and pours the perfectly measured drinks into our glasses. I
love to watch him. Whether he’s making a drink or reading the
Sunday paper or concentrating on work I could sit and watch him and
be content.

He hands me my drink, and we clink
glasses. “To us,” he says, looking me in the eye. He told me once
that if you don’t look the person you’re toasting in the eye it
means seven years of bad sex. I’m not superstitious, and I think
bad sex with him would be impossible, but why risk it?

“
To us,” I say meeting his gaze,
but I put the drink down without taking a sip.

“
So, what’s got you down, Muffin?
Bridezilla? Or worse—Momzilla?”

I wonder, like I’ve been wondering since Andy
and Elizabeth walked out the door, if I should tell him. I look
down into my drink, searching the ice cubes as if they were tea
leaves, for some mystical answer.

Kyle and I have been together for
a year. We talk about everything. We don’t talk about our exes any
more, but we did in the beginning, when we were first sharing our
stories.

He told me how he lost his virginity when he
was a junior in high school and was with his high school sweetheart
through junior year of college when she broke his heart. He had a
rebound relationship that lasted a year and then went a little wild
when he was in law school, never getting serious with anyone until
he met me. He even admitted to the friends with benefits
relationship he had with Pam in law school.

I told him about my high school
boyfriends who were never very serious, confessed that I didn’t
lose my virginity until my sophomore year in college, and I told
him about Andy, my Club Med fling, whose lips I used to taste every
first sip I took of a margarita. That sensation faded after the
first night I slept with Kyle. He’s the first person I’ve let into
my heart—or my bed—since Andy. Sometimes I allow myself to believe
he’ll be the last.

Kyle puts his hand under my chin and tilts it
up so I’m looking at him.

“
What is it?”

I know I can brush it off. Tell him it’s
Gabriella, work, a bride. But I don’t want secrets. Not with
him.

I smile, and he takes his hand
away. I take my first sip. Liquid courage that only tastes like
tequila, lime and salt. No trace of Andy’s lips.

“
You know that wedding I’m doing
Saturday?”

“
Land developer’s
daughter?”

“
Good memory,” I say, taking
another sip.

“
It’s why I get paid the big
bucks.” He smiles.

“
She brought her fiancé into the
shop today. Turns out I know him.”

“
Old boyfriend?” he asks, raising
an eyebrow.

“
Andy.”

I can tell it doesn’t register.

“
From Cancun. Club
Med.”

“
Oh shit, Laney. I was kidding!”
He closes the space between us and pulls me into his arms, kissing
the top of my head. “You had no idea?”

I shake my head. “She calls him
Andrew. It’s a common name. Plus I never knew her name. She told me
they got engaged before he got his master’s, but decided to wait
until she got hers too, but who would ever think?”

“
Shook you pretty hard,
huh?”

I squint my eyes and tilt my head to the
side.

“
What?” he asks.

“
I’m still trying to figure out if
you’re real,” I say, poking his arm like I did on our first date.
“I mean, what kind of boyfriend shows that much concern about his
girlfriend running into an ex?”

“
Running into your ex is different
than finding out a bride you’ve been working with for the last six
months is the one your ex chose over you. You told me it was more
than a fling. He broke your heart.”

“
Yeah.” I sigh
and take another drink, enjoying the feeling of the warmth in my
chest. “What’s so weird is, she
knew
. I could see it in her
eyes.”

“
Do you think he confessed after
he got back from Cancun?”

“
No, because he pretended he
didn’t know me. We all pretended he and I were meeting for the
first time. But she knew.”

“
Weird,” he says.

“
I know. They’re starting their
marriage on secrets and lies. I never want to be like that. Promise
me that wherever this goes we’ll never have secrets. Not like
that.”

He doesn’t say “I promise” but
kisses me instead and says, “Move in with me.”

“
What?”

“
I said, move in with
me.”

“
Are you asking because of
Andy?”

“
I’m not that
insecure.”

“
I didn’t mean—”

He puts his finger on my lips. “I was going to
ask you anyway. You’re here half the time. Amanda can find another
roommate. Isn’t she getting serious with that doctor?”

“
Resident,” I correct
him.

“
Resident,” he says, and kisses me
again, this time passionately. “Move in with me.”

“
I’ll think about it,” I say,
unable to keep the smile off my face.

He kisses me again, and I wrap my
legs around him and forget all about Andy and Elizabeth and
everything else.

~~~~

Kim walks in the backroom as I’m booting up
the computer and hands me my coffee. “So, did you tell Kyle about
Andrew?”

“
I did.”

“
And?” she asks, her eyes
wide.

I blow on my latte, then take a
sip, enjoying the suspense I’m creating. “He asked me to move in
with him.”

“
Oh my God!”

“
I know!”

She takes her bagel and cream cheese out of
the bag she’s holding and hands the bag to me. “Are you going to?
What about Amanda?”

“
I don’t know. I have been
spending more nights at Kyle’s than my place lately. And Amanda’s
been spending a lot of time at Alex’s. Maybe it makes sense,” I
say, taking my bran muffin out of the bag.

She stops spreading her cream cheese and looks
up. “That’s romantic,” she deadpans.

“
You know what I mean.”

“
I’m teasing you. I think it’s
great. I’m happy for you. So,” she says, changing the subject,
“have you given any thought to me doing the wedding on
Saturday?”

“
Gabriella would never allow
it.”

“
She wouldn’t have a choice if you
came down with the stomach flu. You are starting to look a little
green.” She takes a bite of her bagel and winks.

“
I’ll think about it,” I say as I
scan through my emails. It would be great to have Kim dress
Elizabeth but we’d catch hell from Gabriella. Even if I told her I
was sick.

The intercom buzzes. “Laney, can
you come up front please?” asks the new salesgirl, Kate. Kate’s the
only one who uses the intercom to call us to the sales floor. Julie
and Wendy like to come in back so they can escape the front, if
only for a minute, inhaling and exhaling deeply, as if taking a
drag from a much-needed cigarette at the end of a long day. Working
with brides all day will do that to you.