THE JUNIOR BRIDESMAID (6 page)

Chapter 4

I woke up
exhausted. If I slept a total of three hours it was a lot. I kept tossing and
turning all night thinking about Hugh. Julia was right. I never did get over
the man. He was my end all be all. Every guy I met, and I had met a few nice
ones, I unfairly compared to Hugh. Guys I met in college were habitually
classified as strictly friend material. A few men I met while living in New
York had the honor of graduating to dating status but no one, not one, compared
in my mind to the incredible Hugh Rowen. So they never even scratched the
surface to my heart.

The last guy,
Carson, had a reputation at work for being a womanizer. One could say that he’d
been around the PR floor a couple of times. I knew this about him but he was
also really hot. So I made an exception and even put in a modicum of effort.
Clearly those efforts were not exercised with enough fervor because Carson was
still able to detect the ‘I don’t give a shit’ vibe that unintentionally
emanated from me. My capricious attitude in his mind was worthy of retaliation,
which I found out with his announcement in front of half of the staff in the
coffee lounge. “Do you even care that I just fucked your partner in the utility
closet?”

What bothered me
more was that I found out that my partner was a back stabbing snake. I didn’t
tell Carson that, though. So I responded with a shoulder shrug, a heavy sigh, a
headshake and a facial expression that outlined my lack of affectedness. He
could have fucked a thousand women on his coffee break and I would have jumped
right on those thank you notes outlining my appreciation for saving me the
trouble. It would have been one less obligation in our meaningless relationship
as far as I was concerned. I wasn’t trying to be cruel but there was no way I
could explain to him that he didn’t and could never measure up to the amazing
Hugh Rowen. Which circled my thoughts back to my current dilemma. Why would the
most perfect man in the world ever search out a
loose-lipped-wedding-annihilator like Delilah Welling twelve years after I
ruined his life? I threw back the covers on my bed and dragged my ass to the
shower. Brutal.

Feeling already
drained, I lingered in the shower longer than usual trying to revive my
exhausted body. I dressed for work in the first thing that I could reach in my
closet and stopped at my ice cream table to write myself a note to call the
online store where I had ordered my dress. My partner and I had a corporate
function to attend Friday for our biggest client. This only left me one day to
locate my rush order so I had something to wear. I wasn’t too concerned about
it fitting. I had worn that designer before and I knew I filled out a size four
perfectly. That was of course if I could get it in my possession. Mom had been
right all those years ago. I finally grew breasts once I was
there
. Of course getting
there
seemed to take forever. But it was
almost like they grew overnight because one morning I woke up and I had full
B’s. I even had the stretch marks to go with them. I never did grow hips. But
Julia told me hips were overrated. I didn’t necessarily agree with her. I
always thought hips gave a woman sex appeal. But she said that she had them so
she should know. All things considered, I wasn’t looking a gift horse in the
mouth. At least I grew something.

I tapped the
‘down’ button to call the elevator. Yes, it was already lit. And, yes, I knew
it wouldn’t deliver the elevator any faster. But I did it anyway. The doors
parted a few moments later where I found two residents inside. One I didn’t
know at all. The other was Mrs. Norris who I had house/kitty sat for a few
weeks prior.

“Good morning,
Mrs. Norris.” I smiled at her and nodded to the other woman who I didn’t know.

“Oh, good morning,
Delilah.” She said rather enthusiastically given the early hour. “Nice to see
you again.” She clasped her hands together under her chin. “I’ve been meaning
to call you,” her knees bent slightly with her announcement.

“Oh?” I
questioned. “Everything okay with Winnie?” My eyebrows went up hoping the fat
cat I sat for was okay.

“Oh, yes, Dear.
Winchester is just fine,” she assured. “I found some treats I didn’t recognize
in my cupboard. I asked Gina, my housekeeper, but she said she didn’t buy them.
Winchester just loves them and I am running out.” Mrs. Norris was clearly in
knots over the vanishing treats for her beloved Winchester.

“Oh, it was me,” I
confessed with a little raise of my hand. “I got them at a pet shop near my
office. I can pick some up for you if you’d like?” It really wasn’t any
trouble. Winchester was a sweet cat and it gave me an excuse to go see the
teacup puppies in the window. So cute.

“Oh, no thank you,
Delilah. But if you don’t mind I would like the address. I have been looking
for a new collar for little Winnie. I thought maybe I would take a ride and
browse around.”

I don’t know what
Mrs. Norris saw when she looked at Winchester but he was far from little. As a
matter of fact he was larger than most of the dogs in the building.

“It’s on Broadway.
Between 18
^th
and 19
^th
I think.”

As soon as the
elevator doors opened, the other woman whom I didn’t know stepped out. I held
out my hand for Mrs. Norris to go ahead.

“Thank you,
Delilah.”

“No problem,” I
smiled. Mrs. Norris and the other woman made a right toward the mailboxes as I
hightailed it toward the front door.

On my way out I
saw my doorman, Davis. As soon as he caught sight of me he raced toward the
front doors of the apartment to summon a cab for me like he did every morning
whether I needed one or not. If I were walking he would shoo them away like
they had mistaken his hand signals. But given the exhaustion I was feeling, I
thanked him accepting the cab and asked if he could keep an eye out for the
Fedex guy. I really was desperate for my package. He responded with his usual,
“You got it, Dee. Have a good one.”

It was a chilly
morning, which translated into a lot less people walking to work. This put a
lot more cars on the road, which backed up traffic significantly. After a few
blocks of bumper-to-bumper traffic and an excessive amount of cursing on my
part and horn blaring on the cab driver’s, I sized up the congestion and
decided I would be better off going on foot. I paid the taxi driver and jumped
out of the yellow cab with another ten blocks in front of me. I must have put
an extra spring in my step because I still made it to my office building in
record time. Normally, if I had an extra minute, I would stop and get coffee
before I went up to my office. As luck would have it I had more than one extra
minute, I had ten. But brisk walking didn’t add up to ten extra minutes. I had
been working at this public relations firm since I graduated college and had my
commute down to a science. The only thing that I could figure was that my Hugh
Rowen Surprise obviously had me finishing my morning routine and on my way out
the door a little earlier than usual. Lord knows I hadn’t slept a wink. I
walked to the coffee shop that was tucked away behind the escalators in the
rear of the lobby. They had the usual quick breakfast fare; buttered bagels,
muffins, doughnuts, fruit, coffee, tea, or rolls. Anything that a person could
grab on the go. There were a couple of tables set up for those who needed to
sit but it was really more of a kiosk than a restaurant. I was digging in my
purse searching for my wallet as I approached the line and not looking at my
surroundings at all.

That was when I
heard my name. “Hey, Delilah,” the voice drawled.

I turned to see
who was calling me and recognized the face immediately. It was the guy who
worked in the accounting department, Will Krakow. He was nice enough. But I
think because he was also from the south he thought that gave us a special connection.

It didn’t.

“Oh hey, Will.” I
responded politely.

“You’re early.” He
dug both hands into the pockets of his slacks and raised his shoulders
simultaneously. My eyes squinted at his remark wondering why or how he knew if
I was earlier than usual or not. My one hand still searched the bottom of my
bag blindly.

“Yeah. A little
bit,” I answered again trying to be polite. My eyes went back to my purse as I
was still rooting around in my cavernous bag unable to locate my wallet. I made
a mental note to remember the next time I went shopping for a pocketbook to get
one substantially smaller than the one I was foraging around in at the moment.

Noticing my
predicament Will used his pointer finger to push his glasses up the bridge of
his nose and offered a helping hand. “Hey now, don’t go gettin’ lost in there.
I’d be happy to buy you that morning coffee if you’d do me the honor.”

“Do you what
honor?” I asked absently still searching in my bag.

I heard him clear
his throat just as I decided I needed to change tactics. I dropped my over
sized bag to the floor, squatted in front of it spreading the opening as wide
as it would go and practically stuck my head inside. Luckily the closest thing
I blindly grabbed in my closet that morning was slacks otherwise Will would be
getting the entire cutchie-coo show. I pushed the contents of my bag this way
and that but still couldn’t find my wallet.

Then I heard Will
still jibber jabbering about what I had no idea. “The honor of buying you a
coffee, of course.”

“Huh?” I asked. I
hadn’t heard a word the man said. “What the heck did I do with my wallet?” I
asked as if Will might know where I had put it. “It must be in here,” I
continued my search.

It barely
registered that Will approached the counter and I heard him order a large
coffee with cream and sugar. I was still scouring my big bag unwilling to give
up on the search. I sighed heavily. It wasn’t in there. “Crap,” I stated and
stood at the same time. I hooked my bag on my shoulder as my mind tried to
remember where I had had it last.

“Ugh! I left it on
my ice cream table,” I grumbled and slapped myself on the leg. I always got my
cab fare out of my wallet before I left and held it in my hand. I knew how much
the cab fare cost and I was afraid that I would drop my wallet while we were
darting in and out of traffic bouncing all over the place as we headed
downtown. That’s how it was in a New York cab. It would be impossible to count
how many times I had dropped the contents of my bag on the floor of a taxi
throughout my years of commuting to work. I had finally learned my lesson and
it wasn’t going to happen ever again. Opening your bag in a taxi was a no, no.
Lesson learned. “I can’t make it through this day without…” I turned and saw
Will’s hand extended holding a coffee out to me. I looked at it and back to
Will.

“Is that for me?”
I asked inquisitively.

Will nodded. “Yes,
Delilah, it’s for you. Cream and sugar, just how you like it.” He smiled as he
gestured again that I should take it. I didn’t ask how he knew how I liked my
coffee. I truly didn’t want to know the answer.

I swallowed hard
before I wrapped my fingers around the paper cup. “I’ll getcha back tomorrow,”
I promised.

“No worries,” he
smiled. “I know where you live.”

I figured he was
joking. At least I hoped he was joking. “Aren’t you going to have any?” I asked
just before I took a sip of my morning savior.

He just shrugged
his shoulders again. “I drank mine already.”

I took a moment to
assess Will. He was wearing a crisp white button down. Underneath you could see
that he had on a short sleeve undershirt. It occurred to me that he was well
put together even if he really wasn’t my type.

“Mmm. Thanks,
Will.” I took a generous swig.

Will nodded and
walked with me toward the bank of elevators. Once there we ran into my partner,
Stacey.

“Hey,” she
greeted.

“Hey,” I greeted
back. “Do you know Will?” I was relatively certain Stacey had met Will on
several occasions but the chances that he registered on any level with her was
unlikely. Will was nothing to write home about. He was nice, clean cut and an
average looking guy. He was kind of funny but not really, sort of tall but for
some strange reason you didn’t remember him that way. There was nothing about
Will that was memorable. If one were asked to describe him, a big fat ‘um’
would linger from their vocal cords because it would be impossible to point out
any definitive qualities. All that said, Will was the consummate southern
gentleman and responded accordingly to Stacey.

“Nice to see you
again, Stacey.”

Stacey’s eyes
squinted and ran down and up Will and then her head sort of nodded and shook at
the same time. Clearly he wasn’t ringing a bell.

I figured by her
reaction that she wasn’t only unsure if they had met but didn’t care one way or
the other. So I tried to smooth the situation over before Stacey embarrassed
the both us and hurt Will’s feelings at the same time. “From Accounting?”

“Oh!” She half
smiled. “Of course.”

She was
bullshitting.

She and I worked
together like a well-oiled machine. I knew her like the back of my hand. She
had no idea who Will was nor would she remember him the next time she ran into
him. She made no effort to remember people who weren’t possible relationship
material or essential in advancing her career. Sometimes, she would say if she
were lucky, they fit both profiles. I, on the other hand, didn’t like using
people at all. It felt like another job to me and I just didn’t have the
energy. But where our values were different our work ethic was the same. We
both gave our jobs one hundred percent. And the bonus was that she loved to do
the things that I detested and I loved to do the things that she detested. We
split the responsibilities right down the middle and our work was flawless. We
were a perfect business couple.