Not Fake for Long by Weston Parker
2
KEIRA
It was the first time all day that I was sitting down. Being a stockbroker-in-training was exhilarating but it didn’t allow for many opportunities to take a load off during the day. There was a lot of running around, jumping around, and standing up, and it all had to be done in heels.
Well, okay, it didn’t have to be done in heels. Some of the more senior women wore flats or pumps to work, but I was still trying to make an impression. Even a kitten heel made a better impression than a flip-flop.
Although at the rate I was going, these heels were going to be the death of my toes and I’d never be able to wear flip-flops again.
Who needs toes anyway?
Once I graduated out of the training program and made a name for myself for my incredible skills, it wouldn’t matter what I wore. Clients would flock to me because I was awesome, and I’d never have to wear heels or these restricting pencil skirts ever again.
Wishful thinking, Keira. Since I’d chosen a professional career path, I was probably stuck with those things for life.
Even so, I loved my job. Some day very soon, I’d start making enough to move out of my crummy apartment and join the leagues of financially independent women who took the city by storm.
Hear me roar and all that jazz.
Laughing softly to myself, I rolled my eyes and wondered if anyone else in the diner where I was waiting for my best friend was having the same kinds of thoughts I was.
People-watching was a favorite pastime of mine. Some people watched TV to pass the time, others played games on their phones or read, but I preferred to make up my own stories rather than watching, playing along with, or reading those that had been made up by others.
It was my creative outlet, and since Jamie was late, as usual, I had some time to indulge myself. It was definitely better than giving myself feminist pep talks or worrying about my toes eventually falling off in these shoes. I wasn’t even really a feminist—well, not more so than any other woman. I simply looked forward to being able to provide a stable life for myself.
I turned my attention to the people around me again and wondered about their lives. There was a bearded guy tucking into a giant burger like it was the first food he’d ever had and a mother at the booth next to his trying to keep five kids under control. I didn’t know if they were all hers, but kudos to her either way. If I’d been here with even two children, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to take charge with as much confidence as she was and I also definitely wouldn’t have looked as put together as she did while doing it.
I imagined her as being one of those people who could do it all without ever breaking a sweat. She certainly seemed that way.
The bearded guy next to her had finished his burger and was now polishing off a soda. As I watched, he pulled a small laptop from the satchel next to him, opened it, and started typing furiously.
Is he reviewing the food he’s just eaten, or is he in the middle of a project and so absorbed in it that he’s forgotten to eat for several days?”
Jamie’s voice broke into my musings. “I’m sorry. Before you say it, I know I’m always late. I really was going to be on time this time, but I got held up by the couple whose engagement party I’m planning. Is being a groomzilla a thing? If it is, this guy is going to take the prize.”
She dropped into the chair opposite mine, drawing my attention away from the bearded writer, blogger, and/or IT guru. Jamie had been my best friend for years. At twenty-seven, she was two years younger than I was but she was my soul’s twin.
We’d met at a trivia night she’d organized when she’d still been cutting her teeth in the event-planning business, and we’d been pretty much inseparable since. She was the Yin to my Yang, and there was no better example of the way we balanced each other out than simply looking at our career choices.
“You’ll rein him in with your wit and charm,” I said confidently. “Unless he has the budget to back up whatever grand ideas he has that make him a groomzilla. In which case, let him go wild.”
She made a face at me, her perfect delicate button of a nose scrunching up beneath eyes the color of the Mediterranean. “Let me put it to you this way. On the budget they’ve given me, they might’ve been able to afford a kitten but he wants a tiger. I won’t ruin his fun, though. I’m not a ruiner. He wants their wedding to be the party of the year, and you know I can never resist a good party.”
I laughed. “The fact that you’ve made a career out of planning them is a bit of giveaway.”
She stuck her tongue out at me, shaking out her mane of chocolate-brown curls as she ordered a double-thick bubblegum milkshake when the waiter came by. It was safe to say that Jamie lived life to the fullest. Not even her milkshakes were regular. It was double-thick or nothing.
“Tell me about your day,” she said to me once the waiter was gone, but not before she’d flirted a little with the poor guy. “What’s new in the world of stock-brokering?”
I shrugged. “I wish I could tell you that I’m kicking ass and taking names, but I’m not. Everyone there is still crazy competitive. I don’t really want to think about work right now, though. I need a break.”
“Wait.” She twisted in her seat to glance at the people sitting all around us. “I know that look in your eyes. When you say need a break, what you really mean is that you’ve been making up stories in your head about our fellow diners this evening, don’t you?”
“Yep,” I admitted unashamedly, flicking a discreet finger toward the bearded guy. He was still typing, and unless he was writing one heck of a review for that burger, I was going to assume he wasn’t a food blogger. “What do you think he’s doing? My money is on programming or writing a really steamy novel.”
“What I think is that you need a hobby,” she said, turning back to me. “Or, if you really want to know, you could just go over there and ask him.”
“That’s no fun.” I mock-pouted. “It’s not about what he’s really doing. It’s about the mystery of what he could be doing.”
“I still don’t get it. How is that more fun than knowing what he’s actually doing? For example, maybe he’s writing a screenplay, and if you go over there, he’ll realize you’re perfect for the lead role and cast you in it right here and now.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works. Don’t casting people do the casting?” I tilted my head before shaking it. “Besides, I have no interest in acting. My sister wants me to make the toast to our parents at her wedding, and I don’t even think I’m going to be able to memorize those few lines. I just don’t think memorizing entire scripts will ever work for me.”
“Don’t memorize the toast then,” she suggested. “I’m sure Hailey and Nick will understand if you read it off a paper. How’s the planning going for the wedding by the way? I’m still ticked off that the best wedding planner in the city is her sister’s best friend, and she decided to go with someone else.”
“While I agree that you’re the best there is, Nick insisted on the company they’re using. Everyone who thinks they’re someone is using them these days. He said it’d look like he couldn’t afford their services if he hired someone else.”
“Honey, I know all about Parker’s cookie-cutter weddings. They’re all the damn same. Pretentious, boring, and overpriced.”
A snort of laughter came out of me. “Sounds like a perfect fit for Nick then.”
“You two still don’t get along?” she asked, a little more serious now. “I know he’s much older, but Hailey seems to love him.”
“It’s not that I don’t like him.” I paused, trying to find the words to express my worries accurately. “I know it seems like she loves him, but I’m just not sure that she’s marrying him for the right reasons. Sometimes, it feels like she’s only doing it so she doesn’t have to work for anything in her life. She’s used to just being handed whatever she wants. His black credit card in her wallet will give her that for life.”
“Have you talked to her about it?”
“I’ve tried, but it’s not an easy subject to broach, you know? If she really loves him and he makes her happy, I don’t care if he’s homeless or a millionaire. I just don’t want her to get hurt or, worse, to look back later and realize money isn’t everything after all.”
Her hand slid across the table and she covered mine with it, giving it a small squeeze. “I know you’re worried, and I know you care more about who people are than how much they earn, but she chose him. You’re her sister, which means you have to support her no matter what.”
As if my sister’s ears were burning, we were interrupted when my phone started ringing with a call from her. I put the phone on speaker so I didn’t have to repeat everything to Jamie the minute I hung up. It had hardly connected before the bride-to-be was rattling off a list of demands.
“You’re going to have to clear your schedule for next weekend,” she started. “I’m going to send you a short list I’ve compiled of our options. Choose one and book it for us for the whole weekend. We’re going for horseback-riding lessons.”
I gave the phone a blank stare. “Why would we do that?”
“The wedding venue has offered us use of their stables. Horses are such majestic creatures. Nick and I think that you and I should enter the wedding on horseback. Isn’t it a wonderful idea?”
“Uh, sure.” I’d just been instructed to support her with whatever she wanted, so I couldn’t exactly say no. “It’ll be fun to go away together for the weekend. We haven’t done that for ages.”
“We’re not going for fun, Keira,” she snapped. “There isn’t much time left before the wedding and I refuse to look like a fool on the day.”
I sighed, squeezing my eyes shut against the frustration that filled me because of her tone, and agreed to book the damn lessons. Once we hung up, Jamie grinned at me in an attempt to lighten the mood. “I could always come with you. I’ve never been horseback riding and Hailey might not think it’ll be fun, but I do.”
“Thanks, but you know how tight-fisted Nick is. He might have more money than anyone else we know, but he doesn’t part with it easily. You’d have to pay your own way if you really want to come.”
She grimaced and shook her head. “Never mind. Look, maybe it’s a good thing if it’s just you two anyway. You can spend some time together, and you can talk to her about what’s bothering you.”
“Maybe,” I agreed, but I doubted anything I said would change her mind.
As Jamie had rightly pointed out, Hailey had chosen Nick. She would hardly send her forty-something-year-old millionaire fiancé packing just because her sister had some doubts. Besides, maybe I had misjudged both him and their relationship.
All that really mattered was that Hailey was happy, and spending a weekend away with her was a surefire way of finding out whether that was really the case.
