To The Single Dad in the Store by J.S. Cooper
Chapter Nineteen
“You’re gorgeous.”Shelby’s blue eyes looked me over and I grinned at the slightly nervous expression on her face. “You’re not going to try and go for him, are you?”
“Go for who?”
“My dad’s best friend.”
“Shelby!” I rolled my eyes. “I don’t even know his name, and no, I’m not going for him.”
“Not even when you see how gorgeous he is?”
“I don’t care how gorgeous he is. I like Steele.” I smiled slyly. “If you’re that nervous, I don’t have to go tonight, and I definitely don’t have to flirt with your Mr. Magoo or whatever his name is.”
“Sam.” Shelby made a face. “His name is Sam.”
“Oh, cute.” I grinned. “So tonight, my mission is to flirt with Sam.”
“I guess so.” Shelby wrinkled her nose and I could tell that she was having second thoughts about her absolutely crazy idea. Not that she had any reason to be nervous. Shelby was absolutely gorgeous, and her beautiful gold dress clung to her like a magnet. “Why did you have to be so hot, Nellie?”
“I don’t know.” I laughed. I studied my reflection in the mirror on the hallway wall and smiled. I did look hot. I only wished Steele could see me. But I couldn’t even take a photo and send it to him. I didn’t think he’d be super happy to hear why I’d postponed our date and I didn’t want him to think I was immature. Because this totally wasn’t on me. This was Shelby’s stupid idea. “But we should get going soon because if we don’t, I honestly don’t know if I’m going to go through with this.”
“Ididn’t think there would be so many people,” I said to Shelby as we walked into the main room. “There must be over 500 people here!”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Shelby shrugged. “Does that make a difference?”
“I mean, I guess not,” I held my mask to my face. “But how are we going to know where Sam is?”
“Oh, yeah.” Shelby bit her lip. “I didn’t think about that.”
I laughed a little at my best friend. She clearly hadn’t thought this plan all the way through.
“Why are you laughing, Nellie?” She wrinkled her nose at me. “It’s not funny. We came here for one reason and one reason only.”
“We’ll find him. If you like him as much as you say you do, your senses should be able to tell you that he is here and where he is.”
“Yeah, but …” She looked around the room in dismay. “I’ve never seen so many lawyers in one spot.” She shuddered dramatically. “Yuck.”
“Oh, he’s a lawyer?” I asked her, looking around the room. “Sooo … you didn’t tell me that.” Hearing about lawyers made me think about Steele and I wished I was on that date rather than here.
“I guess I didn’t think it was important.” She waved off the question. “But yeah, he’s a partner in one of the law firms here. He makes so much money.”
“Why are you excited that he makes money? It’s not your money.”
“Well, if I get married to him, what’s his is mine and what’s mine is his.”
“But you don’t have anything right now.”
“I know,” she giggled. “Isn’t that great?”
“Shelby! Are you trying to be with him because he’s rich?
“No, of course not.” She shook her head quickly. “I really like him. He’s really hot.”
“So he’s rich and hot. Is there anything else?”
“He has a really fun personality, and he just makes me feel safe.”
“What do you mean, he makes you feel safe? You don’t even know this man. I mean, you know him, but you don’t know him on that level.”
“I don’t know. It’s hard to explain. Haven’t you ever been around someone and their very presence just calms you? He does that to me. He calms me.”
“He calms you?” I said slowly. “He must be pretty special, then, because you’re the most hyped-up person I’ve ever met in my life.”
“I know. And when you see me around him, you’ll see how different I am. I can’t explain it. There’s just something about him. I guess that’s what love does to you.”
“Shelby, you’re not in love with him. You don’t even know him.”
“Do you think you’re in love with Steele?”
“What? Why are you bringing Steele up?” I said quickly. “I don’t know. I mean, I really like him and I have strong feelings for him and …” I blushed. “Well, you know, I’d like to get to know him better.”
“So possibly you could be in love with him.”
“I don’t know. I mean, it seems really fast to say that I could be in love with him.”
“I think when you know, you know.” Shelby nodded wisely. “I mean, I know a lot of people don’t like to believe in one true love and soulmates, but I still believe in that. And I still think that possibly, well, definitely, actually, I think that Sam is that for me.”
“You think Sam is your soulmate?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I really do.”
“Okay. Let’s go and find him and let me get my flirt on and see if he’s interested in underage girls.”
“We’re not underage.”
“I know, I’m just joking.”
“That’s not funny,” she said looking at me with a stern expression. “I’m not laughing at that. That’s a serious accusation.”
“Oh my gosh, Shelby, I was just joking! Of course I didn’t mean he’s into underage girls. We’re legal. I should’ve said maybe he’s interested in girls who are significantly younger than him.”
“Age doesn’t matter,” she pouted.
“Uh, I think you think age does matter, and that’s why we’re here tonight.”
“I just want to know if he’s bound by those constraints,” she said earnestly. “I mean, it’s not like I haven’t tried to see.”
“What do you mean, try to see?”
“Well, I’ve asked my Mom and Dad about his previous girlfriend, but very subtly, of course. It’s not like I could be like, “Hey Mom, Dad, who’s Sam been banging?”
I laughed. “You’re too much, Shelby.”
“What? It’s true. You know I couldn’t say that.”
“Of course you couldn’t say that. I mean, I don’t talk to my parents about sex period. Shit, I don’t even want Hunter to know anything about my sex life. I don’t even want him to see me making out.”
“I know, I know,” she grinned.
“Oh, come on. Let’s go and find him. So, what’s the plan?” I said as we looked around the room. “I don’t even know how we’re going to find this dude.”
“Well, let’s go and get some champagne first and maybe some finger food, and then let’s think about it.”
“Seriously? We’re going to eat?”
“What? We’re at a free corporate event. The alcohol is flowing. The food is flowing. Let’s get our grub and our drink on and then worry about everything else later.”
“I guess,” I shrugged. “I’m not going to argue with that, but I can’t be here all night. You know that, right? I’m meeting Steele—”
“I know,” she cut me off. “You’re meeting Steele in the morning because he’s picking you up for breakfast, and it’s your first proper date, and la-di-da-di-da.”
“Okay, just so you know.”
“And just so you know, I’m hoping to also go on a first date too, soon.”
“With Sam?”
“Of course with Sam! Who else? Why do you think we’re here?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I know you’re interested in Sam but we don’t even know if Sam’s gonna …” I stopped myself from finishing the thought.
The guy was handsome from what she said. He had a lot of money from what she said. And he was single. Was that sort of guy really going to be interested in loud, obnoxious Shelby, who was still in college? I didn’t think so, but I wasn’t going to tell my best friend that. I was her biggest supporter and I was here for her, but 40-year-old guys do not want to date immature college students. I felt lucky that Steele was still interested in me, and we were much closer in age than Shelby and Sam were.
Though I’d have to meet him first. Maybe I wouldn’t even like him for her. Maybe, and I really, really hoped not, he was going to look really old and smelly and just disgusting. I knew that sometimes Shelby was attracted to guys for the oddest reasons. She normally dated jocks who were hot, but sometimes she’d been interested in some guys that, well, I didn’t even think they had bathed in months and I had no idea what she saw in them. I really, really hoped that this wasn’t going to be the case with Sam.
Though as I looked around the crowded room, I wasn’t so sure. There were a lot of older guys, and even though they had masks covering their faces, I could tell there weren’t a lot of George Clooneys roaming around here.
I would be supportive. Really, really supportive. I just hoped that Shelby’s dream guy was going to look more like Bradley Cooper than Jack Nicholson.