Calendar Girl

by Georgia Beers

  “I’m free. Where are you taking me?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “How is it possible that you’ve never done this before?” Addison asked in disbelief as they waited for their appointment.

  “It’s just never been something I thought about,” Katie said, and Addison wondered if she’d taken offense. “I am perfectly capable of polishing my own toes, thank you very much.” Her tone was light, but there was an undercurrent.

  “I’m sure you are. But having somebody else take care of your feet for an hour or two is so much more than polishing your toes.” She glanced up to see the manager waving her toward them and she stood, held out a hand. “I think you’ll enjoy this. My treat.”

  “Oh, no. I can pay for—” Katie started to speak as she put her hand in Addison’s, but Addison squeezed it tightly.

  “No. No arguments. I asked you to this gala tonight and I know you’re nervous. The least I can do is help you relax beforehand.” It took a split second before she realized exactly what she’d said, the double entendre of it, and she felt her eyes blink several times.

  “There are other ways to get me to relax, you know,” Katie said with a wink, obviously following Addison’s train of thought, but then her face immediately shifted to mortification, as if she couldn’t believe what she’d just said.

  They stood completely still in the waiting area of the salon, looking at each other with wide, weirded-out eyes before they both started laughing at the same time. Neither of them addressed the remark. They simply headed toward the back where the pedicure chairs were.

  Yup. That’s what we do. We address nothing. Addison mentally shook her head, marveling at how consistent they were, and let go of Katie’s hand when it occurred to her how nicely it fit in hers and how much she was enjoying the feel of that.

  “How often do you come here?” Katie asked, as they settled into the big, soft, comfy chairs next to each other and submerged their feet into the warm, bubbly water. She picked up the remote control and immediately began pressing various buttons, making different faces at Addison depending on which button she pushed.

  “Maybe once every month or two? More often in the summer.”

  “Yeah, nobody sees your feet in the winter but you.”

  “True.” She laughed as Katie’s eyes went wide, then rolled back in her head. “Massager?”

  Katie nodded as her chair hummed. “Oh, my God, I need one of these chairs.” She leaned her head back, let it loll from side to side. “Of course, I’d never get any work done because I’d be doing this all day.”

  “Exactly the reason I haven’t had them installed in the office. Yet.”

  When the pedicurists arrived and took seats on their little rolling stools, Katie turned to Addison, her face beaming like a child at Disney for the first time. An unfamiliar warmth spread through her body as Addison smiled back.

  “Girls’ day out?” Katie’s pedicurist—whose name tag read Patti—asked them.

  “We’re going to a gala tonight,” Katie said, emphasizing the word just a bit.

  “Ooh, I have never been to a gala.” Patti went to work on Katie’s cuticles and toenails.

  “That makes two of us,” Katie said as she watched carefully, like she was studying each step in the process.

  “You’re both going?” Addison’s pedicurist was named Jodi, and she glanced up as she asked the question.

  “We are,” Addison replied. “It’s a Christmas gala. A fund-raiser.”

  “Well, it sounds glamorous,” Patti said.

  “Right?” Katie’s grin was contagious and Addison was suddenly very glad she’d dragged her here.

  After a few minutes, the conversation split so Patti and Jodi were chatting amongst themselves.

  “What will it be like there tonight?” Katie asked her, voice low like the question embarrassed her a bit. “Like, how many people?”

  Addison pursed her lips as she thought. “I don’t know, a couple hundred? It’s a pretty big gathering each year. Katrina does it up.”

  “Wow.” Katie’s eyes went wide and her eyebrows rose up and Addison sensed a bit of dread coming off her. That V that formed at the top of her nose when she was thinking too hard appeared with a vengeance.

  “Hey. No big deal,” Addison said, and reached across to grasp Katie’s forearm. Meeting her eyes, she searched for the right words, wanting—no, needing—to make Katie feel better. “Just…think of it as a show. That’s what I do. Everybody is dressed to the nines, and I like to see if I can figure out things like who’s going to get drunk first and which couple will get in an argument.”

  “Okay, that does sound fun.” Katie’s demeanor relaxed immediately. “We could make a game out of it.”

  Inexplicably happy that she’d wiped away the “stress V,” as she’d started calling it in her head, Addison let herself relax a bit more into the buttery softness of her chair.

  “So, he loses a sock,” Patti was saying. She looked up and made eye contact with Addison. “My new husband, I’m talking about,” she clarified.

  “They’ve been married for six months,” Jodi informed them as she picked up Addison’s foot and went to town on her heel with a giant file like she was grating Parmesan.

  “He gets down on his hands and knees to look for it, and he finds…” Patti let the sentence dangle, obviously waiting for anybody to fill in the blank.

  Jodi gasped dramatically. “No!”

  With an exaggerated nod, Patti said, “Oh, yes.”

  Jodi sank her head down between her shoulders as she stage-whispered to Addison and Katie, “Her vibrator!”

  Katie snorted a laugh, which made Addison join her.

  “No big deal, right?” Patti asked.

  “Right,” Katie said.

  “Wrong!” Patti countered. “A huge deal, as far as he’s concerned. Huge.”

  “Ugh.” Jodi shook her head. “Such a guy.”

  “I don’t get it,” Katie said, looking from one woman to the other and back, then over at Addison, who shrugged.

  “If I have a vibrator, then something must be missing,” Patti explained.

  “Well, that’s just silly,” Katie said.

  “Which is exactly what I said to him. I asked him, do you jerk off?”

  “Of course he does,” Jodi scoffed.

  “Of course he does,” Patti repeated.

  “What did he say?” Katie asked.

  “He got all stuttery and weird, stumbling over his words, like he wanted to say no but knew there was no way he could. So I explained that it’s the same thing.”

  “And?” Katie asked, leaning slightly forward. Addison watched her, thoroughly amused by how enthralled she was with the whole discussion.

  Patti just smiled and shook her head. “He’s having trouble. Just can’t wrap his brain around it. It’s completely undone him, poor guy.”

  “Men,” Jodi said, joining Patti in more head shaking. They both chuckled good-naturedly, and it was clear they weren’t bashing the male of the species. They were just slightly mystified by them.

  The next hour went on like that, individual conversations combined with discussions that all four women took part in. Addison wasn’t one to chitchat with her pedicurist—or her hair stylist or her bartender or her letter carrier—but she found herself loving the fact that Katie apparently was. And when Katie was part of the conversation, Addison wanted to be as well. A new experience for her that she wasn’t quite sure what to do with.

  After giving them instructions to sit and let their polish dry for a bit, Patti and Jodi moved on to their next clients.

  Katie wiggled her deep-plum-tinted toes. “I love this color.”

  “It looks great on you,” Addison said, and it did. Went perfectly with her olive skin tone.

  “And yours,” Katie said, shifting her focus to Addison’s red. “Very snazzy. Glamorous.”

  “That’s me. Snazzy and glamorous.”

  Katie held her gaze, that infectiou
s smile playing across her face. “This was fun, Addison. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. I’m glad you could come.”

  “You know, I thought for a minute this might be a fun thing to do, just me and my mom. Something to give her a break and help her relax. But then I remembered that she hates people touching her feet.”

  “Mine, too.”

  “Your mom?”

  “You touch her feet and she will kick you in the face. No questions asked.”

  Katie’s laugh appeared again, and Addison loved how much she’d heard it today. “Same.”

  “They don’t know what they’re missing.”

  They were quiet as they gathered their things and headed toward the front of the salon where Addison paid the bill. While she hated to let Katie go—it had been such a fun time just hanging with her for reasons other than work—she knew she’d see her later.

  “I’m glad it isn’t snowing,” Katie commented, looking down at her feet—in flip-flops—then out at the parking lot, which was wet but would allow them to get to their cars without ruining their pedicures. Or freezing their feet off. But just barely.

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” Addison said, as she turned to Katie. “I’m sending a car for you tonight.”

  Katie blinked at her, those big brown eyes filled with surprise. “I’m sorry?”

  Addison cleared her throat, her worry about overstepping suddenly very prominent in her head. “I know things at home have been hard. I want you to be able to drink at will tonight and not worry about driving. So I’m sending a car to pick you up. I have to be there a bit early, but the driver will let me know when he arrives, so I can meet you.”

  “I…” Katie looked down at her pretty toes. “I don’t know what to say.”

  Addison knew uncertainty when she saw it. She knew what pride looked like. She understood that Katie wasn’t one to take charity. She would also bet that when it came to asking for help, Katie had trouble. “You don’t have to say anything.” She smiled, hoping that would show Katie she wasn’t being patronizing or trying to offer charity. “I’ll see you tonight.”

  With that, she pushed through the door and into the chilly winter air. She’d never been nervous about these gatherings. Galas, fund-raisers, dinner meetings. They were all par for the course when you were involved in a large corporation like Fairchild Enterprises. Addison considered them her duty. Plus, they allowed her to mingle with the higher-ups, the wealthy, the people whose ears she might need at some point down the line. So she always dressed up and went and mingled and smiled and listened. But she was never nervous.

  Tonight, though?

  Yeah.

  It was barely three in the afternoon and she already had butterflies.

  As she shifted her car into gear and pulled away without looking back at Katie, she promised herself not to overanalyze those nerves. Because they weren’t the nerves you got when you were about to enter a room full of strangers. Or the rolling stomach feeling that often came with giving a speech.

  No.

  These nerves? There was only one definition that fit, and she knew it.

  These were date nerves.

  * * *

  “Don’t just stand there, Mom. Tell me what you think?”

  Katie was nervous. She was a giant bundle of tension as she stood in front of the full-length mirror in her mother’s bedroom. Liz stood behind her, having just zipped up the “little black dress,” as Sam had called it when she lent it to Katie, and simply blinked. As Katie watched her mother’s reflection, Liz’s eyes welled up.

  “Oh, no,” Katie said, holding up a hand. “Don’t you cry, Mom. If you cry, I’ll cry and it’ll ruin my makeup.”

  Dutifully, Liz bit her bottom lip until her tears eased back but brought her fingers to her lips. “You look…” She shook her head slowly as she seemed to search for the right description. “Stunning. You’re gorgeous and you’re stunning and you are going to stop people in their tracks tonight. Addison Fairchild won’t know what hit her.”

  While Katie had been sure to inform her mother that nothing further had happened since the kiss a couple weeks ago, not even a mention, Liz was undeterred. “Mom. I told you. This is a work function.”

  She’d said the same thing to Samantha, who’d come over to bring the outfit and to help Katie with her hair, before she’d left. Sam’s reaction was almost identical to Liz’s. “I’ve never been invited to such a ‘work function,’” she said, making air quotes even as she arched an eyebrow and grinned.

  “Trust me, she won’t be thinking of work when you walk in,” Liz said. “Just look at you.” Hands on Katie’s shoulders, she turned her back to face the mirror.

  The woman staring back at her looked damn good. Katie could admit that. Samantha had said she had the perfect dress for Katie to borrow, as Katie’s wardrobe was very low on items that fell into the cocktail dress category, and she had been right. It was black, not tight, but rather…form-fitting, as Liz had described it. Long, sleeveless, and sparkling, and it hugged every curve Katie had in the most flattering of ways. Her hips, her shoulders, her breasts. Speaking of breasts, it showed much more cleavage than Katie was used to, the fabric dipping into a deep V, but both Sam and Liz had insisted it was the perfect amount. Sam had also lent her a small black clutch that sparkled like the dress, and a diamond teardrop necklace to fill some of that expanse of skin left by the dress’s neckline. The strappy black heels were the perfect complement, though Katie hoped she didn’t have to do too much walking in them. “Beauty is pain,” Sam reminded her when she complained. “Walking in heels? It’s a muscle. You’ll pick it up.”

  Katie had simply rolled her eyes and stepped into the shoes.

  “I love these,” Katie’s mother said, interrupting her thoughts as she wound a corkscrew curl that hung in front of Katie’s ear around a finger. “You had these when you were little. Your grandma called them ringlets.”

  Katie’s hair was in an updo, but several little pieces had been left hanging and Sam had curled each of them into corkscrews, which now hung near her ears and along the back of her neck. She could feel them brush the sensitive skin there when she moved. “Samantha did a good job.”

  They stood quietly for a moment, mother behind daughter, both gazing into the mirror. Finally, Liz kissed Katie’s temple. “You ready?”

  Katie took in a deep breath and held it before slowly releasing it. “As ready as I’m going to get, I think.” A glance at the clock told her she had no choice. “The car should be here any minute.” She grabbed the clutch, filled it with her phone, lip gloss, and a small container of mints, then snapped it shut. With a nervous chuckle, she said, “I feel like I’m heading off to the prom again.”

  “Me, too. Did I mention that Addison gets points for sending you a ride?” Liz asked as she ushered Katie out of the room.

  “Yes, Mom. Like, nine times.”

  “Well, she does.”

  “I’ll be sure to tell her.”

  In the living room, Katie’s father sat watching television, the home health aide they had most often sitting nearby with a magazine. She was a large African American woman named Rhonda who was incredibly gentle with David and seemed to always be smiling. Katie could always tell when she was on duty because the energy in the house felt…calm, warm and loving.

  “Good Lord, David, look at your gorgeous daughter,” Rhonda said, touching David’s arm to get his attention. He turned his head to regard Katie and Liz as they came into the room. “You ever seen anything so beautiful?” Rhonda asked him.

  “I never have,” David said, and though there was a hint of uncertainty in his eyes, Katie felt like there was some part of him that not only saw her but recognized her. She’d take that.

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  The doorbell rang before any further conversation could be had, and Liz pulled the front door open.

  “Ms. Cooper?” The man was dressed head-to-toe in black and tipped the black cap on his head. He l
ooked like he’d just stepped out of a movie about business tycoons.

  Liz stood aside and waved an arm toward Katie. “Honey, your ride is here.”

  Katie blinked at him as she moved toward the door so she could see past him. Then she stood still and blinked some more at the black stretch limo parked out front.

  Addison had sent her a limo.

  “Wow,” she breathed quietly as her mother handed her a long, elegant coat, also borrowed from Samantha.

  “I’m Ty,” the driver said with a smile as he held out his hand.

  Katie shook it, forced herself to stop gawking like somebody who’d never seen a nice car before. “Hi, Ty. I’m Katie.”

  “No new snow, Ms. Cooper, and the walkways all seem to be pretty clear, but…” Ty crooked his elbow and Katie dutifully held on. With a quick glance back at her mother, she let the giddy child inside her that was jumping up and down with utter glee send a big smile. Then she collected herself and walked next to Ty until they got to the limo and he opened the door for her.

  Addison had sent her a limo.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “So?” Robert Kehoe had an arm around Addison’s shoulders and he pulled her in tight, close to him so he could speak in her ear. His grip kept her from shifting away. He was in his eighties and she’d known him since she was a child, but it was still uncomfortable and Addison had to make a conscious effort not to squirm. “Are you ready?”

  “Ready for what?” she asked him, keeping a smile plastered on her face. Robert Kehoe was one of the richest men in the city, and he’d invested in many aspects of Fairchild Enterprises.

  “Ready to take over for your mother,” he said, an unspoken “duh” lacing his tone.

  “Robert,” she said, purposely speaking to him teasingly. “She hasn’t made that decision yet. You know that.”

  Kehoe made a sound that fell between a snort and a scoff. “Please. We all know it’ll be you. Only makes sense.” He squeezed her to him again and she tried not to stiffen noticeably. “You’re the oldest child.”