“We can talk about it later,” Jenna said with a smile. “I’ve got to go.”
And just like that, she was gone. I watched as the black sedan pulled down the street and took a right. An emptiness overcame me, though. Her promise to talk about it later didn’t sound like a promise at all. Instead, Jenna had disappeared, and as I walked back into the house, I realized I still had no modern way of reaching her.
Jenna wasn’t making it easy to date her. She hadn’t offered her cell phone number at all. Of course, in the excitement of the day, I had also forgotten to ask for it. But normally a woman made sure I had her number so I could reach her. Yet, I had no way of reaching Jenna unless I showed back up at her work.
She was hiding something. I couldn’t put my finger on it, and I hoped it wasn’t something too serious, but there was a secret she was keeping. Something that was preventing her from being available to me. I was going to find out what it was.
When I got to the top of the stairs, I heard my phone buzz and went to grab it. No one ever called me this early in the morning. For some reason, I thought it had to be Jenna, although I didn’t remember giving her my number.
“Mark?” I said to myself as I answered the phone. “What the hell are you doing up?” I laughed.
“I’m just heading home, and I saw you sending a pretty girl away from your house.”
“Yeah, she had plans today and needed to get going.”
“Sure, sure, well I thought I’d invite you to the bar tonight for the game if you’d like? We haven’t caught up for a while.”
Mark was a busy guy, and so was I. Although we did try and hang out with the group of guys every couple of months, I hadn’t been to visit him in a long time.
“I guess I could do that. I haven’t been watching much football this year. I do love your wings, though, can’t refuse a night of good conversation and wings.”
“Don’t forget about the smoking hot waitresses at my bar. That’s worth a visit right there. I’ll see you around six. I’m just pulling into my house, and I’ve got to crash for a bit. See you tonight.”
Mark didn’t even wait for me to respond before he hung up. But that was the kind of friends we were. There didn’t have to be the niceties that some people had between each other; Mark and I had known each other since college. We knew each other before there was money or fame involved, and I loved that about our friendship.
As I sat down on my bed and looked over by the lounge chair, I noticed a small badge on the ground. I walked over, picked it up and saw an adorable photo of Jenna. She’d dropped her San Francisco ballet security badge. I didn’t even remember seeing it on her when we were out, but then again, I didn’t remember seeing her phone either. She must have had them tucked away in her sports bra or her pants. I’d seen some running pants with pockets around the waist for women to store their things in; it was a rather ingenious idea since women never had regular pockets in their clothes.
Now I had to decide what to do about it.
***
Monday morning, I showed back up at the dance studio. This time, I didn’t have my driver, and I didn’t have any place else I needed to be right away. Instead of hunting Jenna down to talk to her, I was simply going to wait for her to arrive and catch up to her in the parking lot. I’d give her the badge and ask for her phone number. End of story.
My plan was simple, and I was relatively confident as I watched the dancers entering the building. But as time ticked away, and everyone stopped arriving at the studio, I realized I must have missed her when she arrived.
I’d been watching all the women intently and had not seen her, but maybe she had arrived before I’d gotten there. Maybe she wasn’t even there that day? I had no idea, but it was a little creepy that I’d showed up again at her work.
Why was this girl driving me so crazy? Clearly, she was trying to get away from me or hide from me, and yet I was continually drawn to her. When we were together, there was an energy, an affection that was undeniable, so it was very incongruent in my mind that things weren’t matching up with how she was acting when we separated.
I got out of my car and was about to go into the building when Jenna’s friend walked past me.
“Hey, you know Jenna, right?” I yelled at her, and she spun around.
“Yep, you’re Kevin, right?” She laughed. “Are you stalking her again?”
“She left this at my house.”
“Oh, she was at your house again? Hmm, interesting information.” She laughed again and grabbed the identification from me.
“You know I’d like to talk to her, but I don’t have her phone number. Do you think you could give it to me?” It was worth a try.
“No, if she’s not giving her number to you, I better not give it. Did you want to talk to her? Do you want me to go find her again?”
Ideally, I did want to talk to her, but how was it going to look if she knew I’d tracked her down and was waiting outside again. No, it didn’t seem like the best possible way to handle things.
“No, I just wanted to drop that off. She had to leave early on Sunday for …” I let my words trail off as I tried to pretend like I was thinking of the right words to say.
“The farmer’s market?” Elaina asked?
“Oh, yeah, that’s what it was. She was going to …”
“Help her brothers with their fruit stand?” she replied. “You really have a horrible memory. Maybe she did give you her phone number, and you just forgot.”
“Very funny. Please don’t tell her I’m here today. I’ll just talk to her another time,” I said as I hurried back to my car to leave.
“Take care,” she hollered after me.
That was exactly what I needed to know. Some other location that I could find Jenna without seeming like a strange stalker.
I headed into my office where I was supposed to be meeting up with Mark. After our Sunday night talk at his restaurant, he’d helped me work through some details about the upcoming charity event. I was meeting with a planner and my secretary to get the ball rolling and wanted to discuss with Mark a little bit of a plan to get the word out. Mark had a way with the celebrities, or his female servers did.
Planning a charity event wasn’t all that hard if you had money and enough people interested in putting in the work. My party planner, Emily, and assistant Caroline, were taking charge and putting every effort into executing my ideas for me.
“So you will be able to give me a list of the contact numbers by tomorrow?” Emily asked Caroline.
“Yes. I’ve got his whole contact list and most of their agents. A few of the models and starlets might be direct contacts, though. Just a heads-up,” Caroline added as she raised an eyebrow in my direction. “Those were more personal type relationships, but I’m sure they would be interested in coming to the event.”
“Oh, great, you’re going to make this event a parade of all my past relationships,” I joked.
“Don’t worry; I’ll keep a few of them off the list,” Caroline teased.
“Thank you. So other than the list, how is everything else going? Do you need me to make any decisions?”
“I think we have clarified the big details. As long as you’re still okay with me using my judgment for the planning and style elements?” Emily asked.
“Yes, please just make all the decisions.” I laughed. “Have you two seen Mark? He was going to cater the event, and I think he has some other contacts to add to the invite list.”
“Yep, he’s in your office. He already gave us everything we need,” Emily said.
It was highly unusual for Mark to be early to a meeting and totally prepared; there had to be some ulterior motive going on here. But knowing Mark, it likely was something simple and easy for me to help him out with.
“So what’s going on? What do you need?” I questioned him the second I opened my office door.
“I just wanted to help you with your party.”
“Nope, I’m not buying it. What�
��s really going on?”
“I’d like to do some advertising for the event at my restaurants. Are you okay with that?”
“Of course.”
“Okay, so would you be willing to show up this weekend, and we can do a little introduction before the college football games?” Mark asked suspiciously.
“What’s really going on?”
“Nothing. I just want to be as helpful as possible.”
“Mark, stop bullshitting me. What’s going on?”
“I need to be at this event. Not just in attendance, but at your side. I’ve got to land me a hot babe. I’m not getting any younger, and as much fun as the waitresses are, I want a real woman. I need you to hook me up.”
“Wow, did you actually think I wasn’t going to invite you?”
“No, man … you know what I mean. I want to be in charge. I’ve got to be face to face with all the lovely ladies.”
“You’ve got it. Go sit in there with Emily and Caroline and help them out. I’ll let you be the man at the door so you can welcome everyone to the party and have your pick of the single ladies,” I said with as much of a straight face as I could muster.
It was hilarious that Mark thought he had to do anything extra at all. I’d happily give him some responsibilities from the event, especially if it meant less for me to do. Although I didn’t have experience throwing a charity event, that didn’t mean I wanted it to be basic. This event needed to have all the celebrities, all the media, I had to make a splash.
“Anything else I can help with?”
“Actually, I’m trying to put together a fully functional non-profit before the event. I’d love to have you as part of my board of directors. You wouldn’t have to do it forever, but one year …”
“Yes, absolutely. Wow, that would be amazing. I’m so honored. This is the kind of stuff I want to be involved with.”
“Okay, then you are hired. Now we need to file the paperwork through my attorneys. Take some notes,” I said as I threw a notepad in his direction with a pen.
“I’m on it. I’ll sit in on the meeting with the ladies and then get in touch with the attorney. Do you have a charity name yet?”
“I was thinking about Encompass,” sort of a way of saying the charity is going to be part of a lot of different areas of the community.
“I like it. Is there anyone else you would like on the board? I can work with them as well.”
“There are a couple of people, but one, in particular, I’ll need to talk to first. She’s a little hard to reach right now.”
“She?” Mark asked suspiciously.
“Yeah, the girl I was sending away in the car the other morning when you saw me.”
“Why is she hard to reach? And you’d like her to be involved in your charity? This seems really odd to me, Kevin. I doubt any woman would ignore a call from you.” Mark laughed as if he knew for a fact every woman loved me.
“She hasn’t given me her phone number.”
His face literally dropped as he looked up at me with a bewildered gaze. He genuinely didn’t think I was telling him the truth. Like I would make up something so preposterous. I wouldn’t have believed my own words, except I knew I was telling the truth. Jenna didn’t want to be found easily. She had a secret; there was no way to know what it was for sure, but I did know that she wasn’t going to slip away from me as easily as she thought she could.
“This is really weird,” Mark finally said.
“I know. I can’t figure out what she’s hiding. But when I’m with her, I just don’t care. She’s a sweet girl, funny, nice and there is this killer chemistry between the two of us. I’ve never felt anything like it before.”
“Okay, so now I’m starting to think you’re just imagining this woman. No woman is that perfect and doesn’t want to date you.”
“The thing is, I think she does want to date me. There’s something else holding her back. I thought maybe she’d read those tabloid stories about me or heard some horrible rumor.”
“Possibly.”
“Do you know how to find her?” Mark asked as he gathered his things to head into the conference room.
“Yeah, her co-worker told me where she is on Sundays. I also know where she works. I could go to either of those places and talk to her.”
“Where is she on Sundays?”
“Something about helping her brothers at the farmer’s market,” I said.
Although talking to Jenna at the dance studio would be easier, it wasn’t very cool to keep showing up at her work. The farmer’s market would allow me some semblance of cover where I could pretend to just run into her.
“So go find her and settle this. It’s really not like you to let a woman get the upper hand on you. Better be careful, that’s how guys get hooked,” Mark said as he stood in my doorway to leave.
“What do you mean?”
“She’s got your attentions; that’s for sure. So if her goal was to stand out from the crowd, she’s certainly doing a great job at it. If her goal really was not to talk to you again, she’s doing horribly because I’d bet money on you showing up to that farmer’s market next week.”
“Yeah, you’re right; I’ll probably have to stop down there and see if I can find her. But I’m not showing up at her work. Except maybe to drop off an invitation to the charity event. I might stop there to do that.”
Mark just shook his head as he walked away. He was right about one thing, I was hooked on Jenna. Not because I thought she was playing a game or anything like that. I genuinely couldn’t stop thinking about her. She stood out from the other women I’d had in my life for many different reasons.
Chapter 11
Jenna
“Come guys. Every week, it’s the same thing, and every week you two act like I’m asking you to do something totally outrageous.”
“Jenna, you’re bossier than Mom is. Cool it a bit,” Jason said as we started to set up the produce booth for the farmer’s market.
Every Sunday, I helped the boys with the booth. It was all fruits and vegetables from our mother’s garden, and it was the money she counted on for savings and emergencies. She didn’t make very much at the farmer’s market, but something was better than nothing.
“I hate when Mom doesn’t come. Jenna takes over like she’s a World War II drill sergeant,” Jackson added.
“Give me one of the years that World War II happened during,” I said with a smile over to Jason. “I’ll let you sit out the rest of the set up if you can give me just one of the years.”
“Oh, come on, I’ll give …”Jason tried to butt in.
“Nope, not you. Mister smarty pants Jackson who didn’t think he needed to finish high school. Come on Jackson, you said it so tell me. Just one of the years. You know that war went on for a while. Your odds are pretty good. I mean they would be pretty good if you ever actually passed a high school history class.”
“World War II happened in 1902,” Jackson said with a firm bit of confidence.
“Wrong. Keep unloading.” I laughed. “Jason, do you think he’ll ever get his shit together and actually realize he needs to finish high school?”
“I doubt it. He’s not bright enough to realize he’s not very bright.”
“Guys, I’m right here. You know I can still hear everything you’re saying,” Jackson protested as he started to get upset with us. “I’m not a baby. I know I’m the youngest, but I’m twenty-one years old, and I can make my own decisions.”
“You’re absolutely right baby brother. If you want to be ignorant for your entire life, that is your prerogative.”
“God, I hate you two sometimes,” he said and threw a box of tomatoes onto the table. “How about the two of you do this all alone. I’m going home to help take care of Mom. She shouldn’t be alone with how weak she is from the flu. I might not be the smartest, but I’m her favorite,” he said as he stormed off and started to walk toward the train station.
“Come on Jackson. We were just teasing,
” I blurted out after him.
“Should we go get him?” Jason asked. “Maybe I’ll just go talk to him and make sure he’s cooled down a bit. I’ll be right back.”
Before I could protest Jason’s plan, he was already running after Jackson. And just like that, my brothers had left me to unload the pickup and get the whole booth ready for the farmer’s market.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t do it; I’d done the prep work before all by myself. But I’d also arrived on time instead of thirty minutes before the market opened. Now I had barely enough time to get everything off the truck before early rising shoppers were going to be hitting up our booth. I certainly couldn’t manage the booth all by myself. Even when there were four of us, things got a little crazy with the first wave of morning shoppers. San Franciscans were pretty serious about their fresh fruits and vegetables.
By the time the first wave of shoppers showed up at our booth, I had barely managed to get the boxes off of the truck. I was still frantically arranging items on the tables when Jason decided to stroll slowly back to our booth and help with the first woman who was picking through our carrots.
“Sorry, he was really upset,” Jason said with a smile that told me he was utterly full of shit. “Can I help you bag some of these?” He turned to the woman shopping.
The morning was absolutely crazy with only two of us at the booth. It was a good kind of crazy since it meant we were likely going to sell out of all the produce we brought with us, and that was going to make our mother really happy. Yet, my anxiety was through the roof as a line formed in front of the booth, and we could hardly keep up with people.
“Can I get four tomatoes please,” a familiar husky voice asked.
My eyes darted up and there, right in front of me was Kevin Fox. I froze in a state of utter and total loss. I wasn’t prepared to see him there. He looked so much out of his element, and I certainly didn’t look like a ballerina with my dirty T-shirt and jean shorts that were both coated in sweat and produce grime.
“Five dollars,” Jason said as he handed Kevin the tomatoes.
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