“Is she coming?” Claire sounded strangely desperate.
Maureen heard Sally mumble, “She says she has leprosy,” and then her voice became clear again. “Listen carefully to me, Maureen. This is your current situation: you have no job and no man, and if you go back to your apartment and go to bed with your cat, you have no future. Do you want to be a crazy cat lady?”
Maureen stopped walking. “No, I don’t, Sally, but I can’t do this! Satish is there, some guy I don’t even know is there, and I just can’t perform like that. I can’t pretend I’m not petrified of Satish or of some guy who looks like an angel. I’m just Maureen.”
She heard Claire’s muffled voice in the background, “How does she know he looks like an angel?” Sally shushed her.
“You are wrong. You are not Mousy Maureen—you are Magnificent Mo, and you have the outfit to prove it. Get up here and be the woman you were meant to be. You are gorgeous, smart, and like totally nerdy-cool in a good way. The only thing you are missing is confidence, so put it on and get up here!”
"Give me that phone," it was Claire's voice now. "Maureen, are you my best friend?"
"Of course I am, Claire! What's that got to do with it?"
Maureen heard Sally in the background. "Nice, Claire. I'm standing right here!" She realized she was on speakerphone.
"Oh, get over it, Sally. I'm on a mission, here." She spoke to Maureen again, "How about I just tell you I want you here and I need you here, Maureen? As my best friend. Would that be enough?"
"Of course it would. I'd do anything for you, but I don't think I'm ready."
"Ready for what? All you have to do is come up, eat dinner, and converse with a nice guy. It's not that hard!"
Maureen thought back to her hours and hours of practice in front of the mirror yesterday. She knew she couldn’t change her entire personality in one evening, but she was good at mastering skills. After all that practice, she was pretty sure she had mastered flirting. It was pretty basic, right? Body language, eye contact, compliments, and listening—she had them all down. Could she do it? Could she go up there and be Magnificent Mo?
She hated to agree with Sally when she was acting like a meanie, but she was right: this was a turning point. If she went home now, then tomorrow, she would wake up with no job and no man and a crazy cat lady future. If she went up there, and just did what she had practiced, she might be able to talk Satish into giving her job back, and flirt enough with the angel that he would at least ask for her number.
She would do it. She had to. Maureen made a sharp turn back toward the Tod and Sally’s apartment and bumped into a bundled-up woman headed in the other direction. “Sorry,” she said in response to the dirty look.
“Sorry!” Sally sounded mad. “Sorry? That’s it? You're going to throw away this opportunity?”
“No, Sally, I wasn’t talking to you. I’m coming—I’m on my way. Magnificent Mo will be there in a minute.”
13
Here Comes Mo
Maureen steeled herself outside the loft door. She had removed her light coat, had double-checked her cleavage, and had her opening line on the tip of her tongue. She was ready to walk in and do battle as Magnificent Mo. The door opened, and she flew in, walking on the tips of her toes, tossed her jacket to a stunned Tod, and headed straight for Sally.
“Sally, darling, so great of you to invite me. Sorry I’m late—I bumped into an angel outside and was trying to recover from the shock.” She air-kissed Sally and moved on to Claire, who was staring at her as though she was slightly unhinged. She caught a glimpse of Brad out of the corner of her eye, stumbled a bit, and then recovered.
Remember what you practiced, she told herself. You don't need confidence, you just need to execute a set of skills that you now know inside and out. Learning is your thing.
She could do this. She turned to Claire. “Thrilled you’re here, too, Claire. It’s so great to have such good friends.”
God, she was good at this! The practice was working. “Nandita, you look beautiful. Did you do something to your hair?” Nandita looked at her with huge eyes and absently smoothed her long, shiny black hair that hung in a glossy sheet down to her waist.
“Um, no Maureen, this is how I always wear it.”
Maureen waved brightly at the men, “Satish, Tod, always a pleasure,” and then she faced Brad full-on for the first time.
“Oh my,” she said as made her way toward him, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, so her hips swayed suggestively. “Speak of the devil. Here’s my angel.” She stopped in front of Brad and looked up at tall, dark, and handsome. She felt a rush of nerves, so she quickly went back to her practiced script. “I never did catch your name.” She realized she had probably just said that in a Southern accent and glanced over at Claire and Sally, whose mouths were wide and hanging.
Yep, definitely did the Southern accent. Better dial it back.
“You guys know each other?” Tod asked, looking as confused as Claire and Sally.
“We met outside ten minutes ago.” Brad smiled at Maureen again and lifted his eyebrows. “Unfortunately, I took her breath away.”
He was flirting back! It was working! Maureen felt a rush of adrenaline. “As you continue to do.” She smiled and offered him her hand. “My name is Mo. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Brad,” he lifted her fingers to his luscious mouth and kissed, making her feel a little swoony, like Blanche Dubois. Maybe that’s where she was getting the southern accent from.
Claire nudged Sally hard in the ribs and Sally jumped out of her trance. She rushed around to the kitchen counter and started carrying plates to the table. “Well, so glad that you’re all here, now.” She shot a pointed look to Claire, who also started grabbing plates and carrying them over. “Let’s all sit down to eat, shall we?”
Brad winked at her and Maureen felt a rush of euphoria. Magnificent Mo was working! A man who looked like Brad had just given her a very intimate wink. Had anyone ever winked at her before? She was doing it! She was being Magnificent Mo, and it was working.
Brad released her hand and moved to Nandita, putting his hand on the small of her back and guiding her to the table. She took a deep breath to steady herself, but then moved quickly. If she was going to keep this up, she would have to sit close to him for the touching part.
She felt Satish put a hand on her elbow.
“We should talk later. Can you stay for a few minutes after dinner to chat?”
Oh. My. God. Everything was working! She was so magnificent that Satish was going to give her back her job!
“Why, of course, Satish.” Freaking Southern accent again. She had to work on that part. “I always have time for you.” She looked him in the eye as the article suggested, laid her hand on his arm to make physical contact, and said, “Especially when you look so handsome this evening.” Pay him a compliment.
“Well, that’s… thank you, that’s… perfect.” He looked at her carefully and then glanced at Claire, who gave him an encouraging smile. He blushed lightly before walking toward the table.
Look at that; she was so good at this that she had even managed to fluster Satish. This was so easy! Body language, eye contact, compliments, listening.
She was Magnificent Mo!
14
An Invitation
Claire watched as everyone settled down at the table. Brad had guided a twinkly-eyed Nandita to a seat on his right, and Maureen, or Mo, had quickly squeezed into the seat to his left. Satish had placed himself in the center of the opposite side, squarely in front of Brad, and Sally and Claire sat on either side of him.
Tod looked out at his friends from his seat at the head of the table and raised his glass. “To good friends and great futures.”
“Cheers!” everyone called out as they lifted their glasses.
Claire watched in horror as Maureen leaned heavily into Brad with her arm, as though she was trying to get her toasting arm wound around his. Brad,
to give himself some space, leaned into Nandita, who giggled. Satish looked up sharply and gave Brad a look that would have made one of his employees melt through the floor in terror. She had a feeling that this evening was not about to go as she and Sally had intended.
“So, Maureen,” Brad said after he had extricated himself from her wandering arm and put down his sloshing wine glass, “tell me about your work. What is it that you do?”
Satish took a breath to speak, but Claire put her hand on his thigh under the table and squeezed.
Maureen turned to face Brad directly and got a lock on his eyes. Brad’s smile faltered as the seconds stretched on while they all waited for her to speak. Wow - it was like she was trying to hypnotize him or something.
“I am between positions at the moment.” She laid a hand on his arm. “Apparently, I have skills and talents, but no one knows how best to use them. I’ll bet you have loads of skills and talents.”
Claire glanced at Sally at the corner of the table, who gave her a look and mouthed, “What the hell?” She shrugged at Sally and turned back to the show.
One thing Claire knew about Maureen was that, once she decided she was going to do something, she threw herself into it, full-hog. There was no middle road for Maureen. It was clear she had decided that, if she couldn't be Magnificent Mo, she was going to do Magnificent Mo. Claire just couldn’t figure out who on Earth had told her this is what confidence looked like.
Brad had turned to Nandita to answer Maureen’s question that wasn’t a question. “I was an investment banker,” he said. “Can you imagine anything more boring? My dad made me go to Princeton and finance was the only thing I could stand, but then I discovered art—right, Tod?”
He turned to Tod, who nodded, his mouth full of rotisserie chicken.
“I have many wealthy clients from my days in banking and now I help them collect art.” He looked down at Nandita, who smiled at him shyly.
“You obviously have a refined and critical eye if you are working with Tod. I mean, he’s such a talented artist.” Maureen leaned sideways and grabbed Tod’s hand to give it a squeeze.
Tod jumped in surprise and started coughing, nearly choking on his mouthful of chicken. Maureen tried to hide a wince as she quickly withdrew her hand from the blade of the knife in Tod's hand that she had overlooked. Tod’s eyes filled with desperation and he looked over at Sally, who just snorted. Nandita didn’t take her eyes off of Brad, who didn’t take his eyes off of Nandita, and Satish glared like a Notre Dame gargoyle.
The evening continued in this vein. Maureen was staring, complimenting, and touching in increasing doses as Brad continued to direct the majority of his attentions to Nandita. Satish sat, glowering like a thundercloud, and the rest of them just exchanged confused and often amused glances.
“Would anyone like coffee?” Claire asked as they oohed and aahed over the Cake Boss cupcakes Sally had picked up that afternoon. “Maureen, would you like to help me in the kitchen?”
Maureen hesitated, but then said, “Sure, Claire, on my way!”
“Having fun?” Claire whispered as they gathered the coffee cups together.
She was flushed and happy. “I’m doing great, right, Claire? I mean, I think he likes me. I know he’s talking to Nandita and everything, but obviously she is too young for him, so he’s just being polite and kind because she's so shy—you know, trying to bring her out of her shell? It’s the way guys used to talk to me.” Wow, that was a fast personality change. “He seems like such a nice guy, don’t you think?”
Claire thought he seemed like an arrogant prick, but Maureen seemed so happy that she was hesitant to burst her bubble. Should she say something? She decided to keep her comments on Brad and Maureen’s strange behavior to herself. It would only embarrass her, and it’s not like she would ever see Brad again.
“He seems very nice, Maureen, and it’s awesome to see you so confident. Maybe he’d like to see a little more of Maureen, though—you know, the one who actually talks about herself sometimes?”
Maureen looked at her, shocked. “No way, Claire. I am not letting that mouse to the table.” She marched off, coffees in hand. Claire followed, shaking her head at Sally across the room.
“Tall, dark, and sweet,” Maureen said as she handed Brad a coffee. Sally rolled her eyes.
“Well, since we all had such a great evening together, I have a proposition.” Brad stirred his coffee and smiled at everyone around the table. “I know it’s a bit last minute, but, hey, there may be some spontaneous folks at the table.” He nudged Nandita with his elbow and she giggled again.
“I have to head down to the Bahamas next week to meet with a few of my clients. One of them has been kind enough to lend me their boat for two weeks, and there’s room for more, if anyone would like to come along. I have a little business to do, but there should be plenty of time for some sailing and other fun.” He looked directly at Nandita, now. “Everyone deserves a break now and then. I think you should come.”
“Nandita has school.” Claire was surprised when she heard Satish’s harsh voice. She realized he had barely spoken the entire evening. She put her hand on his thigh under the table, squeezing his knee.
“I think what Satish means,” Claire said, “is that’s it’s a busy time for Nandita just now. Right, Nandita?”
The young woman blushed and nodded, but surprised everyone with a quiet, determined voice. “It's busy, but I could probably take a break.”
Claire squeezed Satish a little tighter in warning. This was not going well. “You have that big midterm coming up, remember? You might not be able to reschedule that.” She turned to Brad. “That is an incredibly generous invitation, and we would love to come. Unfortunately, Satish and I are both swamped with work, and Nandita only just started school.”
“Well, that’s a shame,” Brad said, winking at Nandita and seemingly closing the subject.
“Sorry, Brad,” Tod stood and started to clear the coffee cups. “You have me working on two important commissions and Sally needs to stick around, as we have a big local event next week at the gallery.”
“I’ll come.” Maureen’s voice sounded unnaturally loud in the room, and Claire tried to catch her eye to give her a subtle tone-it-down motion. Maureen, however, only had eyes for Brad.
He broke his gaze from Nandita and turned in his chair.
“You'll come?” He went to smile, but to Claire, it looked more like a wince. "That's... great!"
Maureen beamed.
Claire watched Satish as he watched Brad. The man was wincing intently at Maureen while, very smoothly, his right hand crept across the white tablecloth to Nandita’s. Claire felt Satish tighten as Brad’s large hand engulfed his little sister’s tiny one.
15
Uh Oh
“What was that all about?” Sally stood with her back against the front door of the loft. Brad had just left through a cloud of air kisses for everyone except Nandita, who got a handshake, which was weird, since all night he seemed to want to get as close to kissing her as possible. Maureen had walked downstairs with him to grab a card from his car.
“Who was that girl?” Sally laughed hysterically and Claire gave her a dirty look.
“Be nice. You were the one who told her to be confident.”
“I told her to be confident, not turn into a freaking southern mental patient.”
“Come on, babe,” Tod called from the kitchen, “she did her best and it worked: Brad’s taking her on a dream vacation. Although, why she’d want to hang around with that arrogant ass, I’m not sure. Did you know he canceled a custom canvas this afternoon? He said his customer had seen the photo and thought it might clash with the rug in their living room. Brad said I should have asked for their color scheme before I started. Ass.”
“I thought he was your friend?” Satish crossed to the kitchen and reached for a scotch. Claire tried to catch his attention—he still had to drive home.
“Nah, just an acquaintance. He w
as an ass at school, as well—always the guy flashing his cash and dropping the names of the folks his daddy hung out with.”
Claire looked at Sally with an open mouth. “You knew this, and you still arranged this setup? What are you trying to do to Maureen?”
“I knew he was a flirt. I thought they would just have a great time, Maureen would get a boost of confidence, and that would be that. Who knew? If I'd known what a jerk he was and if I'd known Maureen would turn into a freak, I wouldn't have suggested it." Sally stopped talking and noticed all eyes were on her. "Hey, why am I getting the short end of the stick here? If Satish hadn't fired her in the first place, I wouldn't have had to think of a way to cheer her up!"
Satish sighed loudly. "For the last time, Sally, I didn't fire her—she quit—and I plan on fixing that tonight. I'm going to explain everything."
“I thought he was nice.” They all turned in surprise as Nandita spoke up for what seemed the first time that evening. She had been sitting on the arm of the sofa, taking it all in. “I probably could go on that trip, Satish. I mean, I could get all of the work for the mid-term and take it with me. It’s a great opportunity.”
“A great opportunity for what, Nandita?” Satish threw the scotch down his throat and Claire crossed the room quickly to grab the bottle before he poured another. He didn’t drink much and two scotches would push him over the edge. “To go on a boat and lie on a beach and flirt? How does that contribute to your education?”
Claire put her hand on his arm. She was doing a lot of soothing and warning this evening. "Nandita, I'm surprised you liked him. Didn't you think he was a bit arrogant?"
Nandita pouted. "No. I thought he was confident, if that's what you mean, and he should be confident. Look at how successful he is! Maureen's so lucky to be going to the Bahamas. You think I'm stupid and naïve, but I know he was really inviting me." Sally and Claire shared a look. Sally had opened a can of worms tonight. Nandita slid off the arm and onto the couch, tucking her knees under her skirt. “I liked him.”
Unstoppable: A Sweet Romance (Jersey Girls Book 2) Page 5