OPERATION: DATE ESCAPE Page 11

“Sorry to keep you two waiting,” her mother said as she stepped from the store, jewelry store bag in hand.

  Kelsie eyed the bag. “What did you buy?”

  “I couldn’t decide between a pair of sterling silver hoops I liked and a pair of sterling silver beaded drop earrings.” Her mother held up the bag with a smile. “So I bought both.”

  Of course, she did. Her mother collected jewelry like Nanci collected men and vibrators. And what did she collect? Bad dates. Lucky her.

  “Is anyone else hungry?” Nanci asked a few stores later.

  “As long as there’s coffee, I’m game,” Kelsie replied as they made their way toward the food court.

  “I could use a little something,” her mother said.

  Nanci glanced around the food court. “The pizza’s calling out to me.”

  “It does smell pretty good,” Kelsie had to agree, more than a little tempted by the smell of fresh-out-of-the-oven pizza that lingered in the air around them. “But I just had pizza for lunch yesterday, so I think I’ll give Chinese a try today. Maybe some chicken teriyaki.”

  “I’m going to have a strawberry and banana fruit smoothie,” her mother said. “Can I get anyone else one while I’m there?”

  “No thanks,” Nanci said. “Love them, but not with pizza.”

  Kelsie shook her head. “I’m going to grab a Diet Coke. Thanks.”

  Her mother set off across the food court to the smoothie stand while Kelsie and Nanci went to get in line for their food.

  Deli tray in hand, Kelsie turned and searched the crowded lunch area for Nanci and her mother. She spotted them in the center of the food court, waving her over.

  “How did you manage to find a table?” she asked as she walked up to them. The place was packed.

  “A little bit of luck and a whole lot of speed,” Nanci told her with a grin.

  “Speed?”

  “Yeah, I was faster than the old lady with the walker I was racing to the table against.”

  “You didn’t,” Kelsie gasped.

  “No,” Nanci said, laughing. “But I did break into a run for the table when I saw the people before us get up to leave. Nearly lost my pizza slice in the process.”

  Kelsie laughed. Only Nanci.

  “How’s the smoothie?” she asked her mother as she settled onto the chair next to her.

  Her mother moaned softly. “Mmm, very good. And worth every empty calorie.”

  Kelsie set her tray on the table and then placed her purchases on the floor between her feet. The smell of the chicken teriyaki had her mouth watering.

  The three of them went through the remainder of the sales flyers as they ate, deciding on what stores the wanted to stop in before heading home.

  “Is that a fortune cookie?” Nanci asked between chews, pointing to the wrapped cookie next to Kelsie’s plate.

  Kelsie nodded.

  “I love those things. I can’t wait to see what it has to say about you. Open it,” her friend said excitedly.

  Your day will be filled with torturous shopping? Kelsie resisted the urge to voice that thought aloud. They had her best interest at heart. Picking up the tiny package, she ripped it open and pulled the fortune cookie free of its wrapper. Then she cracked it open.

  “What does it say?” her mother asked anxiously. “That you’re going to have a long life? Maybe even come into an unexpected windfall? Better yet, you’re going to have tons of children?”

  Kelsie rolled her eyes. Only her mother would wish for the fortune to be ‘tons of children’. How a cookie was supposed to be able to predict one’s future was beyond her. Pulling the sliver of paper tucked inside the broken cookie free, she skimmed over the words printed across it in disbelief.

  “No way,” she muttered, shaking her head. If she hadn’t picked up the order herself, she would have thought her mother or Nanci had done this as a joke.

  “Kelsie?” her mother said, lowering her slice of pizza back down onto the red and white checked paper plate it had come on. “What is it?”

  She quickly crumpled up the sliver of paper. “It’s nothing. Just a bunch of nonsense.”

  “Come on,” Nanci urged. “Nonsense is fun. Read your fortune to us.”

  “I’d rather not.”

  Her friend laughed. “Maybe I have you confused with someone else, but I could have sworn I’ve heard you say that you don’t believe in fortunes.”

  “I don’t.”

  “So what’s the big deal then? Read it to us.”

  “Fine,” she said with a resigned sigh. “But this is stupid.” She unfolded her fortune and read, “Romance will soon ignite in your life.” Below which were six lucky numbers.

  “Ignite!” Nanci repeated with a squeal of delight, drawing several looks their way.

  “Will you keep it down?” Kelsie said with a groan.

  “As in someone’s about to light your fire,” her friend added, thankfully lowering her voice for that announcement. “And who better to do that than a man who knows all about fires. A man like Cole Maxwell.”

  “That’s the perfect fortune for you,” her mother said with a smile.

  “Anyone could have gotten this fortune cookie,” Kelsie told them. “It’s a random thing.”

  “No, it’s fate,” Nanci corrected. “And that particular fortune cookie was fated to be yours.”

  “It doesn’t mean anything,” Kelsie argued.

  Ignoring her, her mother continued with a pleased-as-punch smile, “I guess it’s a good thing we hit Victoria’s Secret. Sounds like those bra and panties are going to come in handy this weekend.”

  “Think about it, Kelsie,” Nanci said as she reached for her drink. “If Cole’s kiss got you as hot as you say it did, imagine what the guy’s going to be like in bed.”

  Her mother perked up like a cat did when a can opener started to run. “Kiss? No one mentioned anything to me about any kiss.”

  “It was nothing,” Kelsie lied, but the memory of it alone had warmth oozing through her. “And you two can stop looking at me that way. I’m not going to bed with Cole.” Her gaze dropped down to the sliver of paper in her hand.

  Or was she?

  *

  Kelsie groaned as she eyed the mountain of empty pink hangars and discarded clothes that were strewn across the top of her bed. Her mother, a certified neat freak when it came to clothes, would have had a nervous breakdown if she saw the mess her daughter had made. On second thought, she would probably be thrilled by the fact Kelsie had cared enough to worry about wearing just the right thing on her date with Cole.

  She glanced around with a groan. Every inch of her usually tidy bedroom had suffered the effects of her pre-date dressing frenzy. Purses, from clutches to shoulder bags, were scattered across her dresser and heels of every height and color littered the floor around the bed like the end of a really big shoe sale at a department store. The only thing missing were the boxes and tissue paper.

  Nothing she had tried on seemed quite right for her date with Cole. It was either too businesslike, and she wasn’t about to close any deals with Cole that night, too laid-back, and she wasn’t about to lay anywhere on this date, or too sexy, and sexy was definitely out of the question. That is, with the exception of the lingerie she was wearing, something she had no intention of letting her hunky date see her in.

  Maybe if she had the body to show them off…

  She quickly shoved that thought aside. Cole Maxwell was too perfect. She couldn’t allow herself to lose sight of that. No matter how tempting it was to give in to her attraction to him.

  She glanced at her reflection in the dresser mirror with a frown. Maybe she ought to have taken her mother’s advice and gotten a boob job. At least then she wouldn’t have to worry about what she chose to wear on her date. Cole would be too busy staring at her medically enhanced D cups to really care.

  But D cups were way out of her league. She was too petite to carry anything around that size. Not without becoming a walking circus attr
action.

  “Good things come in small packages,” she said, mimicking her mother. It was a phrase Melinda Collins had used often during Kelsie’s teen years. When all of her friends’ breasts were straining at the buttons of their too small, midriff baring tops and she was scarcely out of her training bra. Thank God she’d made it to a small ‘B’.

  It was only after her divorce that her mother started rethinking the ‘small package’ theory. No doubt, her mother’s change in how she looked at her daughter’s lesser endowments was brought about by Kelsie’s own whining. The woman Kyle had been screwing around with behind her back had centerfold-sized boobs and left Kelsie feeling like her failed marriage was her fault. That her less than womanly attributes had Kyle looking elsewhere.

  The phone rang, drawing her from her thoughts.

  “Not again,” she muttered with an eye roll. Her mother had already called three times that day to make sure she wasn’t thinking about backing out of her date.

  Sighing, she crossed the room to answer it, stepping over scattered heels as she went. A sudden thought gave her pause. What if it wasn’t her mother at all, but Cole calling to say something had come up and he needed to cancel their date? Or, even worse, what if he was calling to tell her that he was coming early?

  Oh, that would be great. She was nowhere near ready to go out. And she certainly couldn’t greet him dressed as she was. Not in only her newly purchased Victoria’s Secret bra and panty set.

  Stepping up to the nightstand, she glanced down at the caller ID. Nanci’s cell phone flashed across the screen. She grabbed for the cordless, bringing it up to her ear. “Hey.”

  “Hey back at you. I was just calling to see how things are going.”

  She knew better. She could read her friend like a book. Like her mother, Nanci was calling to make sure she hadn’t gotten cold feet and backed out of her date with Cole. As if anything about her could be cold when Cole Maxwell was involved.

  “Admit it, Nanci. My mother asked you to check up on me, didn’t she?”

  “Now why would you think…? Oh, hell. Yes, I admit your mother suggested I call to see how things are going with you when she called me five minutes ago.”

  At least, her mother was bothering someone else beside her. She’d already had to deal with her mother’s pre-date pep talk. One she had come to know by heart. Show a lot of leg. Wear something sexy that accentuates your figure. And smile a lot. Her mother obviously had her confused with one of Hugh Hefner’s Playboy bunnies. Something she was not.

  “The date’s still on if that’s what you two are worried about.”

  “Don’t be silly. We’re not worried,” her friend replied, but she didn’t sound very confident. “I mean what woman in her right mind would cancel a dinner date with a hottie like Cole Maxwell?”

  Kelsie made her way around the bed. If she were in her right mind, she would.

  “So are you really going to do it?” Nanci asked.

  “Do what?” she asked as she stepped over to the dresser. Knowing her friend, ‘do it’ could have a whole lot of connotations to it. Phone perched between her cheek and shoulder, she began gathering up all her discarded purses.

  “You know,” Nanci said. “Wear that lace thong you bought at Victoria’s Secret.”

  “If you’re referring to this thing I have hiked halfway up my butt crack, then yes, I’m wearing it.”

  “Ooh, I didn’t think you’d do it. The calendar stud is going to love it!”

  She carried the armful of purses back into the walk-in closet and returned them to their storage box. “Well, that would make one of us.”

  “Oh, come on. They’re not that bad. And guys love them.”

  “Then let the men wear them.”

  “Actually, there was this one guy I dated who was fascinated by my underwear. Not the ones on me, but the ones in my drawer. It seems he was into wearing women’s thongs.”

  “Eeew,” Kelsie said with a shudder.

  “My thoughts exactly. Needless to say, I dumped his ass. I mean I don’t mind sharing my dessert with a guy. Or even my deodorant. But my panties are off limits.”

  “I don’t think I have to worry about Cole wanting to wear my thong.”

  “Just wanting to get into it?”

  “He can want all he wants. But he isn’t getting in or even getting a peek at my underwear.” Of course, he might if she didn’t hurry up and decide on something to wear on their date.

  “You never know,” Nanci argued with a giggle. “Just wait until you’re all alone with Mr. Nice Ass in Tight Jeans and see if you’re not dying to have the guy peel all your clothes off.”

  Kelsie frowned. She was already dying to have him peel her clothes off. And it was all Cole’s fault for looking at her the way he did. For kissing her the way he had.

  Help!

  “I hate to cut you off,” she told her friend, “but I really need to finish getting ready.”

  “Okay. Just promise me you aren’t going to wear that awful ‘nun’ blouse you bought last month.” Nanci clicked her tongue. “Can you say major fashion faux pa?”

  She was referring to the white silk blouse Kelsie had picked up from the clearance rack a few weeks before. According to Nanci, it ranked right up there with a nun’s habit because it was virginal white and didn’t show off any cleavage. As if she had that much to show.

  “I’m not,” she assured her. Although it was lying in the pile of things she’d already tried on. Red bra, white blouse, not a good combination.

  “Thank God. Oh, and before I let you go, I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor.”

  “Sure.”

  “Do you think you and Cole could swing by the office and pick up a bag I left on the counter by the phone when I went in last night to confirm patients for Monday? I’d go myself, but John picked up my car this morning to work on the transmission and I’m without back up wheels.”

  John was an auto-mechanic from Reynoldsburg Nanci used to date. Kelsie glanced at the clock. Cole was going to be there in twenty minutes. She had to get a move on.

  “Can’t you pick it up tonight when you and Joe go out?”

  “I would, but we’re headed the other way. And it’s not something I want to leave lying around for anyone to find. But if it’s too much trouble…”

  She wasn’t even going to ask. Knowing Nanci, it was probably sexually oriented pictures of her and one of her many boyfriends. Maybe even a home video.

  “I’ll do it,” she replied as she grabbed up a pair of indigo blue bootleg jeans from the bed.

  “Thanks. Have fun tonight and call me tomorrow. I want all the juicy details.”

  “Bye, Nanci.” She hung up and returned the phone to its cradle. Nanci was going to be sorely disappointed because there wasn’t going to be anything juicy to tell about her date with Cole. Not if she could help it.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Cole finished the last of the coffee he’d been drinking and then carried the emptied cup over to the sink. It was his third cup within an hour. He figured he was going to need all the caffeine he could get to keep up with Kelsie. Especially, if she decided to run during their date.

  He made his way out to the living room to turn off the television. Then he checked his watch again. Just a little bit longer…

  His cell phone rang and Cole debated answering it. Odds were pretty high that it was Kelsie calling to cancel their date. One she hadn’t wanted to go out on to begin with.

  Relief swept through him when he saw Joe’s number on the screen. He hit Talk and brought the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

  “Hey, buddy. You still at home?”

  “Getting ready to leave.”

  “What time’s your big date with Kelsie?”

  Cole smiled into the phone. “Six.”

  “As in ten minutes ago?” his friend exclaimed. “What the hell are you still doing home?”

  “Talking to you.”

  “You know what I mean. Why aren’t y
ou with Kelsie? Oh, man. She backed out of your date. Didn’t she? Nanci was afraid she’d do that.”

  “She didn’t back out of anything,” Cole said in her defense. At least, not yet she hadn’t.

  “I don’t understand,” his friend said.

  “I’m trying to prove to her that I’m not as perfect as she thinks I am. And being on time for our date would have been the ‘perfect’ thing for me to do. Therefore, I’m going to be late.”

  Joe’s laughter rumbled out of the receiver. “Good point, my man. I can’t say that I would have ever have thought of doing that, but it makes sense.”

  “You wouldn’t have to had to think of doing something like this. Nanci wants to go out with you.”

  “I suppose you have a point.”

  “So where did you two decide to go for your date?”

  “We’re going to hit Charlie’s for drinks and appetizers.”

  “Good luck tonight.”

  “Thanks. I have a feeling I’m going to need it.”

  “Just keep her away from second story windows and you’ll be fine.”

  “You’re a real comedian, Joe.”

  “Sorry. Couldn’t resist.”

  “Catch you later.”

  “Not if things go the way I hope they will tonight. This man’s going to be busy getting lucky with one sexy female. You’re on your own.”

  Cole snapped his phone shut with a grin. If Kelsie managed to slip away from their date as she was known to do, he would be on his own. Literally.

  *

  Kelsie glanced at her watch for about the hundredth time since she’d started getting ready for her date with Cole. Only this time she wasn’t counting down the minutes until he arrived. She was counting down the minutes he was late.

  To think that she’d been racing around her apartment like a madwoman, determined to be ready when he arrived. Now here he was twenty-five minutes late. Maybe it wasn’t her backing out of the date that her mother and Nanci should have been worried about. It was Cole doing so.

  Despite all her protests and conflicting emotions when it came to going out with him, now that she’d been stood up Kelsie couldn’t suppress her disappointment.

  She plopped down onto the edge of the overstuffed sofa with a sigh. Why had Cole gone through all the trouble of blackmailing her to go out with him if he had no real intention of taking her out? Maybe he’d finally realized they weren’t compatible. Whatever the reason, she was off the hook. It was what she’d wanted, wasn’t it?