Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
S eeing Hayden and Warren together had thrown Anna. On top of her uncertainty about her choice of dress, her nerves were now completely in tatters and the party had only just started.
Hayden not having a date with him was pretty shocking.
Apart from the first couple of times they’d all hung out after the breakup, he always had a date with him.
It was fairly ironic that the first time he came alone, she had a date.
Maybe only a fake date, but Hayden certainly didn’t know that.
Not after the way Warren had greeted her.
He almost had her convinced he was besotted with her.
“Are you okay?” Warren said close to her ear as they walked through to the ballroom to find their seats for dinner.
“Yes.” She cast him a sidelong glance. “Do I seem really nervous?”
“No,” he said, but she didn’t believe him for a second. “Maybe a little.”
“I’ll be all right. It just takes me a while to settle into social situations.” She took another sip of her bubbly as they reached the table for the seven of them. “I never understand people who are at ease in a crowd.”
“Are you looking at me?” he asked lightly.
“Yes. You’re always so chilled out.”
Hayden had always been a social butterfly too – which had sometimes felt like a good thing. He could carry conversations while she stood beside him and smiled. It also meant she’d socialised more than she’d liked. He was invited to everything and hated to miss out on a party.
“I wouldn’t say it’s my comfort zone,” Warren said. “But I guess it also doesn’t bother me.”
She pulled out a seat, and they sat side by side. “I made the centrepieces,” she told him out of the side of her mouth, while her friends discussed who was sitting where and shuffled to take their seats. “The rest of the decorations in the room, as well.”
“Wow.”
“I wasn’t boasting,” she whispered. “It’s just something you should probably know. I spent a lot of time working on it this week.”
He looked around the room. “I’d boast if I were you. It looks great.”
“Thank you.”
“I tend to think of a florist as selling pretty bunches of flowers. I never really thought about decorating entire event venues.”
“I love events like this,” she said, eyes roaming the room. “It’s a lot of work, but not as much pressure as a wedding.”
“It looks amazing.”
Kylie groaned beside Anna. “Are we still talking about your dress?” she joked.
“No,” Warren told her. “I’ve moved on to raving about how great her decorations are.” He tipped his head at the wreath in the centre of the table.
“They do look great,” Frannie agreed. “I know you get annoyed about your boss messing you about with your hours, but it’s so good that you had the time to do all this.”
“Maybe it’s time you quit and set up your own shop,” Warren suggested, flashing her a knowing look.
“Are you still thinking about that?” Hayden asked, catching her eye across the table.
“Not really.”
“Liar,” Warren said, grinning.
“I’m not lying!” She glared at him with mock outrage.
“I reckon it’s time you stopped kidding yourself and turned your idea into a plan.”
His reference to their previous conversation amused her, and she couldn’t help but grin at him.
“Urgh!” Kylie groaned. “You already have your own private jokes. How sickening!”
“Sorry,” Anna said, laughing at the way Warren continued to stare at her with a silly smirk on his face. Finally, she nudged his leg and told him to stop it.
“You’d be great with your own shop,” he said, his voice turning serious as he reached for her hand, entwining their fingers in her lap.
“Keep telling her that,” Frannie said. “She doesn’t listen to me.”
“What do you do?” Dev asked Warren, redirecting the conversation.
Once he’d talked about his job for a while, he asked what everyone else did for a living.
It kept the attention pleasantly away from Anna. She tried to focus on the conversation, which included a lot of banter, but mostly her mind was on Warren’s hand, which remained resting in her lap until the food arrived.
Only then did he untangle their fingers. As he flashed her a quick smile, she felt a wave of gratitude that he’d agreed to come with her, and that he seemed to know exactly how to put her at ease.
Maybe it was also because Hayden hadn’t brought a date, or maybe it was the alcohol, but as the conversation flowed around her, she found herself relaxing far more quickly than usual.