6. Chapter 6 No One Would Think He’d Ever Date Someone Like Me
Chapter 6: No One Would Think He’d Ever Date Someone Like Me
W ADE
Wade chuckled at Jenny’s story involving Gloria, the drunk guy who hit on her, and the beer she accidentally-on-purpose spilled on him when he wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
Wade was glad things were back to normal. It had been touch-and-go for a few minutes after he brought up the audiobook, but it would have been worse to ignore it and let it build up into more.
Damn. That audiobook. He couldn’t let himself think about it now though, not when he couldn’t do anything about it. For at least the fifteenth time today, he was grateful he’d worn his favorite heavyweight jeans. He chose them because they were comfortable, but the boner he sported non-stop was less noticeable.
They stopped for another break so he could stretch his legs and give Jenny an excuse to use the bathroom. Her confusion at his relaxed driving habits ate at him. Guys could be dicks about that kind of thing, but her anxiety surprised him.
It made him want to find her various exes and have a little chat. He wasn’t a big guy, but he spent more time in the gym than people expected. He’d help them see the error of their ways. Jenny deserved to have someone stand up for her, not stress her out about bodily functions.
This time when they took their break, there were no surprise guests, work issues, or audiobook snafus to delay them. As a result, they were back on the road within fifteen minutes.
After another long silence, this one more comfortable than an hour ago, he felt rather than saw Jenny gear up to ask him something. She squirmed, fidgeted, and wiggled as she worked through it.
While he couldn’t claim a deep understanding of her psyche, the past couple of hours had taught him a lot about her. There was clearly something she wanted to know, but she wasn’t sure how to ask. He liked that about her.
“Spit it out,” he said gently.
“What?” Jenny asked.
“It’s clear you’ve got something on your mind. Instead of torturing yourself with it, just go ahead and ask.”
“Will you tell me about Suzanne?” she blurted about and then gasped at her own audacity.
Wade groaned internally but kept a placid expression on his face. “Of course, I should have expected that.”
“Because women are so nosy?” she sniped.
Wade snorted. “Kyle is the biggest gossip in our office. He’s just not a jerk about it and doesn’t share things that would hurt anybody. And I asked you for help, so it makes sense that you’d want to know what you’re getting into. I just don’t like talking about her.”
Wade tossed her a wry smile before he returned his attention to the road.
“It doesn’t reflect well on me,” he muttered.
“Oh,” she said softly. “I can understand that. My ex isn’t a good person, either. If I’m being fair, he might be an okay person to someone else, I guess, but he was an absolute shit bag of a boyfriend.”
A surprised laugh burst out of him as Jenny continued.
“I don’t like talking about him, either, but since I’m putting you on the spot, I’ll share, too.”
“You don’t have to,” he said. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
Even though he wanted to know more about her and her shitty ex, he didn’t want to damage the tentative friendship they had.
“Thanks. That’s probably why I feel okay sharing with you. You may have noticed that he wasn’t very nice to me,” she said miserably. “When we first started dating, he wasn’t like that. He was very charming, funny, said and did all the right things, took me on fun adventures. More than that, he made me feel special.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Wade saw Jenny look down at her clasped hands as she twisted them in her lap.
“You don’t know what it’s like to be an overweight woman. Everyone is always judging you. Always, no matter what you do. They think the only thing you do is eat. They act like you don’t have feelings or can’t hear the crass things they say or see the nasty expressions they get on their face when they look at you.”
She let out a painful laugh. “I hate cooking, and I love being active. While I love eating, it’s just one of a million things I enjoy. But when you’re fat, no one believes you. Yes, I eat a lot, but I also work out every day. I go to the gym, I do yoga, Pilates, swimming, weightlifting, pretty much anything I enjoy. But most people, including guys I’ve dated, still treat me like food is the only thing I think about.”
Another awkward laugh escaped, and Jenny smoothed down her hair. “I’m not expecting sympathy. I just wanted you to understand why I let someone like Chad treat me that way. He wasn’t like that at first.”
She collected herself, and Wade strained to hear her voice.
“The first few months we dated, it was great. Our, um, intimate life wasn’t much to write home about, but he seemed to like me. He even took me to see his family at Thanksgiving. It was awesome. They’re wonderful people, and we got along very well. I was so happy that I made excuses for what came next.”
“Did he… did he hurt you?” Wade held his breath as he waited for her answer.
“Not physically, no.”
Jenny cleared her throat and wrapped her hands around her center as she gazed out the window.
“But right after we returned from seeing his family at Thanksgiving, he began acting different. He blatantly disrespected me, bullied me, insulted me to my face with fake concern. ‘Are you sure you need to eat that? I don’t want you to get heartburn and need to leave early.’”
She blew out a disgusted breath, but Wade knew something worse was on the horizon.
“You might have seen him at the holiday party,” she said.
Wade felt her gaze on him, so he glanced in her direction. Damn, she was pretty. He was brought back to their conversation when he took in her tense body language.
What did she ask? Oh, yeah. He nodded reluctantly; he saw her ex that night.
“It was humiliating and cruel,” Jenny said to the window. “He hit on Gloria right in front of me and made rude remarks about my weight all night and tried to pass them off as being drunk. Which he was, but he’d never acted like that before.”
Wade wished he could take away the anguish coating her voice.
“I was heartbroken, not because I was in love with him, but I trusted him and let down my guard. Later, he claimed he was stressed about the holidays and work, and I was overreacting. He always had some lame excuse, and he made it seem like I was petty and childish when I didn’t believe him.”
Wade snorted, and Jenny quirked a half-smile that disappeared as soon as it arrived.
“The night of the In-Tech party, he started drinking before we arrived. He didn’t want to go. I wished he had broken up with me then, or that I broke up with him. But if it was just stress and holidays, I didn’t want to lose what we had before. Or what I thought we had.”
Jenny fell silent. Wade wanted to smash something.
He cleared his throat and asked, “What happened?”
“We went to Christmas with his extended family, and everything was great again. Chad was the guy he’d been before. He was so fun and sweet, as if the previous weeks had never happened. But they did, so I didn’t trust it. But I stayed because I’m a fool.”
“He’s the fool, not you.”
She wiped a line of tears from her cheek and raised her chin defiantly.
“The day before New Year’s Eve, he broke up with me. He said he wanted to party all night without the inconvenience of a fat girlfriend who might interfere with him getting drunk and getting laid.”
“What an asshole.” Wade gripped the steering wheel harder.
“No,” she said with a shaky laugh. “That was the only good part. The asshole part was when he told me the reason he dated me in the first place. It was to get his parents off his back, so they’d keep paying his rent.”
“What? How old is he?”
“Thirty-five.”
“What the fuck?”
“Long story short. His family has money. Lots of it. And he blew through his annual allowance on drugs, alcohol, and pretty girls before we met. They insisted he settle down. Apparently, they said if he kept a job for six months and was in a stable relationship with a nice girl, they’d reinstate his money.”
Wade grew tense as he guessed the direction the ugly story would turn.
“When he broke up with me, he told me he picked me because no one would think he’d ever date someone like me unless it was real love. No one would confuse me with one of the skinny girls he actually wanted.”
“That motherfucker.”
“So,” she said with a bright voice, “whatever you have to tell me about Suzanne won’t surprise me.”
“Did you make him pay for using you like that? Did you contact his parents or anything?”
“No, I don’t want anything more to do with him. Tell me about Suzanne. Please tell me I’m not the only fool.”
Wade huffed out a disgruntled breath. He seldom wanted to commit violence against another person, but he would respect Jenny’s wishes.
“He’s the fool, not you. Anyone who can’t see how amazing you are is blind and stupid. As for Suzanne, she and Chad appear to have a lot in common. She picked me because she thought I could be manipulated into doing her work for her and help her get a promotion.”
His derisive laugh filled the cabin of the car.
“Oh, and she tried to convince me to steal financial data.”
“What?” Jenny gasped.
“Yeah, she floated it as an intellectual exercise, but I couldn’t trust her after that and broke it off.”
WADE
Wade checked his rear-view mirror before he exited the highway. He hid his disappointment that they were about to arrive, but he worried that their newer friendship would revert to casual acquaintances once they went their separate ways at the hotel.
After they wound their way through the parking lot, he and Jenny unloaded their luggage and made their way to the concierge desk where they got in line. As they waited for an available staff member, Wade pointed out a sign directing conference attendees to visit the conference services desk after hotel check-in.
“Do you want to drop everything off in our rooms and meet back here after we’ve settled in? We can check-in to the conference together.” he asked.
Jenny gave him a relieved smile. “Yes, that’d be great.”
Before Wade could assure her that they had plenty of time to relax in their rooms after the long drive, it was his turn.
He gave the attendant his name and the company credit card.
“Thank you, Mr. Edison,” the hotel clerk said. “Is your other party checking in now, or should I reserve the other key card for later?”
“You can process both of our rooms at once?” Wade asked.
The attendant furrowed her brow in confusion. “You have a two-room suite.”
Wade’s eyes widened.
“Uh, what?”
The staff member glanced at her computer screen. “There’s a note here that you were originally scheduled for two guests in a single room with two queen beds. Last week, the reservation was updated. Since we’re hosting several conferences this week, we didn’t have any single rooms available, so you were upgraded to a suite. Is there a problem?”
“I’m not sure. Give me a minute to confer with my colleague.”
Wade turned around and gestured for Jenny’s attention. She pulled her luggage up to the desk and smiled at him. Wade hoped she would hold on to her smile.
“Everything good?” she asked.
“It turns out we have a shared suite. When Robert changed the reservation, they didn’t have any single rooms left. Obviously, you and I can’t share a room the way Kyle and I planned, but I had no idea we’d be sharing the same suite.”
Jenny’s face went slack, and Wade floundered. He was quick on his feet, but he didn’t know how to fix this. The hotel employee stepped into the breach.
“Each bedroom is separate with its own en-suite bathroom with garden tubs. Both bedrooms and bathrooms have locking knobs. The bedrooms are on either side of a large communal space with a seating area and a dining area.” The staffer looked between them. “It’s quite spacious at 1000 square feet.”
“And there are no other rooms?” Wade confirmed.
“We are fully booked, sir.”
Jenny forced a tremulous smile. “I’m sure it will be fine.”
“I had no idea, or I’d have tried to find an alternative,” he assured her.
“It sounds like this is our best option. Like I said, I’m sure it will be fine. At least we’re not sharing a room like you and Kyle were supposed to.” She laughed, but it sounded forced rather than its usual melody.
Wade agonized at the waver in her voice. He would do everything in his power to ensure she felt safe in their suite. Why didn’t Robert warn them about this?
“Are we checking in, then?” the hotel staff member asked.
Jenny and Wade looked at each other again and nodded.
“Yes,” Wade said once he found his voice. “We’re checking in. To our suite.”
Jenny handed over her ID, and the employee processed their check-in.
To his surprise, Jenny leaned over and spoke quietly. “The good news is that I’ll be able to protect you from Suzanne a little more easily if we’re sharing a suite.”
Wade barked out a surprised laugh. “That’s true. I hadn’t even thought of that.”
How he wished they were here under different circumstances. The hotel clerk got his attention again and handed back their IDs. She provided a practiced litany of information about the hotel as she made their key cards.
“The hotel has the usual full-service amenities: a fitness center; a spa; 24-hour room service; a full-service restaurant open from 5 am to 1 am; and the bar is open until 3 am. Our business center is open 24 hours a day. It’s located on the conference center floor, floor three.”
She handed out their hotel key card holders with their key cards as she spoke.
“Wi-Fi is included with your registration, and the Wi-Fi password is with your key card. The indoor pool is closed today for cleaning but will be available tomorrow. The hotel hosts a complimentary reception every evening at 6 pm, and freshly baked muffins, iced tea, and lemonade are available all day.”
She gestured behind them, and both Wade and Jenny dutifully looked at the muffin and lemonade display.
“When you’re ready to check-out, you can do that from any of the televisions in your suite, and you’re welcome to leave the key card in the room,” she continued. “Do you have any questions?”
Both Wade and Jenny shook their heads.
“I hope you enjoy your suite and have a wonderful stay. You’re on the eleventh floor, and you can reach it from the bank of elevators to the left of the muffins.”
Wade thought she winked at them, but that didn’t make any sense. He followed Jenny to the elevators.
His best bet was to give Jenny as much space as he could. She was already anxious about the conference, and now she’d have to worry about her personal safety. Wade knew he wasn’t a creep and would never press his attention where it was unwanted, but she had no way of knowing that.
His mind filled with a million different ways he would have preferred to share sleeping quarters with Jenny, but he pushed those thoughts away. He needed to curtail any romantic or erotic thoughts he had about her until they left.
Jenny spoke first as they waited for the elevator.
“I guess it’ll be easy to coordinate our schedules,” she told him as a group of people stepped out of the elevator.
“That’s one of the things I like best about you,” he said. “You always choose to see the bright side of difficult situations.”
“There you are!” a voice said from behind them. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
Wade turned around, and his stomach dropped as Suzanne bounded up to them with enthusiasm.
“Where are you two headed off to?” Suzanne asked with a coy smile.
“Our room,” Jenny answered with a smile of her own.
When Jenny turned to look at Wade, her eyes softened, and her smile grew. Wade’s heart lurched in his chest. How was he supposed to keep his distance from this amazing woman while sharing a suite with her?
“The two of you are sharing a room at a work conference. Oh, my. Have things gotten so bad at In-Tech since I left that you can’t get your own rooms?”
Jenny’s nostrils flared, but her smile widened. “Oh, no, things are great, professionally and personally. It was lovely to see you again, but we need a little time to… rest up. I’m sure you understand. We’ll see you around.”
Wade allowed Jenny to shepherd him onto the elevator. Suzanne looked dumbfounded as the elevator doors closed in front of them.