Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
“Thanks for stopping by,” Eden said as she led Randi to her bedroom.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m tired.” Randi plopped down on Eden’s bed.
“What? You always have boundless energy once you leave work.” Eden opened her closet and began to look at the clothes neatly hanging, divided into tops, pants, and skirts.
“Not today. I’ve crammed so much information into my head all I can see are books, books, and more books.”
Eden chuckled and turned to look at her friend. “Will you have a preliminary pitch ready for tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I have some ideas of what I want to present. You’ll be there, right?”
Eden furrowed her brow and tilted her head. “I’m not usually in on creative meetings.”
“But I need you there. You know what will give us the biggest returns and I want to stress that in the beginning.”
Eden shrugged. “Okay. I’ll be there and if nothing else, you’ll see my smiling face full of encouragement.”
Randi chuckled and leaned back against the pillows as Letty suddenly jumped up on the bed and crawled into her lap. “Well hello, pretty girl.”
Eden looked on as Randi scratched behind Letty’s ears. Her heart melted as she could hear Letty purring from across the room.
“It’s only been a couple of days, but I have to admit that it's been nice knowing you’re across the hall,” Randi said, looking over at Eden.
“I’m telling you, working together would be fun.”
“I don’t doubt that.” Randi sighed. “I just hope it will be good for the company.”
“You do your job and I’ll do mine. Everything else will take care of itself.”
Randi nodded. “Okay, what are you wearing for this hot first date?”
“Mmm, I don’t see it as hot. It’s just a first date.”
“That will depend on what you’re wearing.”
Eden smirked and turned back to her closet. “We’ll see. I thought about wearing this cute little dress with a jean jacket,” she said, holding the dress in front of her.
“Hmm, I don’t know. It’s a bar. I’m thinking jeans.”
Eden turned back around and shimmied out of her work pants, hanging them on an empty hangar. She took a pair of jeans out and slipped into them. “I like this top,” she said, turning around to show Randi.
“Oh, I like that one, too.” Randi nodded. “You can wear it off one shoulder or not.”
“That’s what I was thinking. The vee neck shows a little cleavage, but not too much. What about these jeans?”
Randi winced. “Not my favorite. What about the lighter colored pair with the straight legs? Letty agrees.”
Eden took the jeans she was wearing off and found the pair Randi was referring to. She probably knew Eden’s clothes better than she did. Randi was taller than Eden so they didn’t share pants, but there were times when they’d worn each other’s tops depending on where they were going.
Eden stepped into the jeans and zipped them up. She turned towards the mirror standing in the corner of her room. “What do you think?”
“Those are the ones,” Randi replied with a knowing smile.
“You think?” Eden asked, still looking in the mirror. She met Randi’s gaze in her reflection in the mirror and saw she had one brow raised.
“Turn around.”
Eden did as she was told.
“Now look over your shoulder,” Randi instructed.
Eden did and a smile grew on her face. “These do make my ass look good.”
Randi chuckled. “Yeah, they do. But…”
“But what?” Eden turned back around.
“Are you sure you should show her all of that on this first date? She may not be able to handle it and you’re not sure you like her like that just yet.”
Eden smirked. “Let’s talk about what you’re going to wear.”
“Me? It’s not about me.”
“Sure it is. This is your chance to impress Cari. Oh, I know,” Eden said excitedly. “Wear those wide-legged jeans with a sleeveless top tomorrow night then wear your navy suit with the skirt for the presentation the next day.”
Randi tilted her head and raised her brows in question.
Eden scoffed. “You’ll show her your casual side then hit her with your gorgeous no-nonsense executive look the next day. She’ll be eating out of your hand.”
Randi laughed. “You’ve got it all figured out, don’t you?”
“Just like you do about me.”
Randi threw a small pillow at Eden and smirked. “Kelly is going to be the luckiest person in the bar.”
Eden picked up the pillow and stared at Randi. “Maybe Cari is going to be the luckiest woman in the bar.”
“Cari and I are not going on a date.”
Eden shrugged. “Maybe not, but it could happen someday.”
“I thought you wanted me to work with you. If I stay then I really shouldn’t date my first client. Should I?”
Eden chuckled. “When did something like that ever stop you?”
Randi gasped and held her hand over her heart. “You make me sound unprofessional.”
Eden raised her brows, pursed her lips, and put one hand on her hip.
“That only happened one time and I quit right after our first date,” Randi said defensively.
“Yeah, remind me, did you get to the second date?” Eden threw the pillow back at Randi and Letty jumped up and ran out of the room.
“Careful! You spooked Letty.” Randi smirked. “I left that company with my integrity somewhat tarnished but still intact.”
Eden wrinkled her nose. “She wasn’t right for you anyway.”
“Mmhmm. And Cari DeWare is?”
“I don’t know yet. We’ll see.”
Randi sighed. “How many times do I have to say it, this is about YOU!”
“But it could be about you, TOO!” Eden chuckled.
Randi shook her head.
“You know,” Eden said, “this reminds me of a scene in Cari’s latest book. The friends to lovers one where they help each other choose outfits. We do that all the time.”
“We do.”
Eden tilted her head. “I’ve been thinking about what you said about sparks.”
Randi raised her brows. “What did I say?”
Eden sat down on the foot of the bed. “You said that sometimes it may take a while before you feel them.”
“Oh, yeah.” Randi paused. “This is different though. One of the friends in the book had been secretly in love with the other one for a long time.”
Eden nodded and stared at Randi. They held each other’s gaze for a moment.
Randi cleared her throat. “I’ve given you my expert opinion on Eden Andrew’s first date look so are you going to feed me dinner or make me get something on my way home?”
Eden could see something in Randi’s eyes, but knew the moment had passed. She smiled. “Come on, let’s order out. My treat for your expert opinion.”
Randi smiled at Eden as she got into her car.
She wasn’t sure going out the night before a big presentation was a good idea, but here she was.
Even though she was meeting who she hoped was her client-to-be, being there for Eden was her chief intention.
Thinking back over the years, she and Eden had done this many times for each other.
It was one thing to text someone to get you away from an uncomfortable situation, but they’d found being present in person was even better.
“I’m glad to see you took my suggestion on what to wear tonight,” Eden said, looking Randi up and down.
Randi had worn the jeans Eden mentioned the other night when they were choosing her outfit. She’d paired it with a sleeveless top and wore a light sweater over it.
“Be sure and take the sweater off once you’re settled at a table,” Eden said.
Randi looked over at. “Why?”
“Because you have nice arms,” Eden replied. “The way your shoulders sweep down to your upper arms shows off your muscles. It’s sexy.”
Randi scoffed. “Why would I want to look sexy? I’m there for you in case you don’t like Kelly or her friends.”
Eden sighed. “I know Cari DeWare is off limits, but did you ever think there will be other women there? What if I like Kelly and her friends? Maybe you’ll like them, too.” She gasped. “Oh, that could be fun!”
“Uh, no,” Randi said. “We are not dating friends of friends.”
“Come on, you know that’s how it happens sometimes.”
“Not to us.”
Eden groaned. “Okay, okay. Well, thanks for giving me a ride. Kelly apologized for not picking me up, but I was fine meeting her there this first time.”
“You’re welcome. I was going to the same place anyway,” Randi teased, looking over at Eden with a grin.
Eden chuckled. “I know the last two days have been really busy for you, but I enjoyed sitting in on your pitches and watching your process.”
“You gave me several great ideas that found their way into the presentation. That’s one reason I wanted you there.”
“I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I mean, I knew you would dazzle with your creative genius because you do that to me all the time.”
“I do?”
“Sure. You’re always running ideas by me and it often amazes me.”
“Uh, I just thought you were being nice because I’m your best friend.”
Eden laughed. “Well, there was that time you wanted to use a horse in that ad.”
Randi laughed along with her. “Yeah, that wasn’t my best idea, but in my defense animal ads were in at the time.”
“I know you said you change jobs so often because you lose the excitement,” Eden said. “I understand that better now.”
Randi glanced over at Eden in surprise. She might be Randi’s biggest supporter, but she had often admonished her for not staying with a job long enough to see if her inspiration might return. “Really?”
“Yeah. My job is a lot of the same thing every day, but I like that. You know me, I love a schedule and structure. However…”
“Yes?”
“It was thrilling working together. I haven’t felt like that in a long time.”
Randi smiled and felt a jolt of happiness in her heart. “You mean you don’t get a thrill when accounts balance and revenues are more than expenses?”
Eden raised her brows. “Don’t knock a healthy bottom line until you’ve seen it.”
Randi laughed as she turned into the parking lot of the bar. “Only you could make business sound sexy.”
As they walked up to the door Randi said, “Once you see Kelly, I’ll find a table and you can forget I’m even there, unless you need me.”
“What?” Eden stopped and stared at her. “I’m not going to forget you. The reason you’re here is because of me.”
“Yeah, but Kelly doesn’t know that. I don’t want her to think I’m hanging around. It might be awkward.”
“Randi, you’re meeting someone else. Let’s just see how it goes.”
Randi sighed and nodded. She wanted Eden to have a good time and she was glad to be there for her, but it always made her uncomfortable walking into a new space and at the same time meeting someone new.
Randi held the door open and they walked inside the bar.
“Ride or die,” Eden said.
“Uh, we’re not going to die and of course I’ll give you a ride home, if you want,” Randi replied.
She could tell Eden was nervous and they always took care of each other above all else.
They stood inside the door and saw a long bar on the right with several tables to their left. Beyond the bar was a step-down into a larger space with more tables and a small stage in the corner.
“I see Kelly down there with her back to us,” Eden said.
Randi looked to her left and saw an empty table against the wall. “I’ll be over here. I can watch for Cari and maybe Kelly won’t see me. Have a good time.”
Eden gave her a hopeful and excited look as she turned around and walked towards the back of the space.
Randi made her way over to the empty table and saw Kelly turn around when Eden took the steps down to where she was standing next to a large table. She could see the delight on Kelly’s face when she saw Eden. Randi knew what it felt like to see one of Eden’s smiles and understood Kelly’s reaction.
She didn’t have to wait long until Cari stepped into the bar. Randi raised her hand and gave her a little wave.