CHAPTER TWENTY
Nadine
“What in the world?” I stared down at the number of pieces of silverware and dishes in front of me.
Lonnie Maitland, who’d been working with me over the past weeks on my diction, the way I walked, the way I answered questions, how I chewed my food, basically everything etiquette related, had set up a faux place setting in my condo.
“Why would anyone need so many damn forks?”
“My dear, you’re asking the wrong question. You should ask what each fork is for, not why there are so many.”
I pasted on a smile and fought the urge to roll my eyes. Lord. Lonnie Maitland was a lot to take. I’d thought Maybelle Dickens was kind of snobby, but she had nothing on Lonnie Maitland.
This lady had made a living based on teaching other people how to be snobby.
Lonnie went over and over the place settings, quizzing me relentlessly over what everything was for. After lunch, which I’d been too nervous to eat much of, she’d gone over multiple social scenarios with me.
“And what would you say to someone who told you that you were wearing the wrong color of shoes after Labor Day?”
“That’s rude, so I…”
“It is rude, dear, but we must be prepared for every kind of person in society. You must rise above them. What would you say?”
I sighed. I knew the answer she wanted even if I thought it was wrong. “I’d thank them for their opinion and compliment them on their shade of lipstick or something.”
“Exactly,” she smiled at me.
“And what if you saw an ex-boyfriend on a date with another woman?”
“I’d smile and ask how they were doing.”
She beamed. Lord. If only she knew I’d almost had experience with that one. Thank goodness Carmen had rescued me from Mark and Jessica’s wedding before I’d had to pretend to be okay in front of half the town of Puckins.
The entire time she ran through these little scenarios she corrected my grammar.
It was super fun.
By the time she left, she’d declared me ready for my ultimate test in dining etiquette. I wasn’t looking forward to whatever that was, but I was looking forward to hopefully never seeing her again.
Then she’d said I had a long way to go in other etiquette areas, and I’d wanted to cry.
After I told her goodbye, I sunk down onto the couch and stared at the TV without turning it on.
My lord, had it already been over two months since the auction?
It had gone by fast, and I’d been crazy busy.
I’d been schooled, differently, in attire, hair, and makeup.
I’d started driving lessons. I’d had a ridiculous number of etiquette lessons, and I had started working towards getting my real estate license.
On top of that, I was having constant sex with a beautiful man who I meant almost nothing to.
I started to rearrange the words so that I wouldn’t dangle my preposition as Lonnie would have said, but then I stopped myself.
No one actually spoke that way in real life.
Maybe they did in England or something, but they hadn’t in Puckins, and I didn’t think they did in West Bay, either. At least not in normal conversation.
Sometimes I thought it would have been easier if I’d stayed in Puckins and just ended up stripping at the nasty run-down club in shitty Wilkins.
But then I thought of Mama. I thought of how tired she always was, how trapped by circumstances she was, and I felt guilty for even thinking staying in Puckins would have been easier.
Then I heard the beep of Reynolds using his key card in the door.
Fuck! I jumped up and looked at myself in the mirror.
I looked like a mess. I definitely needed a shower.
I’d put makeup on and done my hair first thing this morning.
But that had been hours ago now. I didn’t look like some beautiful mistress with nothing to do but wait until my sugar daddy came over to fuck me.
And I was tired.
He must’ve seen it on my face.
“Nadine, what’s wrong?” He rushed over.
“Oh, nothing. Not really.” I forced a smile even though, to my horror, tears had sprung to my eyes.
“Hey, hey,” he wrapped me in his muscular arms and hugged me close. He smelled so good, like the ocean mixed with a forest. I didn’t know what cologne he wore, but I was a big fan. “What’s going on? Why do you look like you’re about to cry?”
I sighed. It was easier talking to him when I wasn’t looking at him.
My face was hidden in his strong chest. I hoped I wouldn’t get any makeup on his shirt.
“It’s just been so much the past few weeks.
Carmen has me busy from sunup to sundown and then you come home, and I’m already tired, and I’m afraid I don’t look pretty enough and… ”
“Nadine,” he soothed, as his big hand rubbed circles on my back.
“You always look pretty enough. I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
I worried that you weren’t comfortable around me.
Every time I come over, you’re all fixed up.
It’s okay to just be yourself some. You know that, right?
” He nuzzled his face against my throat.
“Plus, I think you’re just as pretty without makeup as you are with it. ”
I shook my head, and he pulled back to look at me. He held onto my arms and stared back and forth between my eyes. “You don’t think so? Why not?”
I laughed. “You paid three million dollars, and you’re buying me all this stuff.
Everyone says I’m supposed to look perfect all the time, but then they have me on the go all day long.
None of the other Cinnamon Girls are doing anything.
They’re lying around their condos and watching trash TV or working out in the gym downstairs. But not me.”
He frowned and wiped one of my tears away with his finger. “What do they have you doing?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing.” I smiled and wiped my tears away. “I’m going to go get a shower… I mean take a shower,” I corrected, hearing Lonnie Maitland’s voice in my brain.
He stared after me, bemused, but let me go.
I let loose and cried once I was sure the sound of the exhaust fan and the water would drown out my sobs. I ended up sitting on the floor of the shower and letting the water run over me like rain.
After a while, I felt better. I got up and finished washing before getting out. Sometimes, you just needed a good cry. I dried my hair and applied my makeup.
When I walked into the bedroom, Reynolds was there, sitting on an upholstered sofa in the sitting area that looked too girly for him. He still looked concerned.
“Why don’t we go out to eat tonight?” he asked.
My heart leaped in my chest. “Are you serious?” It would be nice to be in public with him. The only place the two of us were ever together was in the condo.
He nodded. “I think we’ve both had less than stellar days. Let’s go out and make ourselves feel better.”
I launched myself at him and kissed his face, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Thank you! That sounds so nice.” I forgot I was in a towel and jumped up to go to the closet.
He laughed at my eagerness until my towel came undone. Then he stared at my body in a way that made me feel hot and tingly in my lower abdomen. His eyes slowly moved up until they reached my eyes. He grinned and crooked his finger at me. “Come here.”
I walked back over and sat in his lap, facing him.
He kissed me, his hands going into my hair and holding my head. His lips took mine hungrily, kissing me until I was breathless. He sat up more and pulled me closer to him as he groaned into my mouth. “Fuck, if we keep doing this, we’ll never leave the condo.”
“That’s okay,” I said, kissing him again. “We could go out another night, and I could just order in after…”
“No. I want to go out. It’ll be fun, and I think we both need some fun.” His hands hadn’t left my naked waist. “Let me call ahead and see if we can get a private room.”
“Where are we going?” I was almost tempted to remind him he was breaking another of his rules. Even if we got a private room at the restaurant, there was a good chance we’d be seen together.
“Bahia Del Sol. I’ll be right back. Get dressed while I check on that private room.” He walked out of the room. Even though he’d had his suit on all day, he looked fresh and wrinkle free. It was as if wrinkles refused to work against his physical perfection.
I put on some lingerie I thought he would enjoy seeing me in later, then stood in my walk-in closet and stared at all the clothes Madeline and I had bought together over the past weeks. He’d said to fill the closet up, and we certainly had.
I flipped through the dresses, looking for one I thought he would like that would also be appropriate. I knew Bahia Del Sol was one of the Salazar twins’ restaurants. It was a very upscale seafood restaurant. I swallowed hard. I hoped my etiquette lessons with Lonnie Maitland would pay off tonight.
I settled on a blue silk dress with a plunging neckline and a swingy skirt.
It had an almost metallic sheen to it, so it went well with the silver heels I chose to go with it.
I stuck to the simple jewelry Madeline had helped me pick out so far.
I missed my large, chunky costume jewelry, but Madeline had swept it all into a box marked ‘donations.’
I went out to the main living area. “Ta da,” I said, giving a little twirl. “Do you like it?”
His eyes ate me up and there was heat in them. He cleared his throat. “I like it very much. You look stunning, Nadine.”
I beamed at him. The compliment was just what I needed to hear. “Thank you.”
“I was able to get a private room for us, and the host is expecting us through a back entrance that’s more secluded than the front of the restaurant.”
I tried not to internalize that he was embarrassed to be seen with me. I knew, logically, that this was about his political career, but it was still hard not to feel like a dirty little secret.
Which I guess I was.