Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
A Fly in the Ointment
CLIFF
Cliff had to acknowledge the irony: When one part of his life fell perfectly into place, another part raced around like a raccoon on meth. It was as if a trickster demon followed him around setting up pitfalls for him to stumble into. Tonight was no exception.
He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the woman he’d met at the café with a backpack of jewels at his feet, and again at the Arthur J.
for a celebratory order of fries. Felt like fate stepping in.
The woman with blue-green eyes and honey-blond hair, who smelled like honeysuckle and owned a small, rabid, croissant-loving dog.
Jamie Frisco.
He’d agreed to go on this group blind date, but that was before he’d encountered Jamie again at the Arthur J. and felt the hint of something like hope and home. So, he called Lorna to cancel and tried to explain that he’d met a mystery woman, which rendered this group blind date exercise pointless.
Lorna Gray, however, was not having it. “So, let me get this straight. You want to cancel your attendance at my perfectly and intentionally curated Dinner for Six because you met a woman whom you did not ask out or ask for a phone number? Beyond the obvious problem that last-minute cancelations are horrible etiquette, and you will lose your deposit, Cliff, do you have any inkling if this mystery woman returns your affection?”
“Well, no.” He could audibly hear Lorna’s frustrated sigh.
“Look, you said yourself you want to start living a more normal life,” Lorna implored.
“This is what normal life is. Sitting down at a table with people you don’t know, talking about things that don’t matter.
It’s called dating. Order the crabcakes, get a martini, and engage in small talk.
It’s not that hard. All I’m asking is that you don’t throw my dinner into chaos.
Go and have a nice time. You can call it quits before the dessert course if you so please. Deal?”
Cliff had to admit Lorna was right. He had no idea if Jamie was even remotely attracted to him.
Although he had a sense that she felt something, too.
However, both times they had met, it was she who left the moment, broke the spell.
It’s possible he could be wrong. He grumbled at the uncertainty.
How bad could a group blind date possibly be?
Plus, his short-term goal was to meet a woman he could take to his meeting with The Siberian.
He had to admit, meeting someone on this date was his best chance, especially if he couldn’t find Jamie Frisco before then, ask her out, establish a connection, fall in love, and then force her to go to a client dinner with a menacing Russian oligarch.
Lorna’s group date easily made more sense as the meeting drew closer.
“Okay, I see your point. But I’m going to be about ten minutes late.”
“Tardiness is not a good first impression,” Lorna scolded.
“Lorna, I’m working on your system. I found a small glitch in the plan I came up with.”
“What glitch?”
Cliff paused and felt the old rush come in, the thrill of discovering a problem just in time, before it screwed it all up.
He had found the glitch and figured it out.
He went on to explain the issue in the security system and how to work around it.
Lorna seemed pleased to know about it and then rushed him off the phone, imploring him to get ready for his dinner.
She’d tell the rest of the crew he would be a few minutes late.
Ten minutes was all it would take. Cliff had always been sleek, fast, and up to the task.
A short walk down the hill later, Cliff entered Piccolo, a charming new restaurant in Manhattan Beach with a notable new chef.
Even Guitar Paul had told him about the place last week.
Cliff had been to Paul’s Guitar Parlor three times since the initial meeting.
Each time he arrived, Paul would greet him, they’d play a few songs, and then talk about life. The good parts only.
When Cliff told him about this group blind date dinner, Guitar Paul said, “You gotta give it a shot!” Then Cliff told him about meeting Jamie Frisco, to which Paul said, “Dude, you gotta cancel the dinner and go on a knight’s quest to find your lady.
” Then Guitar Paul launched into a rendition of “Romeo and Juliet” by Dire Straits.
But he couldn’t miss it, could he? Not only was Lorna his client, but she had also planned the date with the kind of expertise and attention to detail an ex-thief could appreciate. It was like setting up a good heist. She needed a perfect crew.
So, when Cliff walked into the restaurant, he scanned the room.
A couple seated at a table by the wall appeared to be quietly arguing.
In the center of the room, five people sat around a round table.
He walked over and as he approached, he could see everyone at the table except the woman whose back was to him.
Cliff moved around the table to the empty chair and as he pulled it out, he looked down. It was her. Jamie Frisco in the flesh. Honey-blond hair, scent of honeysuckle, warm smile beaming at him.
Impossible.
He steadied himself but didn’t take his eyes off her as he sat down and introduced himself. He saw her eyes brighten, her warm smile light up like morning sunshine. He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. Had the great coin toss of life actually gone his way?
He was beginning to think that fate had actually smiled on him when he heard a familiar voice, raspy and full of salt. “Welcome, sir. Can I get you anything to drink?”
He looked up into the face of Amber Driggs, his snake-tattooed, face-licking, burger-to-bed waitress, whom, after picking up some Fatal Attraction vibes postcoitus, he had ghosted. Cliff’s face went pale.
He stuttered, “Oh, I uh, I’ll just have a light beer.”
She glowered at him but nodded. “Comin’ right up.”
Cliff instantly broke a sweat. He had never been good at juggling women. Anytime he’d ever dated more than one, it ended in disaster. Too many details to remember. Women’s intuition was miles ahead of any official lie detector test.
Not that he was juggling women. Amber had been a warm, fun one-night stand, like a welcome gift from the beach on his first night out of prison. And then he seemingly collided with Jamie, which felt like a one in a million shot.
Now, here he was, in the same room with the dream girl at the table and the nightmare serving him a beer.
What are the freaking odds?