Chapter 4
“Hey Mel, wait up,” Tate called out as she hurried down the stairs towards the front of the building.
She’d been working for Jordan for almost six months, and the school year was nearing an end.
She knew what he wanted to talk to her about, but she didn’t know the right answer.
Did she want to go to prom? She simply didn’t know.
“Hey Tate, what’s up?” she asked giving him a smile.
“Prom’s in two weeks. Come on Mel, it’s the only junior prom we’ll have and unless you want to tell Jordan the truth and bring him…”
“I am not interested in Jordan like that. He’s a friend,” she argued. The same argument they’d been having the last six months.
“Yeah, your lips say one thing, but your eyes say another entirely. Anyway, how would you like to go to prom with the coolest guy in town?”
“Hmm…is he cute?” she asked.
“Very…”
“Tall?”
“Not a giant but he’ll do.”
“But can he dance?” she teased.
“Only if you don’t mind your feet being stepped on once or twice…”
“A minute?” she joked, before giving in to his slightly pleading look and she knew most likely he was only going so his grandma would stop harping on it. “Okay, I’ll go to the dance with you. It’s on a Saturday night, right? At least I won’t have to deal with the whole skipping out of work thing.”
“Want to go dress shopping this weekend? You, me, and a dress shop where we can make up fake stories about all the people there to amuse ourselves?”
“Yeah, wait you’re willingly going to come dress shopping with me? Okay who are you and what have you done to my Tatum?”
“I’m right here and I figured if I don’t help you choose a dress you’re likely to pick something that will cause a riot,” he mused, kissing her cheek before heading out. “Saturday, I’ll pick you up from work. Remember the strapless this time.”
“Go to class,” she yelled after him before ducking out the front door.
Saturday was her favorite day at the office.
Usually when she arrived it was quiet, not many people out and about, and it gave her a chance to finish up on whatever had been left behind during the week.
It also gave her a chance to spend some quality time with Jordan—who was quickly getting too close for her comfort.
At least her comfort in one way because she definitely was comfortable being physically near him, emotionally she felt just as safe with him, it was the rest of her life that was the problem if he learnt the truth.
She liked him, admired what he’d accomplished, and in truth she was probably falling slightly in love with him, but she couldn’t let him know the truth…not yet. Once she turned eighteen, she’d be safer, but she’d prefer to be finished with high school before anything crashed in on her.
She’d finished the last set of contracts and bids he wanted to get out and took them to his office, grinning when she spied him hunched over his drafting table. “Working on something interesting?”
“Ah you caught me,” he grinned back. “Finished with them already?”
“What can I say? You hired a fabulous and brilliant office manager.”
“She’s a bit cheeky at times but I think I’ll keep her around,” he said signing the bids after he looked them over. “Want to grab some lunch?”
“Actually Tate’s picking me up in a bit. We’re going shopping.”
“I’m sorry did I just hear you say shopping with Tate?”
“I know but he offered. Says he has to save all the hearts out there from exploding because I chose a too revealing dress,” she stated heading back to her desk as he came out after her with the rest of the contracts he’d checked through.
“Dress for what?”
Shoot, get it together girl, she silently told herself.
“A wedding,” she fibbed putting the contracts and bids in their envelopes. “I’m going to take these to the post office, and I’ll be out of your hair.”
“Enjoy shopping,” he stated as she grabbed her bag and jacket. “Oh…Mel.”
“Yeah,” she said turning back towards him.
“You forgot your…” He stopped holding out the strapless bra she’d thought was securely inside her bag.
“Thanks,” she told him knowing her face was bright red. “Tate told me to remember it this time, so we didn’t have issues like the last one.”
“Issues?” Jordan asked forcing himself to ignore the voice inside his head telling him to kiss her. He loved that blush and he wanted to see how far it went.
“The dress I picked worked fine with my regular one, but this one is a bit higher in the front, and you could see it over the dress. We had to go back and pick out a new one and I can only get Tate out shopping so often.”
“A new bra?” he asked knowing it would send the red back into her cheeks.
“Dress…bye Jordan,” she stated heading for the door.
“Bye, Mel. Enjoy your weekend.”
“I will,” Mel told him with a short wave. She saw Tate pulling up and she hurried into the post office, thankful that it was just a few doors down. She slipped on her jacket and took the helmet he offered before getting on behind him.
They were at their third shop before she found anything she liked.
“What about this one?” he asked holding out a red sequined mini-dress.
“No, I look horrible in red,” she told him.
She took a few to try on, the first was too something; she couldn’t put her finger on it and Tate gave her the thumbs down along with the next three she tried.
The fifth dress she liked but there was no way she’d wear it to her prom, not even her senior prom.
It was a dress made for a much older woman than her seventeen years and Tate’s expression left her laughing herself into tears.
“Good lord Mel, I thought the point was not to have the entire population after you. If you show up in that they’re likely to throw you down in the middle of the floor.”
“Okay, it’s definitely a no,” she agreed.
“You look stunning,” the salesclerk said coming up behind her and tightening the straps a bit helping to hold the top of the dress up more. “This dress is guaranteed to make a splash at any event.”
“Yeah, it’s a bit old for me, I think. I want something…”
“Younger? You know I think I have the perfect dress. It’s in the back,” she stated moving away quickly.
“Stop laughing Tate,” she said checking out her reflection again. “I look horrible.”
“No you look way too scrumptious,” Tate teased.
She laughed again but the jingle of the bell on the door caught her attention and she watched the customers coming into the store. The woman was beautiful, she guessed she was about twenty-four or so, but it was the man with her that made her heart stop beating.
“Mel?” Tate said noticing her stillness. “Ah Mel unless you want your boss looking right down that dress, I suggest you get off that podium and back into the…”
He didn’t have to finish his comment because she was already back in the dressing area and shutting the door to get out of the dress.
She rather he saw her in her bra and underwear than in that dress.
It was too mature for her, and she didn’t want Jordan looking at her that way.
The salesclerk knocked on the door, and she opened it slightly knowing no one else could see them.
“Let me help, this zipper can be a bit tricky,” the woman said letting the material glide over her body. She crossed the strands and adjusted the way it fell before letting Mel look in the mirror inside the dressing stall. “Well?”
“It’s perfect,” she said.
“Would you like to show your friend?”
“Yeah,” she agreed stepping carefully out of the stall. She followed the salesclerk out and took a deep breath as she moved out of her shadow and stepped towards the little podium set up in front of the three–way mirror.
“Mel?” Tate said grinning as she looked at the dress before turning around to face him. “Wow, you look…I mean if I didn’t know you…”
“What I think Tate’s trying to say is you look stunning,” Jordan said coming towards them with the woman. “Sorry to butt in but I heard Tate say your name.”
“It’s fine,” she told him then looked over at Tate. “You don’t think it’s too much of something or not enough of something else?”
“It’s perfect and it’s about time too, why I offered to come with you I don’t know. How do women get men to go shopping with them?” he said turning to Jordan.
“To keep them from buying dresses that are completely wrong for them,” the woman with Jordan answered. “There’s nothing better than a brother or best friend to keep a girl honest.”
“You’re Jordan’s sister?” Tate asked for her benefit.
“The baby of the girls—Nicole. And if you’re Tate that would make you Mel. You’ll have to forgive my shock because I thought Mel was a guy based on everything Jordan’s said about you,” she said smiling at her brightly.
“I can see how that would be possible, I tend to do more things with guys than girls, horrors of having a guy as your best friend,” Mel stated accepting the hand Jordan held out for her to step off the podium.
“Well now that I know you’re not I might have to bring you along on my next trip here. Our older sister Alana is getting married in August, but her engagement party is in a few weeks, and I figured I’d grab a new dress for it.”
“Showing up at the office and dragging me along despite my best attempts to stay far, far away,” Jordan added.
“But then we wouldn’t have run into Mel or seen how utterly gorgeous she is; no wonder Jordan hasn’t invited you to any of the family’s events. Are you afraid one of our other billion relatives will steal her away?”
“I don’t think Mel’s going anywhere soon, are you?” Jordan asked, his eyes still on her and Mel’s heart raced wildly.
“Why would I? I have a great job, a wonderful boss, and I run the office, what more could a girl want?”
“Shoes to match the dress,” Nicole stated, “which I think I have, you’re a size seven?”
“Yeah…”
“Then I will make baby brother here drop me off at home and give him a pair of shoes that will be perfect with that dress. The wedding you’re going to is in a few weeks, right?”
“Yes, the…”