Chapter 9. Not All Pets Are Created Equal #2
“You sure? Those people earlier seem to think so.”
“I’m not those people. I have twenty-twenty vision, and they all needed to get their eyes checked.”
“Maybe they all have excellent taste.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “It’s okay to admit if you agree. I won’t tell anyone.”
That made me chuckle. I knew he was just trying to make me relax, and it was working, because I no longer felt like I was about to projectile vomit my breakfast.
“Carmichael!” One of the men in the group gave Rob a friendly nod, as his curious gaze landed on me. “How’s it going?”
My mind raced back to Rob’s dossier, trying to place him. He was the financial guy, the one who rowed and played football.
“Hey, Spencer.” Rob shook the other guy’s hand and exchanged greetings with the rest. “Everyone, this is Kimiko Halim, a good friend of mine.” To me, he said, “Spencer is our resident expert on stocks and cryptocurrencies. That’s Oscar, the next big thing in Hollywood.
Tony over there is your go-to for excellent legal advice.
And this is Ben. Kickboxing whiz, vet extraordinaire, ex swimming instructor. ”
I opened my mouth while instructing my brain to produce a witty greeting of some sort, but to my absolute mortification, nothing came out.
My brain had seemingly checked out and gone to enjoy drinks at the open bar instead of doing its job of coming up with interesting, scintillating repartee.
Or with any kind of coherent response at all.
This wasn’t like me. At all.
Rob turned to me, as if he’d just had a thought. “Hey, that’s something you have in common with Ben. Swimming. Kim used to be a competitive swimmer, right, Kim?”
“You were?” A flicker of interest crossed Ben’s face, while the other men resumed their own conversation.
Smooth, Rob. Real smooth.
Alec was right: Rob was an excellent wingman.
He guided the conversation effortlessly, he was awesome at hyping people up, and let’s face it, his dossiers were top-notch.
If his career in the construction industry fizzled out, he would probably make a fortune helping Port Benedict’s single population find their forever match.
For those who believed in one, of course.
I sent him a smile, grateful he was here to save my sorry ass.
“I was.” I turned my attention to Ben, noticing that he looked cuter in real life than the picture in the dossier.
Lush dark hair, thick eyebrows, gorgeous brown eyes, and biceps straining his white dress shirt, practically begging to be freed into the wild.
“I stopped competing when I was fourteen, though, then came back and worked part-time as a lifeguard at the pool I used to train in.”
“Kim also used to work at a zoo,” Rob said to Ben. “She’s a huge animal lover.”
Oka-aayyy, that might be pushing it a liiittle bit too much. Sure, I loved dogs and cats, and the occasional hamsters and guinea pigs, but I’d rather impale myself on a million knitting needles than befriend lizards, or most species of bugs and reptiles, or—ugh—snakes.
“Really?” The flicker of interest on Ben’s face morphed into a look of approval. “I love zoos. My parents used to take me and my sisters every weekend when we were kids.”
He launched into a story of how the zoo had sparked his interest in becoming a vet, and I finally began to relax.
Rob was right: His matchmaking scheme was a brilliant idea.
Ben ticked all the boxes, and this was so much easier—and safer—than scrolling through an endless list of questionable men on a random dating app.
Rob was chatting with Spencer, the finance guy, and I could hear Spencer saying to him, “Sorry to hear about Lucy, bro. What happened?”
I glanced at them. Rob caught my gaze and gave me a quick smile, before answering Spencer, their voices low.
“What do you do, Kim?” Ben asked.
I returned my attention to him. “I run a yarn store in the row of shops behind Port Benedict Plaza.”
“I know the place. I might have driven my mother there a few times. Don’t think I’ve seen you there, though.”
“It was my grandmother’s. I’ve taken over the business these past eighteen months. She’s no longer with us, unfortunately.”
A look of sympathy crossed his face. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
This was actually going well. Ben was cute, seemed nice, and was obviously close to his family. So far, so good. I glanced at Rob and found him watching us before giving me a subtle thumbs-up.
But of course, if it seemed too good to be true, it probably was.
“What did you do before you took over the store?” Ben took a sip of his drink.
“Oh, this and that,” I said. “I was in a few different industries. F&B, entertainment, and childcare, to name a few.” That was a fancy way of saying waitress, cinema operator, and nanny, but Ben seemed to have bought it, because he looked impressed.
“Sounds like you’ve built quite an amazing career portfolio. What made you decide to leave it all and run your grandmother’s yarn store? That must have been a huge change from all those exciting jobs you’ve done before.”
“There’s nobody else to run it if I didn’t, and I couldn’t stand and watch the store close down,” I said. “It’s been great, though, and I’ve been enjoying it.”
“Really?” He gave me a doubtful look. “You don’t miss the jobs you’ve had in the past?
I mean, I can’t imagine quitting the career I love so much to work in someone else’s business, let alone a different industry altogether.
Especially doing something as mundane as running a store—a yarn store, of all things.
It would kill me.” Ben gave me an awkward chuckle.
“Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have said that out loud. My mom says I have zero filter.”
One of the odd jobs I’d done in the past was being an extra in an indie movie, where I was part of a crowd witnessing a proposal scene.
All the other extras understood the assignment: to ooh and ahh at every declaration of love, and swoon when the main character got down on one knee to propose to the love of his life.
Except me. I was the only one who had scoffed—loudly—at the supposedly romantic moment, and when the director yelled “CUT!” because I had ruined the take, I proceeded to explain why the scene was unbelievable.
(He had to run across an entire airport and still managed to stop her just before she boarded the plane? Make it make sense.)
If Ben had zero filter, then I was told by the AD that I had zero acting talent.
So it was a huge struggle, having to maintain a friendly face with Ben, when all I wanted to do was throw my clutch on the ground and challenge him to a duel at dawn. Did he really imply that running my grandmother’s beloved business was beneath him?
I checked myself. Stop putting words in his mouth. He was just making harmless conversation, wasn’t he?
I shot Rob another quick glance. The other men were still chatting, but his attention was on me, and a crease was starting to form on his forehead. Probably because my forehead was starting to have deep ridges and valleys on its own.
Pull yourself together, Kim. Do not fuck this up.
Time for a subject change. “What about you? It must be fun working with all those animals. Do you have a favorite?”
“I love all kinds of animals. They’re all magnificent.”
“There must be one or two that you dislike. I mean, cats and dogs are adorable. Snakes aren’t. Or critters like tarantulas and lizards.”
“But lizards are beautiful, and they’re fascinating.
” Ben’s face broke into a wide grin. “And snakes are adorable. I have one as a pet. Her name is Custard, and she’s the most exquisite albino ball python snake you’ll ever see in your life.
She lives in a vivarium in my bedroom, and she’s the first thing I see when I wake up. ”
I flinched. Did he really say a pet snake?
In his bedroom?
No. Fucking. Way.
That did it. Didn’t matter that he was cute and drove his mother to yarn stores.
I could even tolerate his careless comment about my job.
But some things had to stay sacred, and certain types of reptiles, especially snakes, didn’t matter how “adorable” they might be, were immediate deal-breakers for me.
“Gosh! Will you look at the time?” I made a show of glancing at my watch, interrupting him as he waxed poetic about his beloved Custard.
“I’m so sorry. It’s late, and I haven’t had my second glass of wine yet.
It was lovely to meet you, Ben.” I caught Rob’s gaze and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Rob! I’m off to do some wine tasting.”
I turned around and stalked across the lush lawn, ignoring his calls. He was breathless when he finally caught up with me.
“What happened? What did Ben do?”
I spun around, my eyes wide and probably looking a little wild. “Did you know that he has a pet snake?”
He looked taken aback. “I didn’t.”
“He does.” I shuddered. “An exquisite albino snake called Custard, that lives in his bedroom.”
“That must be a new thing.” Rob frowned. “He never spoke about a pet snake whenever we saw each other, or posted about it on social media.”
“And not just that, he was practically belittling my job and my grandmother’s yarn store.
What was I thinking?” I shook my head, exasperated.
“I shouldn’t be here wasting my time sipping wines and eating canapés when I should be focusing on how to stop Goodw—you know what?
I’m grateful for your help, but I don’t think this is going to work. ”
“To be fair, we didn’t have enough time to prep for this wedding,” Rob said, his tone gentle and reassuring. “I promise we’ll do better with the second one.”
“I think one wedding is enough for me.”
“It’s your call, but your soulmate might be at the next one, and if you don’t go, you won’t be able to meet him.”
“But if there is such a thing as a soulmate, I’m going to meet him one way or another, right? And you wouldn’t have to waste your time helping me with this.”
“Kim.” Rob reached out and caught my hand, anchoring me in place. “I thought you said this was important to you. Don’t you want to fulfill your grandmother’s last wishes? How are you going to do that by finding dates from the internet?”
Damn it, because he was right.
And didn’t I promise him that I’d be there, so he didn’t have to face his ex alone?
Plus, I didn’t really have time on my side.
Looked like I had no choice but to soldier on.