Chapter 13. Two’s a Company, Three’s a Party
Two’s a Company, Three’s a Party
The sun was hiding behind the clouds on the day of the Soo-Mitchell wedding, casting a gloomy feel over the gorgeous winery we were at. The ceremony had been short and sweet, and the newlyweds looked radiant in sparkly, ethereal white gowns.
I stood up from my seat at the very back row and scanned the crowd, trying to spot Rob among all the other guests.
I hadn’t seen him since the zipper malfunction episode, even though we’d been texting every day, which was probably good, because I wasn’t sure how I’d act around him when all my brain wanted to do was to constantly evoke the (sweet, sweet) memories of that evening.
“Kim! There you are.” I looked up to see Rob walking over. He gave me a quick hug, surrounding me with his now-familiar sweet, minty scent. “I’ve been looking for you.”
I reluctantly tore myself away from him and instructed my brain to behave. “I was late, sorry. The store was busy, and I couldn’t just leave Nicole on her own.”
“Don’t worry about it.” His eyes did a slow sweep of my body, and the corners of his mouth lifted into a smile. “Looks like we chose the perfect dress. You look amazing.”
Before I could overanalyze his comment (even though there might be nothing to analyze—it was just a simple “amazing,” wasn’t it?), Rob gestured to the man standing next to him. “Kim, this is Neil Cosgrave. Neil, meet Kimiko Halim, a good friend of mine.”
The man looked like he could play Prince Charming in a Hallmark movie, with wavy dark hair, deep dimples, and cornflower-blue eyes, looking so sickeningly wholesome with the backdrop of the vineyard and the rolling hills behind him.
He smiled at me, momentarily blinding me with a flash of white teeth. “Lovely to meet you, Kim.”
I accepted his proffered hand and shook it. “Likewise.”
“Is that an Indonesian surname?” Neil gave me a curious look.
“Yes.” I feigned surprise. “How do you know?”
“My family moved around when I was younger for my dad’s work. We lived in Jakarta for six years. I had a friend with that same surname.”
“What a coincidence. How long ago was that?”
“Twenty, twenty-one years ago, maybe?”
“And you still remember?” I gave him an admiring look. “Great memory.”
“I used to speak the language, but I’ve forgotten most of it now.”
“You did?” I dialed up my look of admiration a notch. “That’s amazing.”
I racked my brain for more things to say as we headed toward the reception area. What else did Rob have in his dossier? Should I attempt a conversation in Indonesian? But with my limited abilities, that’d probably be over after two sentences. What else should I talk about?
“Neil is a PE teacher,” Rob helpfully supplied. “He was a professional golfer in his past life. Weren’t you even touted as the next Tiger Woods or something?”
“He’s being too kind.” Neil flashed me a modest smile. “I had a serious injury that derailed my golfing career. Now I only play for fun.”
Yes, of course, I could talk about golfing, no problem. “Sorry to hear that. I used to caddy when I was younger.”
A spark of interest flashed in Neil’s eyes. “How long did you caddy for?”
“Less than a year. Ten months, I think?”
“Kim is also a beast at mini golf,” Rob added. “I don’t know why I kept agreeing whenever she challenged me to a game, because she destroyed me every single time. You two should play together.”
I knew I should be glad that Rob was hyping me up to Neil, but somehow, an irrational part of my brain was telling me that this doesn’t feel right.
I didn’t want to challenge Neil, or any other guys, and play mini golf with any of them.
It was my thing with Rob, and I didn’t want to share that experience with anyone else.
But both men were still looking at me, waiting for my reply. “We should. I might be able to show you a thing or two.”
Neil grinned at me. “Is that so?”
“Maybe.” I pushed away those pesky thoughts and fixed a flirty smile on my face—or at least, what I hoped resembled one. “It’s not every day I get to beat a pro golfer in a game of mini golf.”
Neil took the bait. “I’m not one to refuse a challenge, so you’re on.”
We stepped into the reception area and were instantly surrounded by the chatter of guests and the clinks of champagne glasses.
There was a long grazing table in the middle piled with both sweet and savory options, next to a rustic market cart serving as the drink station, with buckets of chilled wine bottles, cocktails in mason jars, and glass dispensers of lemonade, iced teas, and fruit-infused water.
A doughnut wall was on one side of the room, with a churro station on the other side.
“I have to say hi to a friend,” Rob said. “Catch you both later.”
He waved at someone across the room as he walked away, and both Neil and I watched as he greeted and hugged a gorgeous brunette, then gestured in our—my—direction, clearly telling the woman he was here with me.
I craned my neck a little, curious to get a better look at her.
That had to be his ex, right? Why would he be pointing at me otherwise?
“Would he be okay with us going golfing together?” Neil kept his eyes on Rob and the brunette for a few more beats, his eyes following their every move, before finally glancing at me. “Maybe we should ask him to come along with us.”
“Oh. Sure, we can ask him, if you want to.”
He flicked another glance at Rob and the woman, before shaking his head. “Or maybe next time. Are you free next week?”
We exchanged numbers and chatted for a few more minutes, before he excused himself to go to the restroom.
Once he was gone, I let out a relieved breath.
That went kind of well, didn’t it? Neil seemed like a nice enough guy, and he was easy on the eyes, so it wouldn’t be a hardship to spend time with him for the next few months.
Maybe this was a sign that things were finally turning around.
My stomach grumbled, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. As I weaved my way through the crowd toward the long table of food, a page boy holding a plate full of chocolate cupcakes headed straight in my direction.
One of the flower girls was chasing him, and for a minute, it felt like I was transported into one of those slow-motion movie scenes where you could see the imminent disaster hurtling toward the main character, but you knew it was too late to do anything.
The young boy collided with me, dumping what looked like a ton of creamy, gooey chocolate ganache onto the dress I was wearing.
A dress that had been borrowed from Jenna’s closet.
I gasped.
The page boy looked up at me and gasped.
It seemed like the entire room had fallen silent, and all signs of life had ceased, because everyone had stopped whatever they were doing and turned to gawk at the trainwreck that was unfolding right before their eyes.
Then someone started to cry, probably a baby in the crowd needing to be fed, or their diaper changed, or something equally critical.
Would babies even be at weddings? Whatever it was, it was probably more important than a dress getting intimately acquainted with thick chocolate icing, and was that Oreo crumbs I spotted among the sticky chocolate goodness?
Both the page boy and the flower girl were still standing in front of me, their eyes wide, their mouths agape.
I knelt to their eye levels and smiled at the boy. “It’s okay. Accidents happen, right?”
A relieved grin broke across his face. He mumbled a quiet, “Sorry,” then ran off, the flower girl at his heels, while the rest of the crowd resumed their conversation.
“That was really sweet of you. Not getting upset at the boy.”
I stood up and found Rob standing behind me with a smile and a handful of napkins. From the corner of my eye, I could see some of the guests still watching me, but he moved his body, so he was blocking their view.
“He was just being a kid.” I took the napkins and tried to scoop the big blob of chocolate off the dress.
In vain, might I add, because it only made things worse.
Instead of removing it, I successfully made it cover a larger surface area, because it was now smeared entirely over the left side of my chest. “Being upset at him isn’t going to make the stain disappear. ”
“Wise words. Need any help?”
“Sure.” I didn’t look at him as I continued to clean—no, smear—more chocolate ganache on the dress.
“Maybe if you have one of those white Magic Eraser thingies that can miraculously get the stain off. Or help me find the exact same dress, because this isn’t mine.
Or, failing both options, maybe you can just lick the chocolate clean. ”
A loud, awkward silence fell over us, while I paused my scrubbing, silently cringing inside. Did I seriously just ask him to lick me?
I stole a glance at him. He was watching me, biting his lower lip, obviously trying very hard not to burst into laughter.
No, no. Do NOT look at him biting his lips.
“That is so embarrassing.” I groaned. “Please pretend I never said anything.”
“Too late.” His lips twitched. “I can’t unhear that, and it’ll stay with me for the rest of my life. Don’t be embarrassed. It’s kind of cute, actually.”
My heart stumbled a little at his words, and suddenly the chocolate stain just became immensely fascinating. “You obviously have a warped sense of what can be classified as cute.”
He only chuckled. “How did it go with Neil?”
“He’s nice.” The chocolate icing had now coated my entire chest, so I gave up trying to salvage the dress.
“Oh, fuck it. I’ll just buy Jenna a new one.
” I crumpled the dirty napkins into a ball and sucked the excess chocolate on my fingers to clean it off, before releasing them with a loud pop.
“We might be going mini golfing next week.”
There was no answer. I looked up to find Rob giving me a funny look, his eyes darkening a little as he stared at me. He swallowed, his gaze dropping to my lips and lingering there for a few seconds before finding my eyes again.
“I’m sorry,” he rasped, “what did you say?”
“I said I might see him next week for mini golf.”
“Right.” He cleared his throat. “Great first date choice. It’s fun, it’s safe, and, uh, it won’t cost you five hundred dollars.”
“Do you want to come along? He did ask about you coming with us.”
Rob raised his eyebrows. “You want me to third-wheel on your first date with Neil?”
“No, it’s Neil who wants you to third-wheel on my first date with him.”
He considered me for a moment. “Actually, now that I think about it, maybe I will tag along on your date. But in secret, so he won’t see me. Just in case you need another rescue.”
“The fact that you’re offering to come along on a date with a guy you introduced, on the off chance that I might need a rescue, is a bit worrying.” I grinned at him. “Then again, you were wrong about Ben—just saying—so I guess there is a possibility you could be wrong about Neil, too.”
“I wasn’t wrong about Ben. I just didn’t know he kept pet snakes.
And I’m not wrong about Neil, either, but I’ll feel better if I know that you’re having a good time with him.
And that you’re safe. I mean, if he plans to swindle five hundred bucks out of you, not that he will, I can be there to help you stop it before it happens. ”
My chest felt like it had expanded a hundredfold from the sweet gesture. “Sounds like you’re having second thoughts about Neil.”
“I definitely am not. Think of it as an extension of my service.”
“Did you offer the same thing to your sister, brother, and cousins?”
“I didn’t.” A streak of pink crept up his cheeks. “Look, just say yes, okay? I promise I’ll be discreet. He won’t know I’m there.”
“Fine. But only because I’m such a good friend, and I’d hate to deprive you of the fun of watching me defeat Neil.”
He snorted, but his eyes were smiling. “Text me the time and the place. Anyway, I think we should also introduce you to Elijah as well.” At my blank look, he clarified, “Your alternative? The film editor?”
“Looking and smelling like this?” I glanced down at my dress. “It’s not a good look for meeting someone.”
“You smell fine. Hang on, I think I see him.” Rob placed his hand at the small of my back and steered me toward a man standing by the bar. “Hey, Elijah. Enjoying the party?”
Great. Of course I was going to meet a guy covered in melted chocolate.
“Not really.” Elijah took a long pull of his beer, his eyes watching the front door like a hawk. “I’m about to go. Waiting for my ride to arrive.”
“That’s too bad.” Rob turned to me, as if he’d just realized that I was standing next to him. “By the way, this is a good friend of mine, Kimiko Halim. Kim, this is Elijah Thompson.”
Elijah gave me a once-over, not even batting an eyelash at the humongous chocolate stain on my dress. “Hey, how’s it going?”
It was obvious he wasn’t interested in chatting with us, because his gaze went back to the door, as if glaring at it would make his ride arrive quicker.
But Rob wasn’t giving up that easily. “Elijah is a film editor, Kim. You might have seen some of his work.”
“Wait. Are you the Elijah Thompson?” I pretended to look awestruck. “I know who you are. Didn’t you work on The Art of Living a Life? Brilliant movie. You should have gotten tons of awards for it.”
That earned me a look of approval from Rob, like, Huh, that was pretty impressive.
I flashed him a smug look in return. Watch and learn, buddy. Watch and learn.
Meanwhile, that caught Elijah’s attention, because he was now appraising me with a mild look of curiosity. “Thank you. What did you like best about it?”
Uh-oh. I’d never even heard of it before Rob mentioned it. Although I did praise his movie, so what did I expect? I brought this on myself.
“The entire thing is brilliant,” I said. “It’s so hard to pick a favorite part. Are you working on anything right now?”
“I am, but nothing I can tell anyone about. In fact, I’m heading to the studio after this to finish some stuff.” Elijah’s phone buzzed. “That’s my ride. Great to meet you, Kim. See you around, Carmichael.”
As soon as he was out of earshot, I turned to Rob. “That was a bit … rushed. At least now we have two viable options, don’t we?”
“You have two viable options. They’re both great guys, and hopefully one of those is your happily-ever-after.”
I nodded, trying to muster up the enthusiasm that I was supposed to portray.
But I couldn’t.
No matter how hard I tried.