Chapter 2
Nolan
The brown-haired beauty glared at me, a silent prompt to go along with this, whatever the hell was going on. I guess it was showtime.
“My business dinner got canceled,” I began slowly. “So…I was able to make it after all.”
She breathed a sigh of relief.
The guy held out his hand. “Probably should’ve introduced myself formally. Davis Lawson. Nice to meet you, Nolan.”
He knows my name? I never told him. “How did…you know my name?”
“Well, we have that picture of you here on our fridge, the one with your abs hanging out. I use it for motivation to hit the weights.” He smacked my arm.
This night just keeps getting weirder.
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m…on your fridge?”
“The Christmas card from last year,” Davis said. “You and Joy in Aruba.”
“Ah.” My eyes widened as I turned to her. Joy. At least I had her name now. I scratched my chin. “Right. How could I forget? Bermuda. Great trip. Good rum.”
Joy’s face reddened. “Aruba…”
I snapped my fingers. “Sorry, yeah.”
Davis looked between us. “Joy never actually told me how you two met…”
She smiled at me through gritted teeth as she said nothing. She wanted me to pull something out of my ass?
Okay.
“We were in one of those cat cafés,” I blurted. “You know, the ones in Tokyo? Where the cats roam the place and you can pet them?”
Joy’s fake smile faded.
Davis turned to her. “I never knew you went to Tokyo?”
Joy pushed a piece of hair behind her ear. “It was a last-minute thing.” She cleared her throat. “Got a good deal the summer before last. Remember when I took that random week off? I was in Tokyo, actually.”
“I’ll never forget the moment I first saw her.” I grinned, having a bit more fun with this as each second passed. “Do you remember that, babe?”
“Yeah.” She laughed nervously. “There were…so many…cats.”
I shook my head. “So many fucking cats. And they were all gravitating toward you.” I turned to Davis. “I could barely see her because she was buried under them.”
Davis’s brow furrowed. “That sounds quite terrifying, actually.”
“Turned out she was sitting on a pillow filled with catnip,” I added. “When Joy figured it out, she moved over to the seat next to me. And that’s when I became the luckiest man alive.”
Joy chuckled. “It was purrr-fect.”
I frowned at her. That was bad.
She shrugged.
Davis’s eyes veered to a corner of the room. “Well, you two have fun. I have to say hello to one of the guys from the office. Catch you in a bit.”
“Yeah…” I said, watching him walk away.
“Cats?” Joy nudged me with her elbow. “What the hell?”
“What? You’re surprised I made up a ridiculous story? Apparently, you’re the one with some explaining to do.” I looked around. “Actually, where’s the kitchen?”
“Why?” She followed me as I weaved through the crowd.
“I need to see this Christmas card he thinks I’m on.”
Sure enough, smack dab in the middle of their expensive, stainless-steel fridge was my smiling face. I remembered that day. That photo of me had been taken in Laguna Beach when I visited one of my college buddies. Except now I was standing next to a bikini-clad Joy in Aruba, evidently.
I removed the magnet and held the card up. “You even matched your bikini to my shorts. Are we one of those annoying couples who dress alike?”
Joy let out a long breath and looked down at her shoes. “I’m really sorry, Nolan. This is extremely embarrassing.”
Despite the nutty thing she’d done, I instinctually felt she wasn’t at all crazy. Maybe just…vulnerable or something. There had to be a damn good reason why she’d gone to such lengths.
I placed the card back on the refrigerator, my tone softening. “Wanna talk about it?”
Joy smiled sadly, and over the next few minutes proceeded to explain how she’d come across my Instagram one day and gotten the bright idea to make the fake card, sending it to her ex.
He was apparently dating a coworker of theirs now.
I could understand wanting to make him jealous under the circumstances.
“I have to give you credit. You did a damn good job on the photoshop,” I said.
“Thanks.” She laughed. “I think.”
“Anyway…” I held out my hand. “I’d like to officially introduce myself. I’m Nolan Bradstreet.”
“Joy Hannigan.” She took my hand. “If you don’t know Davis, how did you end up here?”
“A friend of mine is a friend of Davis’s. Ben dragged me here. Except I have no idea where the hell he is at the moment. I’m really just here for the free booze. Didn’t think I’d be meeting my fake girlfriend tonight. That’s for damn sure.”
She sighed. “Gosh, I guess I lucked out that you’d never met Davis through your friend, then. That would’ve been a disaster.” Joy laughed. “Well, even more of a disaster.” Her face reddened. “God, I owe you an apology.”
“No need.” I placed my hand on her arm. “Truly. I get why you did what you did. And I’m sure you never imagined you’d meet me.”
“You can bet on that.” She exhaled. “I could really use a drink. Care to join me?”
I winked. “Well, it would look a little weird to Davis if I abandoned my girl now, wouldn’t it?”
Joy and I walked together over to the bar. After we got our drinks, she pierced a maraschino cherry with a toothpick and popped it into her mouth. “So, what do you do, Nolan?”
I arched a brow. “You don’t already know?”
“Okay…” she conceded. “I might’ve seen a few posts about your job on your page.” She shrugged. “How are things going at Seaver Pharmaceuticals?”
“Good…good.” I nodded. “It’s a lot of traveling, but I like it.”
“Go anywhere interesting lately? Besides cat cafés in Tokyo?”
“I actually did go to Tokyo for business. Even went to one of the cat cafés. Just never met a beautiful woman there.” Okay, am I seriously flirting now? This night kept evolving into the unexpected. I sipped my beer. “What do you do?”
“I work at Pride Bank with Davis. He’s a vice president, and I work in customer relations.”
“Sounds…” I hesitated.
“Pretty boring, actually.” She laughed.
Not gonna argue that. “So, that must be weird working with your ex and his new girlfriend, huh?” I looked around. “Is she here?”
Joy pointed her chin toward the left corner of the room. “She’s the one over there with the hyena laugh.”
I turned to check out the brunette in the corner who had nothing on the beautiful woman in front of me. “I’m guessing there are still feelings there on your part, if you went through all the trouble of making a fake holiday card?”
Joy shook her head. “It wasn’t about that. It was more about…appearances.”
Hmm… I wasn’t sure if I bought that.
A text chimed on my phone, reminding me of the time. Shit.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m so sorry, Joy. I have to leave. I’m late.”
“Late for what?”
Oh, the irony. I hated leaving her when we were just getting to know each other. But considering where I was headed, it would’ve been an asshole move to ask for her number.
“I have a date.”