11. Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Adalie
I ’m honestly not sure if I’m more excited to see Dani or Nate when he texts me the next afternoon to say they will be here for paint night, without Taylor who is going out with some friends. I’m setting up the extra easels when I hear someone call my name.
I turn, clenching my teeth as my sister comes into the ballroom.
Calista and I look a lot alike. We have the same colour hair and eyes, the same chin and nose, but I’ve always felt like someone had been given the same ingredients and done a better job the second time around. I’m shorter and curvier than Calista. My hair curls a bit more than hers in a way I can never really control. I think I’m pretty, but Calista is elegant.
“You said it was all sold out,” she says.
“It is.”
“But you have extra stand thingies,” she says with a pout, waving a hand to the corner where a few more easels are leaning against the wall. “And I’m already here. Think of the publicity.”
I don’t roll my eyes. Ever since she passed the 10,000 followers mark on Instagram, she thinks she’s the greatest influencer on the Internet.
“We don’t need the publicity. There’s only one paint night after tonight. And only two cooking nights.”
“But I’m your sister.” She flutters her eyelashes at me, pouting.
I take a breath. “Fine. You can stay.” I motion to one of the staff to set up another easel at the back of one of the two rows.
“Why can’t I sit at the front?” she asks.
“Because we have VIPs coming.” And because I’d rather have Nate and Dani next to me than Calista.
“I should be with the VIPs. I’m an influencer. Doesn’t that make me a VIP as well?”
I take a breath, smoothing my hands down the front of my dress. Then I straighten my shoulders and say, “Calista. I told you we are sold out. We have VIPs coming and you’re here asking for me to do something for you. You can take the easel I’ve set up for you, or you can leave.”
By the time I’m done speaking, my heart is racing, but she huffs and spins away to the end of the row, taking pictures of the set up as other guests file into the ballroom.
Someone touches my shoulder and I turn, hoping to see Nate, but instead, it’s someone else.
“Tanner,” I say, a smile spreading over my face. He went to university with me, Derek, Spencer, and Vic. “I didn’t know you were coming tonight.”
He grins, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “Yeah. Juliet said she had to come to a paint night. She had a lot of fun cooking a few weeks ago and has been pestering me to come to one of these. She even got her cousin Rebecca in on it, so they’re both here.”
He gestures to where they’re scoping out the sundae bar. Juliet and Rebecca are two of Tanner’s many nieces. He comes from a large family and, other than him, all his siblings have kids.
“I saw the way you stood up to your sister,” he continues, a little quieter. “Good job.”
I huff a breath, pushing my hair back from my face. “Thanks. I’ve been working on it.”
“So there’s some VIPs here tonight?”
I grin. “Yes. And now that I see you’re here, you are one of them.”
He laughs. “Did you even have VIPs?”
“I do, actually. Though they were VIPs last time they were here. Now they’re just friends.”
Tanner’s gaze shifts over my shoulder and from the way his focus shifts, and the look in his eye, I can tell in an instant that Vic has entered the ballroom, obviously having come up the elevator since I’m facing the stairs.
“Are you going to talk to her?” I ask.
He returns his attention to me. “What?”
I raise an eyebrow and wait. After a second, he gives me a sad smile.
“She doesn’t want to talk to me,” he says.
I repeat the words Nate said to me last night about the stout. “How do you know unless you try?”
He sighs and shakes his head. I’m not sure what happened between him and Vic all those years ago, but they had been friends, and maybe even more than friends for a little while, then they completely stopped talking to one another. Spencer might know the whole story, but whatever happened was before the four of us were really close. I’m about to say something else when the thoughts leave my mind. Nate and Dani have walked in, and all my attention focuses on the man who has invaded my dreams and desires.
“Are you going to talk to him ?” Tanner asks.
I blink, looking at Tanner again. “Who? What?”
“The guy you just noticed.” He peeks over his shoulder at Nate, who’s watching us, before turning back. “Though I have to admit, I wouldn’t have pegged him as your type.”
“He’s not,” I reply, too quickly.
Tanner winks. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
I huff. “How does everyone know?”
He grins. “You turned pink.”
Ugh. My fair complexion foils me again. “He’s not my type,” I say.
“Yet you’re attracted to him, anyway.” He bobs his eyebrows at me. “So you want me to help you make him jealous?”
I snort and roll my eyes. “How would you accomplish that?”
“Easy. You’re a hugger, Adalie. And to most people, it would be completely platonic. But to a man who is interested in you, he’ll want to know who I am, why I’m hugging you.”
I’m still grinning, but I shake my head. “He doesn’t see me that way.”
“You never know. Besides, I’m going to hug you, anyway. That’s what friends do, right?”
Tanner wraps me in a gentle hug. I hug him back and ask, “Why weren’t you part of our group in college?”
He steps away, adjusting his glasses. “Spencer and Vic had a few ideas when we started that class and none of them interested me. So I said I’d find a different group. Spencer said it was for the best because he didn’t think I would be a good fit for the project.”
The five of us had all been in the same MBA program and the Blue Vista crew had become friends initially during a single class that consisted of a project to create a business plan. We could have had a fifth person, but Tanner hadn’t joined us.
“Not for the project, maybe, but definitely for the friend group.”
He shakes his head again. “Vic wouldn’t be happy with me being there. I better get over to Juliet and Becca before they get into trouble.” He moves off to where his two nieces are talking to Lis. She’s come up with some appetizers. I send a couple staff members over to make sure Tanner and his nieces are set up at the front of the row to my left, then I move to the first easel to my right, adjusting it down to where I remember I had it last time for Dani.
I’ve been alone for about thirty seconds before Nate is next to me.
“Who was that?” he asks.
I tilt my head to the side, looking up at him and trying not to smile, remembering what Tanner said about a man who’s interested in me needing to know who was hugging me.
“He’s a friend from university.” I finish with the easel and straighten. “Would you like me to introduce you?”
He scowls. “Why would I want to meet him?”
I shrug. “You’re glowering at me as though you want me to do something, and I’m not sure what it might be if it’s not introducing you to my friend.”
The glower disappears immediately, and he lets out a breath. “Sorry. I meant to come over and say thank you for fitting us in on such short notice.”
“Short notice?” Calista says, coming up behind Nate. “So he got in on short notice but your own sister had to beg for a spot?”
My hands clench into fists for a moment before I relax them and smooth them down my skirt. “I did say Nate is a VIP. He’s a new partner with Blue Vista.” I take a breath. “Nate, this is my sister Calista. Calista, this is Nate.”
She holds out her hand for Nate to shake. He looks Calista up and down before taking it, shaking once, and letting go. I can’t help but remember the way he’d held on when we shook hands for the first time.
“You’re Adalie’s sister?” he asks.
“Yes.” She flicks her hair back. “The baby and the favourite. That’s me.”
“The one who stood her up a couple weeks ago,” he confirms, voice flat.
“Oh, that was just a silly misunderstanding.”
Something in me warms that he’s not falling for Calista’s charms, and because he’s angry on my behalf.
Dani bounds up, a huge grin on her face. “Hi Adalie,” she says, hugging me tight before turning to her father. “Dad, Lis said she has the drink I had last time. Can I have one?”
Nate’s demeanour immediately softens. His hand goes automatically to the top of Dani’s head as though to stop her from bouncing, or at least to try to keep her from bouncing too high. It doesn’t work.
“Of course, pipsqueak. But we’ll limit it to two tonight. You were a little wired after three last time.”
She squeals and hugs Nate before rushing off to where Lis is standing.
“You have a daughter?” Calista asks. “Where’s her mom?”
“Not here,” Nate answers shortly. I can tell by his tone that he doesn’t want to talk to Calista anymore, but my sister isn’t getting the message. She could never understand people not wanting to do everything she asks as soon as she asks it.
“Calista, the class is about to start. You should head back to your easel. Have something to eat. Get a glass of wine.”
“I just thought I should be seated up here, next to Nate. He might want to partner with me as well. I’m a social media influencer.”
“No,” Nate says. He crosses his arms over his chest, but I can’t take a second to admire the muscles in his shoulders and arms because I have to usher my sister to the back of the row.
“This is your easel, Calista. If you want to stay, you stay here. Nate is enjoying a night out with his daughter. Leave him alone.”
She huffs, then looks at me speculatively. “You seem pretty friendly with the VIP. What’s going on between you two?”
“Nothing,” I say, though my mind drifts to the kiss we shared on my birthday. The same night Calista stood me up. Maybe I should thank her for that. “He’s a contractor. We purchase product from him. He’s been here a couple times with his daughter.”
“Well,” she says, turning away from me. “It’s not as if someone like him would be into someone like you, anyway.”
I shoot a glance at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She lifts a shoulder in a shrug. “He’s too edgy for you, Addie. You’d never be able to keep a man like that interested for long. This night better not be boring.”
She sits down like the conversation is over, like she hasn’t just sliced open my deepest insecurities so I can bleed out on the floor. I walk away because I have to start the class. I don’t have the time—or really, the desire—to get into an argument with her.
The class itself goes very well. Dani has to help Nate again, but he’s good natured about it, smiling as Dani shows him where he went wrong.
When it’s over, Tanner gives me a hug goodbye, winking at me before leading his nieces down the stairs. Calista comes up to me next.
“Well, it wasn’t as boring as I expected, but I’m not sure it’s the kind of thing my followers are looking for, so I’m not sure I’ll post about it.”
“Okay,” I say, trying to sound put out even though I don’t care at all. Business at Blue Vista doesn’t need her followers.
“See you later, Addie,” she calls over her shoulder as she follows the other guests out of the ballroom.
“Is Cerberus here?” Dani asks. She and Nate are the last ones in the ballroom, other than the staff who are cleaning up.
“If Lis is still here, Cerberus will be,” I tell her.
“Can I go see him, Dad?”
He nods. “If Lis doesn’t mind.”
We walk down together, Dani a few steps ahead.
“I’m sorry if I said something I shouldn’t have in front of your sister,” Nate says.
“What do you mean?”
“About getting us spots.”
I wave a hand as we reach the ground floor where the offices are. “Don’t worry about that. The only reason I tell her we can’t get her a spot to sold out events is because she asks so often.”
“Did she say something to you?”
I glance at him. “When?”
“After you walked her to her seat. You looked a little pale when you came back to the front.”
He’d noticed? “She did, but I try not to take it personally. It can sound like she’s being mean, but that’s how she is with everyone. I’m not special or anything.”
Nate catches my hand, forcing me to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. “What did she say?”
There is no way I’m telling him the part that really hurt, about how someone like Nate would never be interested in someone like me. Instead, I say, “She said the event better not be boring.”
“It wasn’t. I don’t even like painting, and I had a good time.”
“Thank you. Speaking of which. There’s one more paint night if you guys want to come.”
We turn to watch Dani approach Lis, who already has Cerberus connected to his leash. The girl crouches down to give the dog some scratches while his tail thumps against the floor.
He sighs. “Put us down for it. Dani will beg me to take her, so might as well have it booked. Though I feel like I should pay you guys.”
I shake my head. “Not for these first ones. Maybe in September when we get them going again. These first ones were tests, anyway.”
We fall into silence for a minute, watching Dani and Cerberus together. Calista’s words keep stinging me. It’s not as if someone like him would be into someone like you, anyway.
“So, about our thing,” Nate says.
My breath catches in my throat as the kiss flashes through my mind again. Of course, that’s not what he’s referring to, but it’s what I think about.
“Are you busy next Tuesday night? There’s a block of time set aside at the rink I go to for individual hockey practice. 5pm to 6pm.”
I swallow. “I haven’t been skating in ages. Maybe we should start with a public skate before I get a stick in my hands?”
He smiles, the expression more in his eyes than on his lips. “Nope. Comfort zone, princess. You’re the one who wanted out of it.”
With my sister’s words fresh in my mind, I take a breath and lift my chin. “All right. Tuesday.”