One of the Guys (6 page)

           
“I think I’m going to go,” she said.

           
“I’ll walk you to the car!” Chris
and Max both said at the same time. Chris, having just folded his hand, got to
his feet first.

           
Kate waved goodnight to the boys. “May
the best man win!” she called.

           
Kate and Chris walked down the
stairs to the parking lot. When they got to the car, she was about to thank
him, when he grabbed her around the waist, pushed her up against the car, and
kissed her. She wasn’t expecting that at all.

           
She wrapped her arms around his neck
and pulled him closer, kissing him hungrily. They stopped for a second, to
catch their breath, and then leapt on each other again. “Do you know how hard
it was for me to sit next to you up there?”
 
Chris cupped her face in his hands and pulled away to smile at her. “I’ve
wanted to do that all night.”

Kate
stared up at him in surprise. She didn’t have a clue what to say to that.

“I
gotta
get back up there,” he said.

           
She nodded. “Go get ‘
em
.”

           
Beaming at her, he kissed her
quickly on the lips and jogged back through the parking lot back to the stairs.
She watched him hustle up the stairs, still reeling from his kiss.

*

           
Kate was sitting at her desk doing
paperwork the next morning, when her cell phone rang.

“Do
you have any plans next weekend?” her mother asked.

           
“Um…” She flipped through the
calendar lying open on her desk. She had been hoping that her plans would
include another date with Chris. “I just have a wedding Saturday morning. That’s
it.”

           
“Oh, good.
Then
would you mind doing your father and me a huge favor?”

           
“What’s that?”

           
“Would you chicken-sit?”

           
Kate laughed. “Would I what?”

           
“And watch the pigs?”

           
“Are you kidding?”

           
“No. Your father and I are going to West
Palm for the weekend for Chuck and Jeanine’s fiftieth anniversary party and we
need somebody to feed the chickens and gather eggs.”

           
“Wait a second. I’ve seen the pigs,
but when did you guys get chickens?”

           
“I would ask the neighbors, but
they’re going to visit family in Georgia that same weekend. Can you please do
it?”

           
“Sure, sure,” Kate sighed. “I can
probably get there sometime in the late afternoon. Is that okay?”

           
“That’s perfect. We’ll be back
sometime Sunday evening. I don’t suppose we’ll get to see you?”

           
“I don’t think so… I have an early
appointment on Monday.”

           
“Maybe one of these days your father
and I will just come visit you.”

           
“You guys can come visit anytime. It’s
still your house, you know,” Kate said. “Look, Mom, I’ve got a lot of paperwork
to do…”

           
“Okay. I’ll call you Friday night to
give you directions on the pigs and chickens. And you’ll have to be careful
with the new electric fence!
 
Don’t touch
it. Your dad and I have both gotten zapped,” she giggled. “And wait until you
see our garden!
 
We still have watermelon
on the vine and…”

           
“Okay, Mom, I’ll see it on Saturday.
I’ve got to go.”

           
Kate finally managed to get off the
phone with her mother and get back to her paperwork. After a few minutes, her
cell phone rang again. She glanced at it and saw Chris’s name on the screen. “Hello?”

           
“Hey, what are you doing?”

           
“Paperwork.
What are you doing?”

           
“Editing pictures.
Guess who won poker last night.”

           
“I’m guessing you did.”

           
“That’s right. We played until after
four in the morning.”

           
“You’re kidding!”

           
“Nope.
I’m
freaking exhausted.”

           
“I bet,” Kate said. The line was
quiet for a moment, and Kate had an idea. “I don’t know if you’re interested,
but Jackson was going to bring some steaks over and we were going to cook out. Do
you want to join us?”

           
“That sounds like a plan. If I can
finish these pictures and take a nap first.”

           
“Great. I’ll call and tell Jackson
to pick up another steak. See you around seven?”

           
“See you then.”

           
Kate hung up with Chris, took a deep
breath, and then called Jackson. “Jack?
 
Hey, it’s Kate.”

           
“Hey, Kate, what’s up?
 
I’m at the butcher. Anything else you want me
to pick up for tonight?”

           
“Perfect! Get another steak.”

           
“Oh?
 
Who else is coming?”

           
Kate drummed her fingers on the
desktop. “Chris.”

           
“Oh.”
 
Jackson paused for a minute, and Kate could
tell that he was probably trying to process what, if anything, Chris’s
invitation to dinner meant. “Okay. Sure, no problem.
Anything
else?
 
I got stuff for baked
potatoes. Good thing I got extra.”

           
“That’s great. Thanks,” she said. “Lucy
said she was going to get some wine and something for dessert.”

           
“All right.
I’ll see you later.”

           
“’Bye.”
 
Kate hung up the phone and sat looking at it.
Should I call Lucy?
 
Should I tell her?
 
What’s she going to say?

           
Kate’s thoughts were interrupted as
Julia poked her head in the door. “Hey!
 
I just wanted to tell you that Mr. Banks gave me a call yesterday. He
was completely raving about his daughter’s wedding. He said he was going to
tell everybody to use Bride Ideas for any of their events. Good job.”

           
“He was a sweet man,” Kate smiled.

           
“He was definitely impressed with
you,” Julia said. She came in and perched on the edge of Kate’s desk. “So how’s
it going?”

           
“Great!” Kate said brightly. “I’m
just finishing up paperwork from yesterday.”

           
“I mean, besides work. How’s
everything?
 
How’s life?
 
Are you seeing anybody?
 
When are we going to plan a big, elaborate
wedding for you?
 
How come you’re not
married?” Julia teased, asking Kate’s least favorite questions.

           
Kate giggled.
 
“Not anytime soon. I’m not even seriously
dating anybody right now.
 
I’ve just been
really busy.”

           
“Tell me about it,” Julia sighed.

           
“How is everything with you?” Kate
asked.

           
“Okay…” Julia said. Her voice
trailed off, and Kate wondered if Julia meant ‘okay’ as in everything was fine,
or if everything was ‘okay’ but not really. “I was wondering… And this might
sound weird… But we spend so much time in here working, and we never really get
to do anything outside this place. Do you think maybe some night we could get
together, just the two of us, and hang out or something?”

           
Kate smiled. “Sure. That would be
nice.”

           
Julia nodded. “It really would. I
feel like all I do is work, work,
work
. I go home to
Alex and Allie and that’s like a whole other job in itself. Cooking and
cleaning and entertaining. It would be nice just to get out for an evening and
relax. I never get to have girl time anymore.”

           
“Sure. Let’s plan on doing something
soon.”

           
“I’d really like that,” Julia said. “Thanks.”
 
She slid off the desk and went back into her
office, leaving Kate to finish her paperwork.

           
Kate turned back to the folder in
front of her. She liked the idea of spending some time with Julia. She was a
great person, but the truth was, they were always so busy in the office that
they rarely got to do anything together socially. She jotted a note on a Post-It
to remind herself to set up a date to go out with Julia.

           
Kate sorted through her invoices and
typed numbers into her spreadsheet. Then she printed off her reports, saved her
files, and shut her computer down. She sorted her reports into the clients’
folders and carried them to Julia’s office. Julia was on the phone and she
waved. Kate held up the folders to show Julia that she was finished before
placing them in the basket hanging on the wall by the door. She waved goodbye
to Julia and went back to her office to pick up her phone and her purse.

           
She flicked the lights off in her
office and closed the door, excited to go home and get ready for dinner with
Lucy, Jackson, and Chris. Smiling, she perched her sunglasses on her nose and
headed out into the sunlight.

*

           
“Chris is coming here for dinner?”
Lucy asked over the roar of the hair dryer.

           
“Yeah, what’s the big deal?” Kate
asked, curling the ends of her hair under with a fat, round brush.

           
“You could have told me.”

           
“It sounds like you already know.”

           
“I mean you could’ve told me
before.”

           
“Didn’t Jackson tell you?” Kate
asked.

           
“Well, yeah, but
you
could’ve told me.”

           
“What does it matter if you already
know?”

           
“I don’t know!”

           
“Then what’s the problem?” Kate
asked, finally switching the hair dryer off.

           
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know. How’s
it going with you two?”

           
“Fine, I guess. We went on one date
that started out bad and got better. I already told you all about that. We
kissed a couple times and that’s it. I filled you in on all that. And… he’s
coming here for dinner tonight.”

           
“Oh my God, so you’re really dating
him.”

           
“Date.
We
went on one date. That’s it.”

           
Lucy sat down on the edge of the tub.
“Maybe it could work.”

           
Kate laughed and opened her makeup
drawer. “We’ll see.
Taking it slow.
Just seeing where
it goes, remember?”

           
“You’re dating the man-whore.”

           
“Don’t call him a man-whore while
he’s here, please.”

           
“I won’t.”

           
“Be nice to him. He’s Jackson’s
friend, too, you know.”

           
“Yeah, yeah.”
 
Lucy said. “I’m going to go make the salad.”

           
Kate sharpened her eyeliner pencil,
letting the shavings fall into the garbage can. “I’ll be there to help you in a
couple minutes,” she called. She did her makeup quickly, then went into her
bedroom and shut the door. She flung her robe off onto the floor and stood in
her closet in her underwear, trying to decide what to wear. It’s not like they
were going out for dinner, but she still wanted to look nice. She flipped
through her clothes, pushing tops and skirts back and forth. She finally
decided on a long brown prairie skirt and a turquoise tank top. Comfortable,
but she still looked nice. The turquoise looked really nice against what was
left of her summer tan. She started digging through her jewelry box for a pair
of silver earrings, but heard a car in the driveway, so she decided to skip
them. She opened the door to her bedroom just as Lucy was heading to the front
door.