Alliance – Chapter 20

Friday, March 19

What is that God awful sound? Why won’t it stop when I smack my alarm clock? Oh. I didn’t set my alarm. Wow. It’s already after one o’clock? How did that happen? Sure, I had to take something to help me sleep last night after seeing Eric again, but…still. I should’ve been up hours ago.

I rubbed my eyes and opened the door, not bothering to see who it was first.

Or change out of the tank top and yoga pants I slept in.

“Oh my gosh, were you still asleep?  I am so sorry,” Reyna said, as usual, talking at the speed of a jet.

I shook my head.  “I just overslept, that’s all.  Do you want to come in?”

“Yes.” She hesitated, then nodded and stepped inside.

“Would you like some coffee or…”

“I’ll get it,” Reyna interrupted.  “I woke you up, so I bet you probably need a minute to get used to being awake.  I know I would.  I am so not a morning person.”

I watched Reyna disappear into my kitchen.  Did she have to be so much like me?  Well, except for looking like she just stepped of the cover of a magazine. And she was perky.

It was as though she was trying to make this difficult on me.  I took advantage of the opportunity she gave me to brush my teeth and change into a comfortable pair of jeans and a soft grey sweater.

Reyna handed me a cup of coffee as soon as I emerged from my bedroom.  “Here you go, sunshine.  Wow. That is an awful color for you.”  She looked embarrassed.  “Sorry.”

I shook my head.  “Thank you for the coffee.  You’re entirely too peppy.”

“I know.  I do that when I’m nervous.” The hesitation was back.

I led her into the living room to sit down before I responded.  “Nervous?”

“I wanted to apologize to you for last night.  I had no idea about you and Eric.  I probably made an awkward situation even worse and I’m sorry about that.”  She paused and looked suddenly embarrassed.  “Well, I mean of course I knew about you and Eric.  I just didn’t know that you were you, er, her, er you before last night when he told me that you were.”

“First of all, there is no me and Eric anymore and there hasn’t been for quite some time.  If anything, you made the situation less awkward because you didn’t know.  You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.  Don’t worry about it, Reyna.”

“Okay.  So you aren’t quitting then?”

“No.  Why would I?”

“Oh, thank God.  You’re like the only normal person on that committee.  Couldn’t you just have died when Suzanne and Trevor started fighting about the right way to serve salmon mousse?  Don’t they realize they’re talking about whipped up fish?”  She wrinkled her nose.

I couldn’t suppress my laugh.  “That was a waste of time.”

“I know, Sky.  It’s like this every week.  Last time it was something about whether the centerpieces should be pink or bubble gum, even though they both look exactly the same.  I honestly don’t know how my mother managed to do this year after year.  These people are absolutely, certifiably insane.”

“What can I do to help you?”

“I was hoping you would say that,” Reyna replied, producing a piece of paper from her purse.  “I know Suzanne wanted to pick out the floral arrangements, but I need someone to go who won’t spend two hours trying to decide between the closed buds and the slightly closed buds.”

I accepted the paper from her.  It was the address to the florist we were apparently using for the gala.  The color scheme was also listed for me.  Clearly, Reyna was a bit of a control freak, though I completely understood why after having met Suzanne.

“I’ll take care of it.  How many arrangements do I need to get?”

Reyna stood up as though she were trying to visualize the room in her head.  “Let’s see…We’ll need about a hundred table centerpieces.  There will be seven buffet tables that need a little color.  It may be too cold, but I want something out on the terrace as well, just in case.  I guess sixty feet of greenery ought to do the trick.  Eh, whatever else you think we might need.”  Reyna scrutinized the room.  “I can tell you have good taste.  I won’t have to worry about anything strange from you.  I hate to give assignments and dash, but I have to get to the caterer’s and make certain that we are not having whipped fish at my gala.  You have my cell if you need anything,” Reyna said breezily as she left.

“She seems nice,” Parker commented as he entered the room.

“I wish you would stop doing that.”

I guess I could at least rule out him picking the lock on my front door since Reyna and I would have seen him come in.

“You know you’re starting to like me, Skylar.  I can tell; you only raised your voice a little that time.”

“I don’t have time for this.  What do you want, Parker?” I snapped.  And how do you keep getting in without my knowledge, a voice inside my head was screaming.

Seriously…was the man magicianing himself though my bedroom wall or what?

“I thought I would come see how you were doing today.  That’s supposed to be a good boyfriend behavior, right?”

I shot him a dirty look.  He probably wouldn’t know a good boyfriend if I hired one to keep him out of my living room.

“Okay, okay.  I get the hint.  I actually thought it might be a good idea if we got to know each other a little better.”

“Pass.”

“Excuse me?”

“Business and pleasure rule.”

“I think we both know that wasn’t what I meant.” Before I could protest that I knew no such thing, he added, “We should get to know each other better because you’re going to have to pretend to be smitten with me soon.”

“Smitten?  You are out of your mind.  I’ve never been smitten before in my life.”

“You get my point,” he said.

“Yeah…but I don’t see why you expect me to fawn all over you like you’re something special.” It really pissed me off that a smile was playing over his lips. “Besides, smitten isn’t my style and there will people at this thing who know that about me.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’ll pretend to be smitten. Either way, we still need to have a little more knowledge about each other than we do right now. We’ll only get so far working with me being a dead con artist pretending to be your boyfriend and the obvious contempt for me you don’t bother to hide.”

“I suppose that would be a good idea, but I get to go pick out flowers,” I said, holding up the address for him to see.  “You’re welcome to come with me, if you like.”

Parker shrugged.  “I’ve been dead for over a year.  I have no plans.”

“I was kidding.  Don’t you think it will be dangerous for us to be out in public together before the gala?”

He grinned.  “I doubt Raptor will be casing a flower shop.  It’s ever so slightly beneath him, I imagine.”

“Whatever,” I sighed.  “Let’s just go.”

“Aren’t you going to change first?”

I did a double-take.  “Why?”

“The kid was right.  You should burn that sweater.”

Why did everyone hate my clothes today? “But comfortable is my favorite color.”

“That’s fine, but if you show up for the gala wearing that, we’ll need to rethink the whole smitten thing.” He shook his head. “I’m the best out there, but no one’s that good.”

Continue reading…

…Go back

© 2010, Sydney Katt. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use of content will result in dragon attacks.