“Hello there,” Leena said, coming through the side doors. “How are all my animals? That includes you too, Reese.”
“Gee, thanks.” I giggled. “And everyone is happy and healthy. I’m really glad we hired that weekend care staff. It’s a load off of my shoulders.”
“I know, I told you,” she said indignantly. “You need a life. I need a life. We need to not always be at work, and luckily, we’ve gotten to a financial point where we could make that decision. Speaking of weekends, how was the wedding?”
“Man, it was amazing,” I said, shaking my head. “Caroline really went all out with the thing. I don’t know how she did it. It would have been a full-time job to get that thing together like that.”
“Must be nice having daddy’s purse strings,” Leena commented. “But that is just my raging jealousy talking. If I were in her position, I would have done the same thing.”
“There were flowers everywhere, at least three hundred guests, and her dress—oh my god—it must have taken hundreds and hundreds of yards of tulle to make,” I said while filling the jars at the cleaning station. “I don’t even know how she fit through the door.”
“And the men? Did you meet any amazing ones?”
“Is that all you think about?” I asked.
She laughed. “No, but it’s important that my best friend starts to break out and have a good time.”
“Well, it just so happened that I did meet someone,” I said, sticking my tongue out at her.
“What? Do tell. Everything. Don’t leave anything out.” Leena pulled up a chair.
“It wasn’t that exciting,” I said, looking down. “He was charming and sweet, but I knew what he wanted, and it wasn’t what I did.”
“How did you know?”
“Well, he didn’t exactly come out and say it, but he’s rich, powerful, and very good friends with Caroline’s brother Caleb, who is a notorious playboy,” I replied. “His name was Blaine, and he asked me for my number, but instead of playing games, I just told him the truth.”
“Which was?”
“I wasn’t the girl he was looking for,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders and walking over to put away the supplies. “Why string him along and make him think anything was going to come out of it? I wasn’t going to sleep with him, and he wouldn’t be interested in a normal girl like me.”
“You are unbelievable,” Leena said, shaking her head and putting the chair back.
“Why?”
“You had a handsome, rich man hitting on you, and you blew him off before you even found out what he wanted,” she replied. “For all you know, he could have been Prince Charming, but you’ve got this fear, and I don’t know where it came from.”
“It came from the fact that all men want the same thing,” I replied harshly. “They are all identical. They want to take whatever they can and leave, and to be honest, that is not at all how I want to play things. I would be much better off being alone than being some sad girl weeping into a pint of ice cream and watching chick flicks when I get dumped for something I already knew was coming.”
“Or you can be miserable
and alone because you never want to take a chance,” she said. “Honestly, Reese, I just want you to be happy. I want you to be well and settled, and I want you to find love. On top of all that, you shouldn’t have to be a virgin forever.”
“Well, even if I wanted to find him, even if I could find him, he has probably already forgotten about me,” I said, turning back to what I was doing.
“If you never take the chance, you will never know,” Leena said, walking from the room.
I waited until she was out of the room and slammed the papers down on the table, lowering my head. I was so terrified of getting hurt, of being on the giving end of unrequited love, and of falling in love with someone that just took my virginity and never wanted to see me again. I didn’t want to be sad and alone on birthdays, holidays, and parties. I didn’t want to be the girl everyone knows is heartbroken, and the best way to avoid that was to not take chances on men I already knew were after something I was not. Still, Blaine’s ice blue eyes would not leave my mind, and I wondered if somehow maybe, Leena might be right.
I took a deep breath and put the thought out of my mind. I had a lot of work to get done. There were six dogs being picked up, and I wanted to make sure they were dressed, looking good, and smelling wonderful before their owners arrived. After that, there were four new dogs coming to stay with us for at least a week each, so the pens would have to be cleaned and taken care of. I went to work bathing the dogs and talking to them like they were humans. At least twice, Leena stuck her head in the door and shook it at me, realizing I was using the dogs as therapy again.
As I finished up bathing the last dog, my cell phone rang. I let the dog go, dried off my hands, walked over, and looked down at the screen. I didn’t recognize the number, but there were still a few websites with my private number listed, so I figured it might be a customer calling. I cleared my throat and pulled the phone to my ear, taking in a deep breath before answering.
“Hello, this is Reese,” I said professionally.
“Well hello there, just the girl I wanted to talk to,” the deep voice on the other line said. “This is Blaine from the wedding.”
“Blaine,” I repeated, too shocked to say anything else.