“Be careful or you’re not getting any tonight.” I was full of shit and we both knew that. He just laughed and walked back into the kitchen where he was making dinner for one. It pretty much sucked that he couldn’t come to the dinner with me, but that completely defeated the purpose of hiding our relationship. We’d jokingly thought of scenarios where he could just happen to drop by and could join us, but there was no way to do it without making it completely obvious.
He texted me when I was in the cab with a picture of himself sticking his pierced tongue out and it made me smile, but didn’t help with the nerves. I messaged him back and then it was time to face my parents.
“You look pale,” was the first thing my mother said to me. Yeah, hiding my nervousness was going really well.
“Oh, I’m just tired. I’ve been having trouble sleeping.” Because of all the sex I’ve been having with my assistant.
“What about chamomile tea? That always used to work when you were younger,” Mom said as we sat down at the table. Somehow I didn’t think tea was going to help in this situation.
“I’ll try that,” I said anyway. Mom swore by tea as the cure-all for everything. Upset stomach? Ginger. Can’t sleep? Chamomile. Need a jolt? Black.
Luckily, Mom was full of details about the Black and White Ball, so I didn’t have to talk much. Dad seemed quiet, but he was probably just exhausted by Mom talking about the ball.
“Has Sloane started your dress yet?” The second I’d mentioned the thing, Sloane had run to her drafting table and started sketching. She’d made at least five potential sketches and I’d picked one and she’d started working on it in her spare time. First she was going to make a dummy dress out of muslin to fit it to me and then we were going together to pick out the fabric. Maybe this year she’d actually take my input.
“Yes, and it’s going to be black. We thought a white dress was way too wedding.”
“Well, you should decide who you’re taking and see what color he wants so you can match exactly. I’d love to see both of you in white,” she said and I dropped my fork on the floor. Of course I’d taken Royce to the last Ball, which had been a Garden of Eden theme. I’d worn red and he’d worn a green suit. The apple and the snake. Yes, I knew it should have been obvious that the snake was inside the suit, but I was blind.
“I don’t think I’ll be taking anyone.” I’d had years where I didn’t have a date. Granted, they’d been when I was a gawky teenager, but still. There was no rule that I had to have a date to the ball. This wasn’t a prom in 1953.
“Oh, but you have to bring a date,” Mom said as if I’d suggested coming to the event naked.
Dad cleared his throat.
“She doesn’t have to bring a date, Eva. It’s not a social disgrace for a woman to be single at an event anymore.” See?
“I know that, Walter. I just thought that she might have someone in mind that she could bring. Just as a friend.” A someone named Fintan Herald. I could see what was going on in my mother’s head as if I was watching a movie.
Me, in a fabulous black gown. Fin, also in black. Our eyes meet across the crowded ballroom. Everyone stops and stares at my beauty as I walk in slow motion across the room to meet him. Our eyes lock as the string quartet starts a waltz and everyone moves out of our way as we glide across the floor. Everyone remarks about how lovely we look together. Fin compliments mean and I blush attractively and duck my head modestly. When the dance is over he gives me his arm and we stroll onto the patio and he spouts magnificent poetry and plucks a rose from the trellis and . . .
“I don’t need a date. I’ve had a date for the past few years, and clearly, it didn’t work out for me. So I’m going alone.”
Mom sighed as if I was the most defiant child ever but then she smiled as if an idea had struck her.
“Well maybe you’ll meet someone there.”
I looked at Dad and he just shook his head. You couldn’t stop Eva Clarke once she got started.
“Or maybe I’ll trip, break my ankle and there will be a cute paramedic that comes to my rescue,” I said with a smile as I speared a tomato from my salad and popped it into my mouth.
“We can only hope,” Mom said.
“So you would let me break my ankle just to meet a man?”
She waved her hand as if I was being ridiculous. “Don’t be dramatic. You could just twist it and make it look convincing.” She looked down at her salad and I shared a glance with Dad. Insane. The woman was insane.
Luckily, the heat was taken off of me as Dad started talking about politics and then he and Mom got in a heated discussion about the economy. I know most kids hated when their parents fought, but for them it was more like a debate between two fiercely intelligent people so I kind of loved it.
I just sat back and watched the words fly, and sipped my wine while I calmed down. Lucah was waiting for me and I was pretty excited about that. You’d think after however many rounds of sex we’d had that we’d get bored, or one of us would stop having orgasms, but that wasn’t the case. We got each other off each and every time and it always felt new. There was no way this could go on forever. Sex wasn’t always that magical, not in real life.
When my parents had finally agreed to disagree as they always did, it was time for dessert and I did whatever I could to get out of there without Mom bringing up the date business again.
I succeeded and texted Lucah as the cab drove me back to his place. He just sent me back a smiley. I’d thought he was going to rub being right in my face, but he wasn’t that kind of guy.
“Didn’t I tell you it was going to be fine? Why don’t you listen to me, Miss Clarke?” he said when I walked in. Or maybe he was that kind of guy. I just rolled my eyes and let him kiss me, but didn’t kiss him back.
“Aw, did you think I would be above gloating about being right? Think again, Sunshine.” He winked and I stuck my tongue out at him.