“Shut up,” I muttered.
“So what do you say, Jo?” Tobias said. “You wanna go? It should be fun.”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” I interjected. Tobias shot me a cross look, causing me to fall silent. In that moment though, I simply couldn’t fathom having Joanna as my date in front of him. It just seemed like asking for trouble. I had no faith in my ability to not incriminate myself in front of him. He would be able to read me like a book, and I feared he would quickly figure out that I had a thing for his sister. And then a whole drama would break out right there in the gala for all to see.
I started to feel lightheaded just thinking about it. I gripped the chair at my desk and glanced at Joanna, hoping she would find a way to save us from the awkwardness. But she looked just as lost as I did.
“You two are a mess,” Tobias said, shaking his head. “Don’t you think it’s time to get rid of the childhood grudges by now, for crying out loud?”
“I don’t have a grudge…” Joanna said, her voice trailing off.
“Then you’ll go with him?” Tobias said.
“I…I mean… If I have to…I could… If he wants me to…”
Tobias looked back toward me. “Well?”
I sighed. “Okay. Whatever. Sure.”
“Great,” Tobias said, clapping his hands together and hopping down from my desk. “It’ll be fun. You’ll see,” he said to Joanna.
She forced a smile and then exchanged glances with me again.
And I stood there, wondering how on earth I was going to be able to be in her presence for a whole evening and keep my hands off of her.
The gala was going to be a very long night, that was for sure.
CHAPTER 18
Joanna
“You’re going to love it here,” Libby said, pulling into the parking lot of the boutique she’d been promising to take me to all week.
After I had essentially been assigned as Anderson’s date by Tobias, I had sought out Libby, asking her what she knew about the gala and what I should expect.
“You’re going to the gala?” s
he had asked. I then explained the situation to her, subsequently causing her to eagerly start making plans for us to go dress shopping together. With the event being right around the corner, the day had arrived for us to go shopping. Libby had happily offered to pick me up from Tobias’s place so that we could ride together, and I had agreed.
“This is going to be so much fun!” she had said, turning off her car engine. “And let me just say it again, you are sooo lucky!” She slapped me playfully on the arm and winked before we got out of the car.
“Honestly, it’s no big deal,” I said. “I’m only going with Anderson because my brother is making him take me.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. You’re still going to the gala with the one and only Anderson Lawrence,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how you landed the gig, the important thing is that you did! He may not be all that important to you, but trust me—there are loads of women who would love to be in your shoes right about now.”
“Sure,” I said. “So many that the last one stood him up.”
Libby waved her hand dismissively as she headed toward the entrance of the boutique. “Lauren has always been a flake. She doesn’t count.”
“Well, whatever. Like I said, it’s not that big of a deal.”
Libby held the door of the boutique open for me and gave a jealous sigh. “Your brother should have forced someone more appreciative on Anderson as his date,” she said, shaking her head.
“You may have a point,” I muttered, I honestly couldn’t tell how appreciative I was feeling about the circumstances. Things had been so ridiculously busy at work that Anderson and I hadn’t been able to talk much. I hadn’t gotten a chance to ask for elaboration regarding the woman who was supposed to be his date to the gala. Even though she had reportedly bailed on him, it still sent powerful waves of jealousy through me to simply think about him going on a date with another woman. It nagged the hell out of me to wonder if he would have even bothered to tell me about it. It rubbed me the wrong way to have found out through Tobias, all the while Anderson stood there, looking close to fainting.
I had been hoping to get a chance to talk to Anderson about it after office hours, but he had been surprisingly distant with me lately. I just didn’t know what to think anymore.
Yet seeing how excited Libby was, I didn’t want to spoil the fun for her. So I pushed my reservations aside and tried to focus on the task at hand. It had been a long time since I’d been dress shopping; I could hardly even remember the last time I’d needed a formal dress.