by Casey Hagen
“Good. Now let’s talk about this nonsense of you and Piper not being a real couple. I don’t know what you all were playing at, but I saw something there. How do you know her?”
“Well, it’s kind of a long story. Her older brother is my best friend. I’ve known her since she was six. Truth is, I did take her to her high school prom. I thought the girl I took to prom would make the perfect girl next door.”
Davidson stared at him stone-faced until his lip quivered, then he leaned back, holding his stomach as he let out a laugh.
“I’m glad I amuse you.”
“Boy, you’re in love with her. From the way you talk about her, you’ve definitely been in love with her since prom, if not before. All you need to do is go get the girl.”
Trevor flinched. “Yeah, that might not be so easy.”
“Why’s that?”
“I said some things.”
“You could apologize.”
“The wound might need a bit more than a Band-Aid.”
“Then get some gauze, but mark my words, you’ll be miserable if you let her go.”
“She finds my history to be a huge disappointment.”
“You’re a part of her history, just focus on that part. She liked you then. I happen to know where you can find her, if you’re interested.”
Trevor tilted his head. “What are you talking about?”
“She’s meeting Marla and me at Taps tonight. I owe Marla big time so I’ve agreed to go dancing. Seemed fitting for Marla and Piper to have their dancewear meeting there.”
“Marla’s not mad at her then?”
“The thing is, my wife is all fire and the flame burns hot, but fast. She gets over things quickly.”
An idea formed in Trevor’s head. He wondered if he could pull it off…or if it would even work. One thing was for sure, it was his best shot. Maybe his only shot. “What time is this meeting?”
“Seven.”
“I’ll be there by eight.” He headed for the door, but turned back. “Can I have the rest of the day off?”
“You just got here.”
“Yeah, but if I’m going to get the girl, I have a few things to do first.”
“Fine, fine.” Davidson shot out of his chair. “Oh, and consider this dinner tonight your congratulatory dinner on your partnership.”
“You’re still giving it to me?”
“I sure as hell can’t give it to Rachel,” Davidson said and shuddered.
Trevor marched back to Davidson’s desk and shook his hand. “Thank you. I thought I’d lost the shot. I just—really, thank you.”
“You deserve it.”
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Trevor pulled the papers out of his inside breast pocket. “Consider this my first act as partner,” he tossed the papers on the desk and walked away.
“Good God! How did you manage this?” he called to Trevor right before Trevor stepped out the door.
“I made the connection a while ago. I reached out and it just happened to be the right place and the right time.”
“I’m impressed. Excellent work! I’ll announce this tomorrow when I announce you as partner. I had planned to today, but since you’re not going to be here and all, I’ll hold off.”
“I appreciate it. Thank you, Davidson...for everything.” Trevor ducked out the door with no time to waste. The drive to his parents’ house was a good hour from the city, and if he knew his mother, she had held onto his old stuff. He needed it.
***
Piper packed the dress she had modified when she’d gotten back from her trip, and her two sketchbooks. She was sure the dress was the right choice for the tribute to Shakespeare, the Romeo and Juliet segment of the dance, but just in case Marla had a different vision, Piper wanted to be prepared.
Next, she needed to find something to wear. Taps was a new jazz club on the west side and she had been wanting to go there since they opened, but had never managed to find the time. She opted for something a bit different tonight. A bit of old Piper and new Piper. She still liked pretty things, after all, and just because she had begun the effort to embrace her true self didn’t mean she didn’t like to dress up and look pretty.
She pulled out a black wrap dress with white polka dots the size of quarters. The loved the swish of the soft fabric against her skin. She paired the dress with a pair of black velvet kitten heels, a strand of pearls, pearl stud earrings, and pearl crusted combs to hold the sides of her hair, while the rest waved down her back.
She spun in the mirror and smiled. She’d achieved a classic look and kept that look in mind when she did her makeup. Red lipstick, absolutely. A bit of smoky eye shadow, blush, and mascara finished off her look.
Then she met her own eyes and caught a glimpse of the sadness there.
Amazing how just a couple of days with a person, combined with the right chain of events, had the power to make a person feel like their life had become an unfamiliar land they needed to learn how to navigate all over again.
She hated it.
It didn’t matter. She had a job to do and she’d do it.
She took a cab to Taps and arrived five minutes before seven. She met a tall, redheaded hostess at the entrance. “I’m Piper Bradley. I’m here to meet Davidson and Marla Williams.”
“Of course, Ms. Bradley, right this way.” Piper held a shaking hand to her stomach and took in a deep breath. She and Marla had hashed out the situation from over the weekend while they talked on the phone, but seeing them in person, looking them in the eye, well, it terrified her.
The hostess led Piper to where Marla and Davidson sat at a round table next to the dance floor. As she approached, she noticed Marla’s stunning emerald green scoop-neck dress with a single solitaire diamond necklace that winked from her chest.
Davidson stood and pulled out Marla’s chair. Always the gentleman.
“You look beautiful, Piper,” Marla said with a warm smile and a hug.
“Thank you, you do, too,” Piper said. She meant it.
“I have the pleasure of having dinner with the two most beautiful women in the city. I’m a lucky man.” He pushed in each of their chairs for them and took a seat.
“I’m surprised you’re not still mad at me,” Piper said to Davidson.
“Well, I have to say—”
Marla put her hand on his arm. “You have nothing to say, love. You brought this all on yourself with your ridiculous plan.”
“The problems Trevor and I have would have cropped up with or without Davidson’s plans. I appreciate the thought, though. Listen, do you mind if we don’t talk about Trevor tonight?”
“Oh, of course. Why don’t you show me what you’ve got? We’ll get business out of the way and move on to dinner,” Marla said.
“Thanks. First, I want you to take a look at my sketchbooks and see if anything jumps out at you. We have a mockup for everything on these pages and have a team starting in two weeks so we can expand our line. The first order to go up is yours.”
Marla covered Piper’s hand with her own. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me that you did this for us. The kids are just going to be ecstatic. It’ll be a huge relief for their parents as well.”
“I’m happy to do it.”
Marla scanned the designs, flipping the pages carefully, and backtracking to a few favorites. She saved two spots in the first book that they went back to when she finished.
“I like these two the best, but I’m wondering if we can talk about modifications. I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful, I’m just thinking of the nature of the show and the ages of the girls.”
Piper looked at her selections, both gowns, as she suspected they would be. One was more virginal than Piper would choose. It had been designed with religious pieces in mind. The other with the multiple crisscross straps was a bit too modern, too flashy for a classic production.
“Hold that thought, because I have one more thing to show you,” Piper said. She pulled out her latest creation
and stood holding it up to her own body for inspection. “What do you think?”
Marla stood. She didn’t say anything at first, but if the way her face lit up was any indication, she had just fallen in love.
“Why wasn’t this in the sketchbooks?” Marla said, rubbing the sheer layers of the skirt between her fingers.
“I never sketched it. I saw it in my head and the minute I did, I started cutting fabrics before I lost the vision. It laid on my table for weeks. Something about it just wasn’t right, but when I went into the office yesterday, it just clicked. This is the final product.”
The band started their first number, but they played low enough for everyone to continue their conversations.
“It’s stunning. It’s just right, but it can’t be cheap.”
“No, it’s not, but this one is on Exclusively Piper.”
“I don’t know how to thank you. This is really far more than I ever expected,” Marla said.
“Just make sure I get a ticket to the performance and we’re even,” Piper smiled.
“Thank you!” Marla hugged her and swiped at her happy tears.
They both sat back down and Davidson ordered a bottle of champagne. They asked her about her plans for expansion and about her history with dance. Sadness crept in at the thought of losing this. Could she keep them as friends with everything that had happened? She had started the evening intending to switch over to a business association and keep a distance, only Marla seemed to pull anyone she spoke to into her inner circle. Piper didn’t want to lose the connection, but it might just be one more casualty of her and Trevor’s lie.
Just before eight, the band kicked up in earnest, the champagne ran dry, and the waiter took their dinner order. The band began one of her favorites, Willow Weep For Me. She swung her feet to the beat and wished Rafe were here to dance with her.
“May I have this dance?”
Piper froze at the sound of Trevor’s voice, pinching her heart. Goosebumps broke out on her skin as excitement gushed through her veins.
She turned to find him standing over her, his hand out, and pinned to his jacket…a dried-up boutonniere.
“Is that what I think it is?” she asked, taking his hand to stand before him.
“My boutonniere, yes. My mother saves everything.”
He looked tired, but so handsome. And relieved. He looked so much like the guy she used to know with the boyish grin and the laughter dancing in his eyes. “What are you doing here?”
He smoothed a hand over the waves that fell over her shoulder. “I heard you would be here.”
“That’s it?”
He cocked his head to the side and took her hand. “And Davidson invited me to celebrate my partnership.”
“You got it?” Despite the fact that many of his deals had been made on the back of parties and women, she was proud of him. Whether he partied or not, he worked hard, and his promotion should never have been based on whether or not he was in a committed relationship. Something that clearly had been waived since he was single.
He led her onto the dance floor. He pulled her in, wrapping his arm around her, holding her close as they swayed to the smooth jazz rolling through the room. “I did. I didn’t have to drink or cavort to get it, either. Well, other than the drinking and cavorting I did with you last weekend.” He winked.
“What are you saying?”
“I’ve reformed. I went home, got very drunk, this was prior to my reformation, and in the process realized that I’m getting too old for that shit.” He spun her and pulled her back in. “I also realized that no amount of alcohol could dull the ache of losing you.”
She held his face between her hands and searched his eyes. “Is this the old Trevor I’ve been looking for?”
He shrugged. “More than that. This new and improved Trevor isn’t the womanizer he once was, but he’s retained his way with words. You know, he still has deals to make, and he’s going to need a few tools left in his arsenal.”
“And what does this Trevor want from me?” she said as she gave him a slow smile.
He pressed his forehead to hers. “Forever.” He kissed her lips, then the corner of her mouth. “I love you, Piper. I’ve loved you for a long time.”
She sighed as his lips moved over hers, desperate for him to soothe the ache she had suffered for the past couple of days. The combination of his kisses, his words, his embrace, managed to assuage some of the lingering pain of longing for her childhood crush.
“And what if you fall back into your old ways?”
“I won’t.”
She pulled back and looked him in the eye. One should always look someone in the eye when making a deal. She may not be as smooth as Trevor in these matters, but she had a few tools of her own. “Mmmmmm, I don’t know. I think this calls for a probationary period.”
“Three months?” he said, raising a brow.
“God, no,” she said on a laugh. “A year.”
“A year? No way. Six months.”
“Nine,” she said.
“Deal.” He cupped her head and pulled her in for a heated kiss. He nibbled her lips, teasing and coaxing until she opened for him. One taste of him and she had to resist the urge to devour him. Lightheaded, she pulled back and pressed her cheek to his as they swayed. “I would have settled for six months,” she whispered.
He laughed, making his breath tickle the shell of her ear. “I would have agreed to forever,” he whispered back.
She locked eyes with him, a lifetime of feelings bubbled over inside her. “I love you, Trevor. I’ve loved you for so long. I don’t want to be without you again.” She laid her head on his shoulder while she played with the hair at the nape of his neck.
“You’ll never have to be. Now that I’ve got you, I’m never letting you go.”
***
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ABOUT CASEY HAGEN
Casey Hagen pens her snarky, passionate stories from the salty air of Kennebunk, Maine. She’s a born and raised Vermont native, a New England girl to the core, with Ben & Jerry’s in her heart and real Vermont maple syrup pumping through her veins.
She’s the proud mother of three girls and a soon-to-be first-time grandma with an insatiable addiction to Fall Out Boy, and a new, rather concerning obsession with tattoos and piercings. Can you say “cool grandma?”
The inked and pierced grandma spends her time tucked away in her office, coated in cat hair, alternating between tearing her hair out trying to find the perfect words and being one step ahead of her three scheming fur babies she is positive are plotting her demise with every swirl around her ankles at the top of her office stairs.
She loves writing stories about real people, with complicated histories, relatable everyday problems, and giving them the hard-won happily-ever-afters they deserve.
And she thanks every last one of you who picks up one of her stories.
Casey is done talking about herself in the third person.
*Casey out*
