“What do you for fun, Natalie?” he asks, suddenly curious about her.
“What?”
He repeats the question.
She blinks. “Fun?”
“Yeah.”
She looks confused. The question appears to have stumped her.
“I bake,” she finally says. “I like to create new recipes.”
“That’s still work. How do you relax?”
She bites her bottom lip and it catches his attention. He’s always had a weakness for a pretty mouth. “I don’t know. I watch movies. Especially Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.”
Anthony raises his eyebrows. “You’re into Star Wars?”
“And Lord of the Rings.”
He takes this in, surprised. “Look, I really do have La Dolce Vita’s best interest in mind. I know you don’t believe me, but working with complex equations and analyzing data is what I do best.”
Natalie’s expression hardens. “I need to get back to work now, if you don’t mind.”
“I’ll leave you to it, then.” He turns to leave.
“Wait a minute. Don’t you want to write this stuff down?” She holds up her notebook.
“Don’t need to. I’ve already got it memorized.”
Natalie appears skeptical, a reaction he’s gotten a lot over the years. “You seriously memorized everything I just showed you?”
“I did.”
She studies him for a moment. “Prove it.” She holds the notebook close to her chest, as if he had x-ray vision and could somehow see through the front cover.
Anthony brings up the data in his mind. “The first job wanted four cakes and two dozen cupcakes and the second job wanted six cakes.” He rattles off all the figures she gave him down to the last penny. “Obviously, that’s not the whole story though. I’ll be able to tell you the net profit after I put these figures into my program.”
She opens her book and checks his figures. “That’s quite a party trick. Do you have a photographic memory?”
“Sort of. I’m good with numbers.”
“That’s impressive, but . . . I don’t know. I think you should still write everything down to be on the safe side.”
“I just showed you why I don’t need to do that.”
“You might forget after you leave here and then what?”
“I’m not going to forget.” It’s just the cost of a bunch of cakes. He’d be embarrassed if he couldn’t remember something that simple. “Trust me, if I can remember pages of differential equations, I can easily remember the cost of a few cupcakes.”
“It’s two dozen cupcakes. You’re already forgetting.”
Face it, she’s impossible.
Anthony lets out his breath. “You know what? I’m done. You can deal with Graham from now on.”
“Fine! I’m done, too.”
Their eyes meet and Anthony watches as she slams the notebook down and marches back into the kitchen.
“YOU WANT ME to do what?” Natalie has just arrived home and is unpacking some tangerine currant scones she’d set aside for Chloe and Lindsay, though she can’t stop thinking about how horrible she acted toward Anthony.
“I think you should come to my boxing class tonight,” Lindsay says.
Natalie listens as Lindsay starts talking about a new class she wants her to try and how Blair has already agreed to come as well. “But you already know how to box and I’ve never done it in my life.”
“This class is for all levels. There are a couple different teachers and I hear they really kick ass. It should be great!”
Natalie tries to imagine herself in a room full of women with as much verve and energy as her sister. She’d be the big slow moose in a group of sprightly antelopes. “It doesn’t sound like something I’d enjoy.”
“Come on. It’s Blair’s first time, too, plus you need to get out more. All you ever do is work.”
“Look, I don’t want to go, okay? Stop asking.”
Lindsay raises an eyebrow. “What’s eating you?”
“I had a horrible day. I just want to sit home tonight with a glass of wine and put it behind me.”
“Is Lena still hassling you? Because I would be happy to go over there and talk to her.”
After the fight at the yoga studio, Lena started sending Natalie nasty text messages. She’s not even sure how Lena got her cell number. She must have stolen it off Peter’s phone. Natalie was tempted to show the texts to Peter, but figured there was no point, since he’d just take Lena’s side anyway. She’s been trying to ignore them. Initially the texts were threatening her with assault charges and a restraining order, which seemed ironic to Natalie. Why bother with texting at all? But recently, they’ve changed and are now dumb platitudes about “moving on” and “finding peace,” as if she wanted to hear any of that crap from Lena.
“I called my landlord an asshole to his face today.”
“Wow, really?” Lindsay grabs a scone from the pile and puts it on a napkin. “The super-hot one?”
“What’s wrong with me?” Natalie sits down on the stool next to Lindsay. She reaches for one of the scones, but then stops herself. She eyes the bowl of fruit she’s started leaving on the counter, but decides to get a pickle from the fridge instead. Low calorie and zero fat—dill pickles have become her new best friend. “First that awful fight with Lena last month, and now this? I don’t feel like myself at all. I was so rude to him. Not to mention, the whole kitchen heard me.”
“What did he do?”
“He kept his cool.” Natalie describes how well Anthony handled it and that his body language gave nothing away. “It was kind of impressive, really.”
“Wow, most guys would have been furious.”
“I know, I had to admire his self-control.” Natalie takes a bite of pickle and thinks about his reaction. “It occurred to me he’d make a good card player. Plus, it turns out he’s some kind of math whiz.”
“Really?”
“I can’t believe I acted so horrible, though. And now I’m going to have to apologize.”
Lindsay smiles. “Why don’t you invite him over for a hand of strip poker? Then you can apologize the right way—with a few extra sprinkles on top. ”
Natalie lets out a laugh. “Trust me, I’m the last person in the world he’d want to play strip poker with!”
“You never know.” Lindsay shrugs. “How many cute guys do you have in your life right now? Besides, I don’t think you should be so hard on yourself. You’ve been going through a lot.”
“That’s no excuse for bad behavior, and I need this guy on our side. Blair is going to kill me when she finds out what happened today.”
“This may sound like a dumb question, but have you two considered moving to another location entirely? I mean, what if the hot landlord never leases you that space?”
Natalie sighs. “We have. We even hired a real estate agent to keep an eye out for us, but nothing good has come up. At least, nothing as good as where we are now.”
The problem is La Dolce Vita is in the perfect location. It’s close enough to campus to get the university crowd, yet far enough that they also get plenty of business from the neighborhoods nearby. Santosa’s, the bistro down the street, was the only spot Natalie could picture that was better than theirs, but of course they weren’t going anywhere.
“Well,” Lindsay says. “It sounds to me like you’ve had the sort of day where throwing a few punches might feel pretty good.”
“Maybe.”
“And you’ve been exercising regularly, too. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. Everyone’s noticed you’ve lost weight. In fact, I think it’s time to go shopping and get some new clothes. Those are practically falling off you.”
Natalie’s mouth opens in surprise. “Do you really think so?” She’s noticed that she has to tighten her belt on everything, but has been too afraid to weigh herself, worried she’ll only be disappointed.
“It’s true. So come to that class with us tonight. Besid
es more weight, what have you got to lose?”
My pride, my dignity, my self-respect. Natalie thinks of all the stress she’s going through now that Peter is gone and realizes she’s already lost those things.
“All right,” she sighs. “What time is this class?”
“Seven tonight, and bring a water bottle.” Lindsay gets up to leave. “I’m going to go work in my studio for a while, but I’ll text you the class location.”
After she’s gone, Natalie fishes in the jar for another pickle. An image of Anthony’s face comes to mind, the way it looked right after she called him an asshole. For an instant, she did sense a flicker of something from him. Probably anger, but she wasn’t entirely sure. Was it possible she hurt his feelings? I hope not. Even he doesn’t deserve that.
Her cell phone chirps and Natalie reaches for it, figuring it’s Lindsay texting her with the location of the boxing class. She frowns when she sees it’s from Lena.
Be the butterfly emerging from its cocoon for the first time. See the world as new!
Natalie rolls her eyes. Before she can stop herself, she texts back.
Save your platitudes for a fortune cookie.
Her phone chirps again.
Those who judge will one day be judged themselves. Accept your life. Live love!
Natalie stares at her phone. Seriously?
STOP SENDING ME THESE STUPID MESSAGES.
Hopefully that will put an end to it.
I feel sorry for you, Natalie. Peter told me your heart is closed and it’s true. Open your heart! See the beauty in the world!
Aaargh. What on earth does Peter see in this woman? Besides being thin and gorgeous, it’s clear she’s insane. This whole thing is infuriating. Natalie thinks about the boxing class and finds herself looking forward to it.
“All right ladies, give me fifty!”
Natalie groans. She’s on the floor with the rest of the class, doing a second set of push-ups. They’ve done three sets of jumping jacks, lunges, and squats. She’s already half-dead and they haven’t even finished the warm up yet.
The class is in a small gym only a couple of miles north of La Dolce Vita. Natalie got there early, but waited in her car, wondering why she ever let Lindsay talk her into doing something this crazy. She’s never been good at exercise classes, or even gym class in high school. She’s basically a klutz.
Watching the people come and go, she was surprised to see they looked pretty normal. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. And Lindsay was right about at least getting out of the house. Sitting at home every night watching Lord of the Rings or Star Wars is probably a little pathetic. Ironically, it’s the one good thing about Peter leaving. He never liked watching any kind of fantasy or sci-fi, and now she can watch whatever she wants.
When she saw Blair heading toward the entrance, she figured it was time to get out. All hope that Blair hadn’t heard about what happened with Anthony earlier was dashed when she saw the stormy expression on her face.
“I take it you heard?” Natalie asked, biting her lip. “I didn’t mean—”
“Don’t talk to me about it.” Blair held up her hand to cut her off. “Seriously. Just fix it.”
“I will. I promise!”
“You better.”
The two of them walked into the gym together. They found Lindsay off to the side, flirting with some guy who had a thick tribal tattoo on one arm and a kaleidoscope of ink that ran down the other.
“Call me,” she heard Lindsay say before she sashayed over to join them. “Hey, I’m glad you guys made it.”
“Who’s that?” asked Natalie.
“Just a friend. A new friend.” She gave them both a mischievous smile.
“What about Oliver?”
Lindsay shrugged. “What about him? We’re still together. I figure it’s a good idea to have a guy or two in the wings, you know, just in case.”
Natalie doesn’t say anything. Lindsay was just like their father, though she’d never admit it.
Blair was looking around the gym in admiration. “Check out some of the guns in this place. It’s like I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
Lindsay laughed. “Didn’t I mention that? It’s one of the side benefits of going to a boxing gym.”
Natalie was confused at first. Guns? Then she realized they were talking about guys’ arms. She suddenly felt like a dork. This wasn’t her scene. It was some kind of singles gym and she wasn’t single. With a jolt, it struck her.
I am single.
Being discreet, she glanced around the gym, curious to see some of these ‘guns’ for herself. There were definitely some nice-looking men here, and to her surprise, some of them were looking her way.
Adrenaline shot through her. Are they checking me out? But then one of the guys’ eyes met hers and looked away with disinterest.
It’s not me, it’s Blair and Lindsay who are drawing attention.
She cringed. Pretended not to care. A flood of familiar emotions she hadn’t experienced in years came over her. The memory of what it was like being the invisible sister next to Lindsay’s vivacious beauty. The surprise on people’s faces when they met her. She’d learned to ignore it when she was younger, and after she got married it hadn’t mattered anymore.
Now she was the invisible sister once again.
“Come on, you two,” Lindsay said. “Let’s go. I think they’re starting class.”
Forty minutes later, Natalie is struggling to do another push-up. With relief, she notices that a couple of other people are struggling, too, so at least she isn’t the only one suffering.
Finally, their instructor, Jessica, tells everyone to take a break and grab some water.
Since the three of them brought their own bottles, they sit off to the side and cool down.
“Wow,” Blair says, “this class is already kicking my butt and we haven’t even started boxing yet.”
“I know, isn’t it great?” Lindsay puts the cap back on her water bottle.
Natalie leans against the wall and tries to catch her breath. “I hope at least one of you knows CPR. I may need it before the night is over.”
“Don’t worry, just take it at your own pace,” Lindsay tells her. “Like I said before, this is for all levels.”
“Speaking of which,” Blair looks over at the wall clock. “What time does it finish? I have a late dinner date with Graham tonight.”
“You’re still seeing Graham?” Natalie looks at her in surprise. “You never mentioned that.”
“I am, though I’ll probably have to warn him about you now.”
“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I said I was going to fix this business with Anthony and I will.”
“You better, because I don’t know what you were thinking. I know these past few months have been rough, and I feel for you, but you have to hold it together. And yes, I’m still seeing Graham. We’re both so busy this is only our second date. It’s too early for me to even give him the Bandito Test.”
“What’s that?” Natalie asks.
Blair closes her bottle. “Haven’t I told you guys about that? It’s this test I give the men I date, sort of like a litmus test.”
Lindsay smirks. “Is it written or oral? Please tell me it’s oral because that’s my favorite kind.”
“Lindsay!” Natalie laughs, hoping no one around them is overhearing their conversation.
She shrugs. “I’m just telling it like it is.”
“That’s my favorite kind too,” Blair says with a smile, her eyes wandering the gym. “In fact, there are a few guys here I wouldn’t mind helping with their studies. Though by the time men are our age, you think they’d know their way around the enchanted forest.” She glances down pointedly.
Lindsay laughs. “You would think so.”
Natalie thinks about her own enchanted forest. It’s been a long time since she’s had any visitors. “So what’s the Bandito Test?”
Blair eyes them both. “It’s based on this western movie I saw years ag
o. It’s about a woman who’s kidnapped by a group of banditos. Her fiancé refuses to rescue her because he thinks it’s too dangerous. He doesn’t want to risk his life, so he plans to leave her with the banditos.”
“What an ass.” Lindsay frowns.
“Yeah, but there was this other guy, a second man. The second man also wants to marry the kidnapped woman, but she turned him down. Despite her rejection, this guy says he’s going to rescue her no matter what. She’s worth it. The fiancé tries to talk him out of it, but he won’t listen.”
“What happens?” Natalie asks.
“The second man rescues her and she marries him instead.”
“So what’s this Bandito test?” Lindsay wants to know.
“Well, when I’m dating someone I ask myself—what kind of man is he? Is he a first man or a second man? In other words, is he the kind of man who would leave me behind or would he forget his own safety and rescue me?” Blair flashes them an embarrassed grin. “I know it all sounds silly, but I don’t know if I would have married Road if I’d given him the Bandito Test.”
“Road wouldn’t have passed?” Natalie asks.
Blair shakes her head slowly. “I doubt it. Not for me, anyway.”
Lindsay is thoughtful. “I think Oliver would pass the Bandito Test.”
“Maybe you should marry him,” Blair says.
“No—not that he’s asked or anything—but two failed marriages are enough.”
“What about you, Natalie? Would Peter pass the Bandito Test?” Blair asks.
Natalie thinks about it. “I’m not sure.”
“It’s hard to be objective when you’re going through a divorce. Think back years ago, would he have passed it then?”
Lindsay rolls her eyes. “I can answer that for her. Peter is a selfish coward. There’s no way he’d pass that test. It’s like I’ve always said—you’re way too good for him. Speaking of which, maybe it’s time we got you out there again.”
“What do you mean?” Natalie asks.
“I mean dating. Take a look around.”
“That’s crazy. I’m not ready for something like that.” Natalie is light–headed with panic just thinking about it. Being with another man sounds as foreign to her as moving to China and speaking Chinese for the rest of her life.
Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) Page 10
