Resorting to Romance

by Franky A Brown

  The server came out with Victoria’s wine, and she grasped the glass before the young woman could place it on the table. Victoria immediately took a swig.

  “Where’s the shrimp?” Victoria snapped and the poor server cringed.

  “Coming right out, ma’am.”

  “Go get it then. And tell the band they’re too loud.”

  The server retreated and Victoria returned her attention to the table once again. “I didn’t hear anyone respond. You are all taking notes, right?”

  Everyone nodded.

  Luke wished he could resign right then and there. This was ridiculous.

  “I’ve already filled three-quarters of my notebook.” Kelly lifted her chin. “And I believe my staging class was very successful. There was a lot of participation, and several very good questions leading to some lively discussions.”

  “Good. Why don’t you give Joselyn your notes? She could use an edge to make some progress.”

  Josie’s cheeks turned red and she concentrated once again on poking at the ice in her glass with her straw.

  “Josie is really good at staging,” Luke spoke up. “She has a lot she could teach me about it.”

  “Who is Josie?” Victoria raised her eyebrows.

  Josie raised her hand. “Me.”

  “That’s cute.” Miranda smiled at Josie.

  “I didn’t know you had a nickname,” Kelly said.

  “I don’t like it.” Victoria put her glass down a little too hard. A few drops of wine flew from the top and onto the table in front of Luke. Then she pulled at her blouse. “Is it hot in here or is it only me?” Her face scrunched as she eyed the couple making music at the front of the restaurant. “It’s too loud!” she shouted out.

  Luke leaned his elbows on the table, entire body feeling warm with embarrassment.

  Dinner with Victoria wasn’t fun for anyone. Several plates of shrimp cocktail arrived and the server took their entrée orders as fast as she could so she could run back to the kitchen.

  She was the lucky one. Luke wondered if he could get away with hiding in the kitchen until it was all over.

  Instead he coped with popping shrimp into his mouth, one by one. It helped keep him from imploding while Victoria continued to ask questions of Josie about how she planned to improve her sales. Why couldn’t Victoria just leave her alone?

  She couldn’t seem to leave anyone alone tonight. The musical couple had taken a break to avoid any more yelling.

  Before the entrées arrived, Luke couldn’t take it anymore. He was full of shrimp and nauseated. He stood and walked toward Josie and tapped her on the shoulder. When she looked up at him, he checked to make sure Victoria wasn’t watching and then jerked his head toward the exit.

  Josie’s eyes widened and she mouthed, “Not now.”

  Luke held her eyes and tilted his head in the direction of the exit a bit more forcefully.

  “Are you having a problem with your neck, Luke?” Victoria asked far too loudly.

  “There is something I wanted to discuss with Josie.” Everyone at the table was now giving him their undivided attention.

  Perfect.

  “I need her advice on staging a property for me.” As soon as the words were out, he knew he should have gone with another excuse.

  “I can help you with that, Luke.” Kelly’s tone was sharp. “I literally just taught the class on it. Remember?”

  “Josie is really excellent at staging,” Luke said, slipping his hands in his pockets and wishing everyone would stop staring at him.

  “I don’t know what help she would be to you,” Victoria said and took another sip of her wine. “But for goodness’ sake, Joselyn, if Luke wishes to discuss business, absolutely get to it. I’m sure it will be good for you.”

  Joselyn didn’t think she could be more humiliated if a wind blew her hair completely off her head. Typically, with their jobs, she and the other agents weren’t usually all together like this. Everyone was in and out of the office at odd times. Now they were all here to witness Victoria’s criticism of her.

  This was some of her worst behavior.

  It was kind of Luke to want to pull her out of the ridiculous dinner that had turned into the slow roasting of Joselyn Bell, but she only felt more embarrassed as she followed Luke outside the restaurant.

  Once on the sidewalk, Luke glanced behind him to make sure no one had followed them, then focused on her.

  “Luke, what do you think the others are going to think of you asking me to come outside with you?”

  “They think you’re helping me with staging advice.”

  “I don’t know if they’ll buy it.”

  “Why not?” Luke asked with a shrug.

  She folded her arms while holding his gaze. “I’m certain Victoria is in there telling them all how rotten I am at staging at this very moment.”

  “They can think what they want; I’m still going to tell them it’s business. None of their business, at least.” He sighed and placed his hands in his pockets. “Look, I’m really sorry Victoria is being such a jerk.”

  “I should be used to it by now. She’s never been a warm cuddly person, but she only started complaining about me once you surpassed my sales.”

  “I seriously didn’t know she was treating you like that.” Luke gestured to the restaurant behind them.

  “Probably because you’re always out showing houses to keep your amazing sales record.” Joselyn rubbed her aching temples. “I’m sorry. I don’t know when or how I became so petty.”

  “I really would like us to be friends, Josie. We seemed to be getting along pretty well since we’ve been here.” Luke shoved his hands in his pockets and sighed. “I just hoped you’d be willing to get to know me.”

  Joselyn felt her stomach clench. He thought she still disliked him. Well, she couldn’t tell him the truth, could she? That the little moment they had in Kelly’s staging class brought out emotions that scared her? Maybe it was a moment for her and not for him. Maybe all he thought was she liked staring contests.

  “No, I’m sorry I was avoiding you. I’ve had a lot on my mind.” Things she didn’t want to discuss with him. “I would like to be friends.”

  Was she crazy?

  “Hey, I have an idea.” He took her arm and led her toward the sidewalk lining the street. “We passed like ten miniature golf places on the way here.”

  “You want to play mini-golf? Now? What about our dinner?”

  “I left money on the table. Let’s get out of here. You need a distraction from all those stressful thoughts you’re having.”

  Her hands went to her hips. “How would you know what I need?”

  “I don’t. You said you have a lot on your mind, and distractions help me when that happens. On the sailboat you also said something about not being yourself recently. That sounds terrible.”

  Her muscles relaxed and she breathed out slowly. She didn’t need to be so defensive with him. He seemed genuinely concerned about her.

  “I’m curious, Luke, who do you think I am when I’m being myself?”

  One side of his mouth curled upward. “You’re the girl who sings along to the radio on a romantic dinner cruise. And the one who tries to calm down the guy in the kayak freaking out about a shark.”

  She couldn’t help it; a laugh shot out of her.

  Luke jerked a thumb behind him. “Are you in? Or do you want to go back in and talk with Victoria some more?”

  Joselyn eyed him seriously for a moment. She did love mini-golf…and she had no motivation to go back to the dinner. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Joselyn didn’t want to think about whether running off with Luke was a good idea. She just wanted to go. They walked about a quarter mile to reach the nearest mini-golf facility. It was decked out in a pirate theme, sporting a ship over a little pond. The entrance was through a giant shark mouth.

  “I feel like we can’t escape finding a shark when we’re together.” Luke pulle
d out his phone and took a selfie in front of it.

  “Here, give me that.” Joselyn reached out for his phone and then stepped back to get the full view of the shark. “Pretend like it’s eating you.”

  Luke’s face contorted into a wide-eyed goofy expression that was more amused than horrified.

  “You’re crazy, you know that?” Joselyn snapped a few photos, then returned his phone.

  “I do know.” Luke slipped the phone back into his pocket and they walked through the shark’s mouth. “Mini-golf doesn’t require seriousness, last time I checked.”

  “When’s the last time you played? I think I was a teenager.”

  Luke tilted his head to the side. “Yeah, that’s probably the last time I played too.”

  “It’s been too long. Mini-golf is serious silly fun. I loved it.”

  “We work too much, Josie. Let’s get some clubs and see if we can whack that pirate in the eye.” He gestured toward the first hole, which had a colorful pirate statue standing at the end.

  “The hole is in between his feet.”

  “I bet I can hit him in his one eye.”

  “You’d knock a golf ball at a metal handicapped pirate?” Joselyn poked him in the shoulder and smiled. “You monster.”

  “I’m a desperate man. I just survived walking through the mouth of that huge shark out front and I won’t let this pirate stand in my way.”

  Joselyn cracked up and laughed so hard Luke placed an arm around her shoulders. “You okay?”

  She kept laughing while he led her over to the desk to choose her golf club.

  “She’ll choose one when she’s done laughing at me.” Luke pointed at the longest club behind the counter. “I’ll take that one.”

  “I’m sorry,” Joselyn said, wiping a tear from her eye. “I found that a little funny.”

  An elderly woman behind the counter tapped her fingers on the counter. “Do you want to play or not?”

  Joselyn stopped laughing. She was certainly sick of being treated rudely today. “Yes, of course I want to play. That one there. And a pink ball.” She pointed to a medium-sized club and pulled some cash out of her purse to pay the fee. “One round of golf, please, ma’am.”

  The woman handed her the club and a ball, then clicked around on the cash register and gave Joselyn a receipt.

  “Have a lovely day, ma’am,” Luke said and they both walked away.

  “She’s awfully grumpy to be working at such a fun place.”

  “Maybe you should go tell her some jokes and make your goofy eaten-by-a-shark face for her.”

  Luke chuckled. “Later. I’m going to kick your butt at mini-golf first.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “You mean you will try to.”

  “I mean I’m going to.”

  “Bring it, Callaway. Just aim for the holes and don’t beat up any of these pirate statues in front of the kids.”

  “That one over there has a ramp leading to a hole in the middle of the pirate’s stomach. Now there’s a violent image for the kids. Is that supposed to be a bullet hole?”

  Joselyn shook her head. “It definitely could have used more thought.” They walked up to the first hole, which seemed tame enough. The hole was at the end, behind a small whale statue at the center. “This one is cute.”

  “Don’t be fooled by the whale with the eyelashes. It’s very suspicious.”

  “I like whales.” Joselyn placed her ball down and gave the club a few small practice swings. “I wish we could have seen one of those while we were on the boat.”

  “You mean the sailboat, right? Not the kayak.”

  “Well, either one would’ve been amazing.”

  “I’ll say sailboat. The whale could knock us right out of a kayak.”

  “Whales wouldn’t do that on purpose, Luke.”

  “How do you know?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Good grief, do you think all sea creatures are out to get you?” She stood up straight to face him and watched his lips curl. She gave him a playful shove. “Stop trying to distract me.”

  “Hit the ball already.”

  Joselyn tapped the golf ball with the club, and it rolled across the green carpet and hit the wall to the left of the whale. Then she lined up her club again and putted it straight into the hole.

  “Two points.” She poked Luke in the abdomen, feeling how firm it was, then pulled back quickly. The flutter in her heart told her it wasn’t all fun and games. Her feelings were taking on a life of their own. And joking around was treading into flirtatious behavior. She rubbed the back of her neck and studied her golf club. How could she be flirting with a guy who wasn’t available? It was so wrong. “Hey, what are we going to say when people ask where we disappeared to?”

  “Maybe that we hate fish and love mini-golf.”

  “Be serious. I ate too much catfish at the company fish fry for that to be believable anyway.”

  “I told Victoria we had business to discuss. What if we tell them you’re helping me with my side gig in house flipping?”

  “We can…but why did we need to take our business discussion down the street?”

  “That’s no problem. We were walking off all that shrimp and sightseeing while talking.”

  “What if someone thinks something is going on between us?” She met his eyes and he hesitated. Her heart pounded in her eardrums waiting for him to speak.

  “We’re friends now, right?”

  “Friends, yes, of course.” A sinking sensation hit her stomach. That’s what they were. Nothing else was even a possibility. Why did she hate that he kept saying that word? “But that doesn’t mean our colleagues won’t gossip.”

  “Nothing assures us of that. You ready for the next hole?” His head tilted and his forehead creased. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, just thinking.” She stood a little straighter and walked over to the next station, which featured a treasure chest to knock the ball into. She was in desperate need of a new subject to get her mind off her emotions. “If we’re going to tell people I’m working with you, maybe you should really let me help you with something.”

  Luke followed her and stood beside her. “Okay.”

  “Do you want to help me choose a design for the master bath in the house I’m working on?”

  “Sure, I’d love to. Show me the photos of the house again.”

  They took a break from golf and sat on a bench beside a sea lion statue. Joselyn couldn’t help taking a quick selfie with it.

  “I’ll take your picture if you’d like.”

  “Then it isn’t a selfie.” Joselyn lifted her shoulders.

  Luke sat beside her and pulled up the photos of the house’s interior on his phone, then handed it to her.

  She tried to ignore the tingles ringing down her arm as Luke sat with his shoulder against hers.

  “It looks like a modern farmhouse theme in the kitchen, so you could do a white subway tile on the shower walls and do a more colorful band around it in the center.” She gave him back his phone and picked up hers, then tapped around and pulled up photos of shower tiles.

  “Like these.” She flipped through the options and he leaned in closer, making her blood rush.

  “I like that one.” Luke pointed to a sheet of small silver and black tile squares.

  “That’s a good one. It could be a narrow band in the middle of all three shower walls. Then you could use it for the shower pan.”

  “This would look amazing.”

  His eyes met hers and she struggled to breathe in for a few heartbeats. “Uh, yeah.” She forced herself to stand. “Send me pictures when it’s finished. Even if you don’t decide to go with that look, I’d like to see what you do with it.”

  “Sure thing.” Luke got to his feet and slipped the phone back in his pocket. “I’ll definitely go with your ideas. I appreciate your help.”

  “Any time.” She nodded, wishing she hadn’t tossed out a casual invitation for him to ask her for more help at any moment. B
reathing didn’t seem to be getting any easier. Her lungs seemed heavier. She wanted so much to help him, to spend more time with him, but she was forgetting what a terrible judge of character she was. And that it wouldn’t be appropriate because he was another woman’s boyfriend. The boss’s daughter.

  “Is it me or does this conference have too many classes with the word motivational in the title?” She’d blurted out the first thing she could think of to change the subject.

  “I guess they’re really trying to inspire us.”

  “Are you being inspired? Or motivated? Because my skin is still crawling from the story about the dog dragging off the rat.”

  “What, you like rats?” Luke sent her a sideways grin.

  Joselyn returned his grin.

  “Just kidding. I hear you on that one. It was a pretty creepy tale.” His lips twisted in distaste. “I hope to get something useful out of this conference before we get out of here.”

  They returned to their game and worked their way to the final hole in the course. Luke swung several hits to get the ball to go up the steep ramp into a hole in the side of the pirate ship.

  Joselyn checked her watch, not wanting to think about going back to the hotel and possibly running into someone from work. It may be completely reckless, but she had helped Luke with something business related, even though it wasn’t staging advice. Plus, she did love mini-golf. It brought back so many memories of her carefree summer days when she was younger.

  “Wanna try the one across the street? It’s a jungle theme.”

  Luke laughed as his ball finally went inside the ship. “You think you have a better chance of beating me in the jungle?”

  Joselyn added up the points on her card. “What’s your score?”

  He told her the number and she moaned playfully. “Ah, man. Yeah, we’re going to need a rematch.”

  “What’d you get?” Luke leaned over to peek at her card, but she clutched it to her chest.

  “All you need to know is that you won. By an extremely narrow margin.”

  “Really?” He arched his eyebrows and stepped closer. “Show me.”

  Joselyn stepped back. “Let’s go to the jungle.”