by Leanne Tyler
“A movie on one of those cable romance channels. Phil and I both thought it was the cutest idea ever.” Kimberly’s enthusiasm wasn’t rubbing off on her. “Relax. Who knows, you might just meet someone tonight. Haven’t you been moaning for the last few months about needing a date?”
“Kimberly!” Sue gasped, not believing her sister had just said that in front of him. She grabbed her by the arm and led her toward the kitchen. “How could you say that in front of Alex?”
“Sorry, but it’s true.”
“It doesn’t matter if it is. I don’t want him thinking I’m a loser. I already bumped his truck when I parked.”
“You didn’t.”
She nodded.
“So that explains why the two of you were out there so long.”
Sue ignored that last statement, not wanting to go into any more details at the moment. Instead she turned to the question that had been eating at her since she pulled up. “I thought you invited me here for dinner.”
“I did. And we’ll eat as soon as each lock and key is paired up.”
“But—”
“No buts. Go mingle.”
Sue watched her sister sashay away from her like a butterfly. Dejected, she walked back into the living room. She looked for a place to sit, but saw the room had been emptied of the typical living room furnishings and replaced with several small round tables with two chairs. Each was draped with a table cloth and a small floral arrangement was placed in the center to create an intimate setting. Great. Dinner for two. She just prayed her lock did not match Alex’s key, especially after what Kimberly said.
Alex watched Sue rush her sister away from him. He didn’t blame her after what Kimberly had said. But it was good to know the girl was unattached. She was cute and he had a feeling that fender bender wasn’t because she didn’t brake in time. The girl had been distracted by something she saw and he had a feeling it was him, but he didn’t want to be conceited.
He surveyed the room and it looked like the pairing had already happened whether the key had been tested or not. He walked up to two couples which included a poker buddy of his, Parker Jennings. The young women giggled when he introduced himself.
“Our locks have already been opened,” the red head said. “Sorry.”
“You know what they say, Jones. The early bird gets the worm.” Parker slapped him on the back and laughed. “So how long were you in Alaska?”
Alex grinned. “Three years. I just got back last night and got moved back into my place today.”
“Sweet. Maybe we can resume our poker nights. You still on Cedar?”
“Yeah. I’m back in my old house, but not sure if I’ll be holding those or not. I got out of the habit while up north.” He smiled and looked at the girls. “Nice to have met you.”
“You too,” the red head said.
He walked toward another group of six and saw his friend Brandon who shook his head and pointed to the blond sitting alone at a table. It was Sue. She looked upset as he approached. “We meet again.”
“Yeah.”
“If you’re worried by what your sister said, don’t be. I have a sister too and she’s embarrassed me plenty. I figure it goes with the territory of family.”
“It’s not just that. It’s this whole lock and key thing. Don’t you find it a little ridiculous?”
He nodded. “Maybe, but as an ice breaker it works okay. Mind if I give your lock a try?”
She rolled her eyes and stood up, holding out her lock. She sighed and shook her head. “Might as well.”
He took hold of it, brushing his fingers against hers. She flinched, moving her fingers away. “Sorry.”
“Just do it already,” Sue said.
Her tone caused him to hesitate a moment and he wondered if she didn’t like him before he slipped the key into the lock and it turned. “Well, what do you know?”
“I think this was rigged.” Sue looked up at him. Her blue eyes shadowed by thick lashes. Her cheeks were rosy, matching her inviting lips. She made a delectable package but her attitude made him not want to spend any more time with her than was necessary.
“Last two people here and our lock and key fits.” She rattled on. “Seems fishy to me.”
“Maybe.” He shrugged. “Maybe not.”
“I wouldn’t put this past my sister.”
“So what? Will it be so bad to eat dinner together and talk?” He was finding it hard not to be annoyed with her and walk out, but he couldn’t do that to Phil. “It’s not like we’re going to fall head over heels for each other in one night.”
Sue made a horrible face and reached up to clutch the necklace she wore.
The gris-gris chilled her fingers to a burning coldness and she jerked her hand away. Alex noticed her sudden movement and he pointed at the charm.
“Interesting necklace. I don’t think I’ve seen one like that before.”
“No. You wouldn’t. A friend of my boss gave it to me. It’s pretty unique. I doubt there is another one like it.” She sighed and sat down again. “So tell me about yourself, Alex. Have you always lived in K-town?”
“Born and raised except for the last three years. I just got transferred back. What about you?”
“Same here, except I’ve never been transferred because of my job. What do you do?”
“I’m an environmental engineer.”
“Sounds fascinating.” She motioned to the vacant chair on the opposite side of the table and he sat.
“It can be. I’ve traveled extensively with my job so I’ve seen a lot of the world that I would otherwise not have had the opportunity to see. What do you do?”
“Nothing as exciting. I’m an administrative assistant to an account executive.”
“What kind of accounts?”
She was about to answer his question when Phil entered the room and joined Kimberly in the center space. He held up a crystal glass and tapped it with a fork to get everyone’s attention.
“Kimberly and I are thrilled you have joined us tonight. We hope you have enjoyed playing our little game and have met someone interesting to share your meal. That being said the food is ready and you can go through a buffet line in the kitchen to prepare your plates. Enjoy your meal.”
Alex stood. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starved. I’ve been moving my things out of storage and back into my house all day today.”
“My boss moved today too. How odd is that?” she told him as they got in line. “You said you have an older sister. Are you close?”
“Yeah. Our parents are both gone so it’s just us. She’s married and expecting her first baby soon.”
“My boss is expecting too.” She tilted her head and smiled. “So you’ll be an uncle. Are you are looking forward to that?”
“I guess. I haven’t really thought much about it. It will definitely be a new experience for me. What about you? Do you and Kimberly have another sibling?”
“No. It’s just us girls. Our parents live in Florida now. They’ll be coming up for the wedding.”
He nodded. “About the wedding, I’ve never been in one before. Do you have any tips?”
“I think all you have to do is rent a tux and show up, unless you’re the best man. Then you’re in charge of the bachelor party.”
“Good thing I’m just a groomsman. I think I was a last minute addition since Phil wasn’t sure I’d be back in town. And after having to miss my sister’s wedding because of a business trip, I don’t blame him for not taking a chance on me.”
Sue thought about that for a minute. Hadn’t Keely’s brother also missed her wedding? How weird. “So you travel a lot with your work?”
“Yeah. But I’m hoping this transfer home will be the last of my wandering for a long time. What about you? Are you in the wedding.”
“I’m not only sister of the bride, but the maid of honor so I get to throw a bridal shower and a personal shower/bachelorette party for her.”
“Both?”
“Y
es. Per Kimberly’s orders.” She smiled, moving another step as the line got shorter. “I can’t wait for the payback when I get married.”
He laughed, picked up two plates from the stack on the counter and gave her one. “I guess there’s no wiggling out of it then.”
“None.”
“Good luck with it then.”
They filled their plates and headed back to the table. He set his down and held out her chair for her. “What would you like to drink? I saw iced tea on the counter and a cooler by the back door, and if I know Phil I’m sure it has bottles of beer in it.”
“Tea is fine. Thanks.”
“You got it.” He headed back to the kitchen where he found his friend filling glasses with ice.
“Alex.” Phil hugged him. “It’s been too long. You have to turn down the next transfer. Look what happens when you go away. I get myself engaged.”
Alex laughed. “I have a feeling it would have happened even if I had been in town.”
“Yeah. I met her and knew that night she was special. I see you got paired with Sue.” Phil leaned closer to him and lowered his voice. “Out of all of Kimberly’s friends I think you lucked up. Didn’t you always have a thing for blondes?”
Alex shrugged, not wanting to tell his friend what he really thought. “She seems nice, though she did hit my truck when parking. Rolled right into the tail end. She got distracted by a handsome guy walking toward the house.”
Phil frowned and looked like he was studying on that for a minute, before he grinned. “You really think that?”
“She said it was the number of cars in the drive, but she’d already passed it up. What else could it have been?”
Phil laughed and slapped him on the back. “Back in town for a day and you got a fish on the line already. Reel her in boy. Reel her in.”
Alex wasn’t really sure he wanted to, but he didn’t want to tell Phil that. “It may not be so easy. She thinks tonight’s game was rigged. It wasn’t, was it?”
Phil held up his hands. “I had nothing to do with distributing the locks and keys. That was all Kimberly’s doing. But what if it was? It’s one night. You do with it what you want.”
“I see your point.” Alex poured two teas and headed back to the table to join Sue. “Here you go.”
“Thanks. These steaks are good.”
“If there is one thing Phil knows how to do, it’s grill. He picked up tips from working at a local restaurant while we were in college.” He sat down and cut into the New York strip and took a bite. “Hmm-mm. This is good. He hasn’t lost his touch.”
“What’s Alaska like?” Sue asked.
“Different from Tennessee, that’s for sure.” He cut another chunk of steak and told her a few highlights of his time up north. “Did you know some places have twenty-four hours of daylight in the summer? Or that from early spring until fall the mosquito population is widespread and the most persistent insect in the state because of all the swamps and lakes?” As he talked he noticed her smile never faded and her blue eyes shined. He had to admit she was cute with her pixie blonde hair and petite build. But it was clear she was only being polite because she had to. He figured if she had a choice, she’d never want to see him again. But with them both being members of the upcoming wedding party, both of them would have to grit their teeth and act as though they liked each other.
Sue listened to Alex talk about his work in Alaska and then about his sister. She found him interesting, but he sure did like to talk about himself. As soon as dessert was over, she cleared their plates and hid out in the kitchen, cleaning up.
“Here you are.” Her sister didn’t look pleased. “I thought you’d slipped out the front door, ditching Alex, but I saw your car was still parked outside.”
“I thought I’d help clean up so you can spend more time with your guests.”
“That’s sweet of you, but the dishes would have kept until everyone left.” Her sister leaned against the counter. “So tell me the truth; are you in here hiding from Alex?”
Sue stopped loading the dishwasher and leveled her gaze on Kimberly. “He hasn’t stopped talking about himself or his job since we sat down to eat. When he started talking about his pregnant sister, I knew I had to get out of there for a while. All I asked was for him to tell me about Alaska, and somehow that led to his job and then him.”
“And did you nod and smile, giving him the impression you were enjoying what you heard?”
“That’s beside the point. No one should have that much to say about themselves, especially if they work with the environment.”
Kimberly laughed. “He’s more than cute. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah…I noticed. More than noticed.” Sue placed the last glass in the top rack of the dishwasher and shut the door. “You want to run these now or later?”
“Later. But don’t change the subject.”
“I’m not.” Sue wiped the counter and sinks with the dish cloth before she washed her hands and dried them. “Thank you for inviting me. It’s been fun, but I think I’ll call it a night.”
Her sister pursed her lips into a frown. “No wonder you’re single. Sometimes when you’re interested you can’t wait for the guy to make the first move.” She held up her left hand and pointed to her ring finger. “Do you think I’d have this ring on my finger now if I had let Phil approach me?”
“You never told me that.”
“Well I did help the situation along. If you ask him he spotted me first, but that isn’t how it happened. So if you’re interested, and there isn’t anything wrong if you are, you have to make a move.”
“I didn’t say I’m interested.”
“Why not? If I wasn’t getting married I’d be very interested.”
“Kimberly!”
“I’m just saying.”
Sue smiled and hugged her sister. “Thanks for inviting me tonight. I’ve been embarrassed, mortified and mystified. How often can a girl claim that in one evening?”
“You’re welcome. But seriously, what did you think of Alex?”
“He’s sexy as all get out and I’d like to get to know him better, but…that doesn’t mean he wants the same.”
“He might.”
“And he might not. I’m not willing to take that chance tonight. I’ve been through enough for one evening. Goodnight.”
Chapter Three
Sue arrived at work just a little before eight Monday morning and found Keely already there, making coffee in the break area. “Hi. You’re in early.”
“I’ve got a doctor’s appointment later so I wanted to get as much done as possible before I have to leave. You never know how long obstetrician appointments are going to take. Did you have a good weekend?”
“It was okay.” Sue sat down at her desk and dug into her purse for the aspirin bottle. She could already feel a headache coming on which was par for the course every fall. Living in East Tennessee wasn’t good for her allergies. Unable to find what she was looking for, she dumped the contents of her bag out on the desk.
“Are you okay, honey?” Keely asked, concern etched in her voice and on her face.
“No. I have a headache and I’m upset with my sister.” She searched through the clutter, and found the little bottle of pills. Setting it aside, she began throwing the rest of the items back in her purse.
“What’s this?” Keely reached for the string and held up the lock with the key still in it.
“That is my sister’s idea of a matching game.”
Keely rested her hip on the edge of the desk. “I don’t understand.”
“Have you heard of a lock and key game? Where you give the girls a lock and the guys a key and you let them find the matching set? It was supposed to be a neat little ice breaker for her friends to meet her fiancé’s friends.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I got stuck with this hunky environmental engineer guy who just moved back to town.”
Keely’s brow arched. “You did? What’s
his name?”
“Alex. He’s really dreamy, but I hit his truck when I parked. He was nice about it and told me to forget it, but I’m afraid if I see him again all I’ll think about is how embarrassing our first meeting was.”
“I see.” Keely smiled.
“It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been checking him out.”
“Really.”
“Yeah. He’s more than hunky. He’s really sexy. But then my sister had to go and announce how I haven’t had a date in months in front of him. I just wanted to crawl in a hole and die at that point, you know, but I had to eat dinner with him. It wasn’t bad at all, except he kinda monopolized the conversation, telling me all about his work and then his sister. You know she’s pregnant, just like you.”
“You don’t say.”
“Gr—r—r,” Sue groaned, reaching up and pulling the gris-gris from against her chest. “This thing is freezing me.”
Keely stood and pointed at the charm. “When did you get that?”
“The other night. Out of the blue Lucinda showed up at my apartment.” Sue turned on her computer and reached for the aspirin bottle. Untwisting the cap, she shook out two capsules. “I thought I wanted to be given this thing, but then I met Alex. All I have worried about since is whether he is supposed to be the one or not.”
Keely walked back into the break area. When she returned she offered Sue a bottle of water. “Just because he’s the first guy you met after receiving the charm doesn’t mean he’s the one. You can’t spend your time worrying about it. If he is the one, then you’ll know.”
“How?”
“You’ll keep running into him.”
“Great. He’s Phil’s friend and in the wedding party. I’m the sister of the bride and in the wedding too. That means we’re bound to run into each other again…and again…and again. And if Kimberly has anything to do with it, she’ll make sure we are thrown together because she really thinks I should go after him. She even hinted that if she wasn’t engaged she’d go after him herself.”
Keely chuckled and patted her on the back. “He’s really that good looking?”
