The Invitation

by Vi Keeland

  A pause, and then he closed his eyes. “You told your whole class about it?”

  This had me intrigued.

  “Okay, well, I’m sure the teacher understood it was a joke, even if Mommy and Aunt Rachel didn’t.”

  Hudson looked up at me. “Actually, tell your mom I don’t have a minute right now. I’m still at work. I’ll speak to her when I call tomorrow night.”

  Pause.

  “Love you, too.”

  After he swiped his phone off, he shook his head. “I have to remember that a six-year-old won’t always get my sense of humor.”

  I smiled. “What happened?”

  “My ex-sister-in-law is pregnant. She’s about to pop. Rachel makes my ex-wife seem like a ball of fun. Neither has a sense of humor. The other night, Charlie asked me what I thought might be a good name for her soon-to-be cousin. I have no idea why, but I told her Aunt Rachel was going to name the baby Homeslice, and then spent five minutes convincing her it was the truth when she doubted me.”

  My brows jumped. “Homeslice? As in the singular for my homies?”

  He grinned. “I was obviously teasing, but then the food delivery interrupted our discussion, and I guess I failed to circle back and tell her I hadn’t been serious.”

  “And she repeated it to her mother? I take it that didn’t go over too well.”

  Hudson shook his head. “It gets worse. A few months ago, I was arguing with my ex-wife. She’d told me not to give Charlie ice cream anymore because her sister said being lactose intolerant was hereditary. I wasn’t sure if that was true or not, but Charlie is most definitely not lactose intolerant—she eats enough ice cream that we’d know if she was. We got into words about her sister butting her nose in again, and I called Rachel laughtose intolerant. After the argument, I didn’t even remember saying it until Charlie mentioned it again. I’d had no idea she was listening. But she was.” He took a breath. “Today it was Charlie’s turn for show and tell in class, and she brought in a picture of the last sonogram of her aunt’s baby. She told everyone her new cousin was going to be named Homeslice, and when the teacher said whoever told her that might’ve been joking around, Charlie said her aunt didn’t tell jokes because she’s laughtose intolerant.”

  I covered my mouth. “Oh my God. That’s freaking hysterical.”

  Hudson grinned. “It is, isn’t it?”

  I nodded.

  “Too bad my ex-wife lost her sense of humor a long time ago.”

  “Well, if it helps any, I think it’s funny as hell. Most kids definitely overshare. In the ten minutes I sat with Charlie the other day, I learned you went to the beach last week, she once got a bellyache from an ice cream shop, and you write her notes on the fruit in her lunchbox. By the way, I think it’s very sweet that you do that.”

  “When she first started kindergarten, she got really anxious at lunch because she wasn’t sure who to sit with. I wrote her the notes to help her relax while she unpacked her food. It sort of stuck.”

  “I love that.”

  He smiled. “It’s getting late. Why don’t we call it a day, and we can pick up here tomorrow? I’d like the marketing department to be involved when we get to the next topics anyway.”

  “Oh, okay… Sure.”

  We went back to our respective offices. A few minutes later, Hudson walked by on his way out and stopped.

  “Plans with Ben tonight?”

  I smiled. “No.”

  “Good.” He rapped his knuckles against the doorjamb. “Don’t stay too late. You’re the last one here, and the cleaning people already came and went, so I’ll lock the door behind me when I leave.”

  “Okay, thank you. I just have a few more things I want to finish up before I head out, too.”

  He nodded and turned to leave, but then took a step back. “By the way, I heard you loud and clear earlier, so I won’t be asking you out again.”

  The smile on my face wilted. “Oh…okay.”

  He winked. “I’ll wait for you to ask me this time. Goodnight, Stella.”

  ***

  When Hudson left, my concentration went with him. But I needed to get some work done before I could head home. There’d be plenty of time for overanalyzing every word the man said later—maybe while I was naked in a hot bath or while I de-stressed with the vibrator I kept in my nightstand. Right now I needed to work on the spreadsheet I’d been procrastinating about finishing all day. I wanted to have everything ready to go over with the team first thing in the morning.

  But Excel wasn’t my jam to begin with, and it was getting late. So after I opened the spreadsheet, I just stared at the numbers. Unable to focus, I decided to dig my earbuds out of my purse. Classical music always helped me get into a zone. But as I worked, the office started to get really warm. The air conditioning must’ve been on a timer. Since I would use just about any excuse to take a break from working on a spreadsheet, I decided I needed to get some cold water from the lunchroom down the hall.

  Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” came on while I filled my big cup with crushed ice from the refrigerator door, and I couldn’t help myself. Each and every time I heard it, I pretended to be the conductor. No one was around, so what the hell? I set my cup down on the counter, closed my eyes, and let the intensity of the music guide my arms as they waved around in the air. Nothing eased my mind like leading an orchestra. I got so into the moment that I became lost.

  Until…

  I felt someone grab me from behind. Startled, I spun around. Acting purely on instinct and adrenaline, I balled up my fist, leaned back, and swung with all my might.

  I connected with what felt like a brick wall, though I couldn’t be sure since my eyes were squeezed tightly shut.

  But then I heard a voice over the music.

  “Fuck,” it growled.

  And my stomach dropped.

  No.

  Just no.

  I couldn’t have.

  Please, dear Lord, let it be anyone but him.

  My eyes flashed open to confirm what I already knew.

  God hadn’t been listening.

  Because I’d just landed a punch square on the nose…

  of Hudson.

  CHAPTER 12

  Hudson

  “What the fuck!” My hands flew up to my nose.

  “Oh my God! Hudson! I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

  My eyes had started to water, so I assumed that was the wetness I felt. Until I took my hands away and realized they were covered in blood.

  “Holy shit! You’re bleeding!” Stella grabbed a roll of paper towels off the counter. Ripping off a bunch, she wadded them into a ball and attempted to shove it in my face.

  I swiped it from her hands.

  “I’m so sorry. I—You…you scared me!”

  I pressed the paper towels to my gushing nose. “I said your name twice, but you didn’t answer.”

  She plucked a wireless earbud from her ear. “I have these in, and the music was loud.”

  I shook my head. “You were flailing your arms around—I thought you were choking.”

  Stella frowned. “I was conducting.”

  “Conducting?”

  “Yeah, you know, pretending to be the conductor in a symphony.”

  I stared at her like she had two heads. “No, I don’t know. It isn’t often that I conduct a symphony in the kitchen at the office.”

  “Well, that’s a shame. You should try it. It’s good for the soul.”

  “I think I’ll skip giving that a shot considering how well your attempt just worked out.” I pointed to the roll of paper towels. “Can you hand me those?”

  “Oh, God…it’s still not stopping.”

  I swapped out the bloody paper towels for some fresh ones. Stella began to look a little pale.

  “You should sit down,” she said. “Put your head back.”

  “I’m pretty sure you’re the one who should be sitting. You look like a ghost. Sit down, Stella.”

  She held on to
the table while she slipped into a chair. “I don’t like blood. It makes me feel queasy. Maybe we should both sit.”

  Since it didn’t seem like my nose planned to stop anytime soon, I sat down across from her.

  Stella kept shaking her head. “I’m so, so sorry.” She held her hand to her chest. “I can’t believe I hit you. It was a gut reaction. I didn’t even see who was there. It all happened so fast.”

  “It’s fine. It’s my own fault. I should know by now that you’re jumpy. And you didn’t know I came back. I misread the situation.”

  “Shouldn’t you be tilting your head back?”

  “No. That’s the last thing you should do when you get a bloody nose. You pinch the soft part above the nostrils. Tilting your head back only makes you swallow the blood.”

  Her face wrinkled, and she covered her mouth. “That’s gross.”

  For the first time, I noticed her knuckles were red. Two were starting to swell. I lifted my chin and pointed. “How does your hand feel?”

  “Oh…I’m not sure.” She stretched out her fingers, then made a fist before opening it again. It didn’t look like they were broken. “It’s sore, actually. I think the adrenaline was rushing through me, so I didn’t feel it until now.”

  I stood and went to the refrigerator. The best I could find in the freezer was a Lean Cuisine. I wrapped it in a paper towel and handed it to her. “Hold this against your knuckles.”

  “Shouldn’t you be using it?”

  “Don’t worry about me.”

  Ten minutes later, the bleeding from my nose finally started to subside. “You pack a pretty damn good wallop there for a little thing.”

  She shook her head. “I still can’t believe I did that. I’ve never hit anyone in my life. I thought I was alone in the office.”

  “I did leave. But I forgot something for a meeting I have uptown early tomorrow morning, so I came back. I heard the icemaker when I passed the lunchroom and realized you were still here. I figured I’d let you know I would reset the alarm on my way out, but I guess you’ve got security covered with that right hook.”

  She smiled, but it quickly fell to a frown as she looked at my nose. “I’m really sorry.”

  “I’m okay. The nose just bleeds a lot. I’m going to go to the men’s room and wash up before I head out.” I pointed my eyes to her hand. “You sure you’re okay?”

  Stella took off the makeshift ice and flexed her fingers. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

  I stood. “Don’t stay too late, Rocky.”

  ***

  “What the fuck happened to you?” Jack leaned back in his chair with a giant smile on his face. The fucker was enjoying this moment a little too much.

  This morning I’d been going about my regular business, brushing my teeth, when I glanced up to the mirror and found two black eyes reflected back at me. It looked a lot worse than it felt. My nose didn’t really hurt unless I touched it. But both eyes were swollen, with black and purple rings beneath them. I’d slipped on sunglasses before I left my house, so it was easy to forget the problem—until I’d taken them off in my friend’s office just now.

  “Who clocked you?” He leaned forward to get a closer look. “Whoever it was did a better job than I did that night we got into a drunken fight over who would win a drunken fight if we had one. I barely left a mark when I sucker-punched you, yet I had to get thirteen stitches when you got up off the ground and socked me back.”

  “The person who did this was definitely much stronger than you.”

  “Who was it?”

  I smirked. “Stella…you fucking pussy.”

  Jack’s eyebrows jumped. “A woman did that? Who the hell is Stella?”

  “Remember the woman you met at Olivia’s wedding? The one who sniffed the shots at the bar? I won two-hundred bucks from her being able to identify the brand of gin by smelling it.”

  “The hot one who turned out to be a crasher?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “Okay. What about her?”

  “Her name is Stella.”

  Jack’s face wrinkled. “I thought that woman’s name was Evelyn.”

  I hadn’t yet filled my friend in on the shit that had transpired since the wedding, even though I’d actually come today to discuss Signature Scent. Jack was the vice president of one of the largest media conglomerates—that happened to own the most popular home shopping television station. I thought perhaps he could introduce me to some of the bigwigs there to discuss the possibility of getting Stella’s perfume featured as a product on one of their shows.

  “She was a wedding crasher, dumbass. She wasn’t using her real name.”

  “Oh, shit. Okay, that makes sense. So hot sniffer girl is really Stella.”

  “That’s correct.”

  “And she punched you because…”

  It was probably easiest if I backed up and explained from the beginning, so I did. Starting at the lost phone, I made my way through my sister’s bleeding heart and finally wound up at the purpose of my visit today.

  When I was done, Jack sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin. “You’ve had plenty of investments in companies you could have used my connections for. A few times I’ve even told you you were dumb not to come to me. Your response is always that you don’t like to mix business with friendship. What’s changed?”

  “Nothing.”

  He tilted his head. “Yet here you are...”

  “I’m asking for an introduction, not for you to go out on a limb.”

  Jack shrugged. “You’ve had a dozen products you could have asked for my help with over the years. Yet this is the first one you’re sitting on the other side of my desk about. You wanna know what I think?”

  “Don’t really give two shits what you think, so no.”

  He smirked. “I think you’re hot for the sniffer, and you want to impress her.”

  Why the hell does everyone in my life ask me if I want to know what they think and then when I say no, they tell me anyway?

  I shook my head. “I’m invested financially in the company, jackass.”

  The last thing I needed was Jack knowing the woman who gave me two black eyes had basically shot me down. He’d still be busting my balls about it when we were making bets from our wheelchairs.

  “You were invested in all the companies you could have come to me about,” he said.

  I rolled my eyes. “Are you going to help me or not?”

  “Yes, but you know why?”

  “Because you owe me four-thousand favors?”

  “Maybe, but that’s not why I’m doing it. I’m doing it because it’s been a long time since you made an effort with a woman. You’re used to just walking into a bar, showing that pretty face, and taking the pick of the litter home. This is good. I hate spending so much time with Alana’s sister’s husband. He’s a tool.”

  “I’m lost. What does your wife’s sister’s husband have to do with this conversation?”

  “Simple. If you had a goddamned girlfriend, we could go out to dinner with you and her sometimes, instead of Allison and Chuck. Who the hell under the age of sixty calls themselves Chuck, anyway?”

  “I’m not going out with Stella.” Until she asks.

  Jack smiled. “We’ll see.”

  My best friend might be a pain in my ass, but he had damn good connections. Over the next two hours, not only did he introduce me to the head of the shopping network’s buying team, he also took me on set to watch the end of the show they were currently taping. By the time he was done, he’d managed to sell the famous host on the concept of Signature Scent and gotten her to invite Stella and me to lunch the next day.

  “Thanks a lot for the introductions.” I shook Jack’s hand in the building’s lobby. “I need to get back to the office, but I owe you a beer soon.”

  Jack smiled. “Nah. We’ll call it even since you’ll be saving me from listening to more of Chuck’s stories about bunions. Couldn’t he at least be a gynecologist rather than
a podiatrist?”

  “I’ll call you next week for that beer.”

  “You mean dinner with me, Alana, and Stella?”

  “Once again, I’m not going out with Stella.”

  Jack smirked. “We’ll see about that…”

  I had one hand on the door when Jack yelled again, “Maybe I’ll join you at lunch tomorrow—get to know my wife’s new best friend.”

  ***

  Stella rapped on my office doorframe. “Hey, do you have a second? I was going over these reports Helena brought by and—” Her eyes widened to saucers when I looked up. “Oh my God! Please tell me I didn’t do that?”

  I nodded. “Okay. You didn’t give me two black eyes. I got into a fistfight with the kid at the deli down the block. He wrote my name wrong on my cup, and it pissed me off.”

  “Really?”

  “No, of course not.” I waved my hand at my face. “This is all your handiwork, Rocky.”

  Her eyes shut. “I’m so sorry. I feel absolutely awful. Does it hurt?”

  “Yes, I’m in excruciating pain.”

  “Oh, God.”

  She looked pretty upset, so I had to put her out of her misery. “Relax. I’m joking. It looks bad, but I feel fine.”

  “I can’t believe I did all that.”

  “How’s your hand?”

  She opened and closed it. “My knuckles are sore, but I’ll live. Really, Hudson, I’m so sorry I hit you.” Stella had a white paper bag in her other hand and held it out to me. “Here, take this muffin. It’s still warm. I just picked it up from the deli down the block.”

  Was she offering me a muffin to make up for two black eyes? “Out of Hershey bars?”

  She grinned. “Actually, I am. I ate my emergency stash last night after you left. This is all I have to offer.”

  I chuckled and raised a hand. “I’m good. Thanks anyway.”

  “Please take it. It’ll make me feel better.”

  This woman was something. She walked to my desk and set the bag down on the corner.

  I shook my head. “Fine. Thank you. So what was your question?”

  “My question?”

  “Something about the reports Helena brought over?”