Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Ouch.
Blake’s foot kicked mine under the table.
I pressed my lips together.
“Nora—” Paloma started snidely.
“Don’t,” Mika said simply.
Paloma blinked and looked at Mika.
Mika spared her only a glance before she reached to her champagne, looked to me, and dismissing Paloma like she wasn’t even there, said, “Have I told you how fantastic I thought that Mankowitz interview was?”
“Thanks, Mika,” I replied.
“It was awesome,” Blake chimed in. “It made me go back and watch those episodes of Rita’s Way again. The ones with Gordon Fuller. And it really was too bad they didn’t get to explore that storyline. It was promising.”
“Sometimes, even though it’s hard to see it, but sometimes it happens where we get a win. In other words, we move on, and there’s forward progression. The popularity of The Next Life is proof of that,” Mika said.
“Indeed,” Ned put in. “I don’t have time to watch too much television, but I watch that show. And I can tell you, it’s also nice for men who don’t find women young enough to be their daughters attractive to have representation in the media.”
“I always knew I liked you,” Nora told him.
As Mika intended, considering the fact we were carrying on a conversation without her, Paloma had no choice but to drift away.
“You all right?” Mika asked Nora quietly after she’d gone.
“Are you?” Nora asked in return.
Mika didn’t get the chance to answer.
“Nora, can I have a word?”
Another sneak attack, this one from Roland.
I wasn’t a twenty-something woman who was into older men, but I couldn’t help but notice he, like Tom, Jamie and Ned, was very handsome in a way where I could be.
“No, you can’t,” Jamie said, sliding into his chair beside Nora. He then, without even looking at Roland, ordered, “Slither along, snake.”
Roland’s face got tight.
Hale took his seat beside me.
“Everything okay?” I whispered.
He nodded in a way I didn’t think he was very committed to, doing this while he put his napkin on his lap, but his attention was focused on Roland.
“Really, Roland, we’re not finished eating,” Nora said.
“Later then,” Roland pushed.
“No,” Jamie denied, his tone steel, even pugilistic.
Nora glanced at him with open puzzlement, and I was puzzled too, because he was being very possessive for a man who considered Nora his friend and companion, not making her his lover, when it was clear to anyone around them (or at least those who were female) she wanted that.
Nora looked up at Roland. “We really don’t have much to say to one another.”
“I—” Roland began.
It was then Ned entered the fray and stood.
“Roland, please,” he said sharply. “Manners.”
Roland glowered at Ned, then he moved that to Jamie, then he stormed off.
I noticed we had most of the ballroom’s attention now when Hale leaned my way. “Is it more fun being in on it than it is reporting on it?”
I looked at him. “Absolutely.”
He winked at me and went back to his food.
Mika and Tom were whispering to each other.
Jamie was sawing into his roast beef like he had to kill it before eating it.
Nora seemed self-conscious, which was not her at all.
Ned and Faunus tried to rescue the dinner repartee, and although their efforts were valiant, they didn’t quite succeed.
So by the time dinner was over, and Nora had to flit off to do event duties, Tom, Jamie and Ned headed straight to the bar.
Hale leaned back in his chair, his arm around the back of mine.
“I need to pop to the bathroom and freshen up. There’s dancing after this, yes?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Hale answered. “Some ballroom dance show and then they’re opening it up to everyone else with a band.”
“When are we leaving?”
“When they open it up to everyone with the band.”
I laughed softly, went in for a kiss on his jaw, then said, “I’ll be back.”
“’Kay, baby,” he muttered.
I shot Blake a smile as she slid into my seat to keep Hale company while I was gone, and me and my evening bag headed to the ladies.
Of course, the two women’s bathrooms on the ballroom level had lines out the door because everyone was doing the same as me, and in a patriarchal archetype, the men who designed these spaces didn’t cater to the differing needs of women from men, so this kind of thing happened pretty much everywhere.
I took the stairs to an upper level, where there were conference rooms and such, and found the bathrooms there were thankfully empty.
I used the facilities and was leaving the stall to wash my hands and check my makeup.
And the minute I pulled the stall door toward me, I saw her standing right there.
I went perfectly still.
Because I recognized her.
Shorter than me. Light brown hair. Pale skin. Dark brown eyes. Around my age, but probably a bit older.
She’d be pretty, if the fact she was unhinged wasn’t an aura that pulsated from her.