Stakes & Stilettos - Michelle Rowen [31]
Thierry had been in such a good mood, by his standards, that I didn’t want to put a damper on the evening by telling him about the Red Devil’s continued interest in my well-being.
Maybe it was early, but there weren’t as many people in attendance as I’d expected. In fact, at first glance I didn’t even see anyone I remembered.
“Sarah?” I heard from over my shoulder. “Oh, my God. Sarah Dearly! I don’t believe this!”
I turned, relieved to see somebody I definitely recognized. I smiled at the pretty woman with dark red hair and a cute black shift dress on her trim figure. “Claire!” I hugged her. “Wow, it’s so great to see you.”
She smiled so widely it could be classified as beaming. I didn’t. I’d trained myself to smile without showing off the fangs. Kind of a subdued Mona Lisa deal.
“I was wondering if you’d make it to the reunion,” she said. “Can you believe it’s been ten years already?”
“I really can’t.” I scanned the floor. “So where is everybody?”
She shrugged. “I did see a few people. I guess most decided they didn’t want to show off their balding heads and big beer guts. And that’s probably just the women.”
I laughed at that. “Maybe you’re right.”
“So what have you been up to? How’s the acting thing going? I know you had a big plan to do movies. Have you been in anything lately?”
“Plans change.” I glanced over at Thierry, who was giving me and Claire a little room to speak relatively privately. “You know, after I left Abottsville I realized that acting wasn’t really my thing. Way too superficial.”
Not to mention, ridiculously hard to break into without sleeping with directors and/or producers. Even for the maxipad commercial I’d had to agree to go out with the casting agent. I strongly disagreed when he suggested a three-way with his “understanding” girlfriend and I never worked in showbiz again. Strange how things work out.
Claire nodded. “So what are you doing now?”
As glamorous as a short-lived career of being a personal assistant and now a part-time bartender sounded, I decided to vague it up. “You know, I do a little bit of this, a little bit of that. How about you? I know you wanted to go into… what was it? Corporate law?”
“Actually, I work at McDonald’s,” she said. “In Niagara Falls. Come by some time and I’ll sneak you a free Big Mac.” She turned to the side and waved her hand. “Reggie, come over here and meet my friend Sarah.” She waited a moment. “Reggie! Now!”
A nice-looking dark-haired man came to her side. He had a receding hairline and a suit that looked as though it didn’t fit him too well, since he kept tugging at the collar. “I’m here, I’m here.”
I extended my hand. “I’m Sarah.”
“Nice to meet you.” His gaze immediately went directly to my super-short red skirt, before snapping guiltily back to Claire.
But she wasn’t looking at him. Instead she squinted at Thierry’s nametag. “Thheeerie?” She sounded it out. “That’s an unusual name.”
I slid an arm around his waist. “Actually the ‘h’ is silent. It’s French.”
“Oh.” She nodded. “Teeeerie.”
“It’s pronounced Tyair-ee.” Thierry took her hand in his. “A pleasure.”
She grinned. “So are you two married?”
I moved my arm from his waist to hook around his and found that he was more tense than he appeared. “Nope.”
She presented her left hand for me to inspect a tiny diamond ring. “I’m engaged. Reggie popped the question at Christmas.”
Reggie nodded. “I did. I’ve never been happier.”
If you asked me, he sounded more scared than enthusiastic. Then again, I’d known Claire in high school. I knew she kept a tight leash on her boyfriends.
“Congrats,” I told them. “Hey, want to hear something strange? My cousin’s on the decorating committee and a psychic gave her an eerie prediction about tonight.”
The smile faded from Claire’s face. “What kind of a prediction?”
“Something about darkness lurking around. It sounded a bit scary, and with the week I’ve been having it would have fit right in. So far, so good, though. Nothing seems to be lurking, dark or otherwise.”
Claire closed her eyes and held her hands up to her sides for a moment.
“What are