"He's a Carter Jeffries client."
"What? Okay, now this is getting good. We should go grab a drink together so you can give me all of the juicy details," Ashley says.
"I don't know… it's a work night, and I have an early morning."
"What are you, like 30 years old or something? You're starting to sound like my parents, Alicia. That's some scary shit."
"Fine, fine, fine …" I say. "You don't have to be so dramatic. Way to guilt me. Where are we going?"
"Let's go to Bemelman's—at the Carlyle. It's a splurge, but you can't beat the piano. And c'mon, their La Pore cocktail is borderline orgasmic."
After Ashley and I change into more appropriate attire, we meet at Bemelman's Bar. Sure enough, a soft jazz piano is playing in the background.
Ashley arrives before I do and I spot her sitting at the bar. I approach her and pull out a barstool for myself.
"Girl, don't look behind you!" she squeals.
Of course, as soon as someone tells me to not look at something, I reflexively do. Immediately, I know what she's talking about. Twenty feet away, I spot Nadia and Derek sitting at a table.
"That's your boss, right?" Ashley asks. "Is that a new boyfriend of hers? He's kind of hot."
"Oh god, Ash—hide me," I say, slinking down in my barstool. "Remember that billionai
re I mentioned earlier?"
"Of course."
"Well, that's him."
"What the fuck?" she says. "Just when I thought things couldn't get weirder." I can see a genuine sense of shock on her face.
"Shit, Derek sees me," I whisper. It's clear that I'm in their line of sight and Nadia is pretending to not notice that I'm here.
I look over again and Derek is now waving us over to his table.
"Looks like you better go say hi," Ashley suggests. "He seems pretty insistent."
We grab our drinks and walk over.
"What are you doing here?" I ask casually.
"I'm here—I mean here at the Carlyle—just until my apartment is decorated."
"Oh nice," I say, and then I immediately kick myself for sounding so stupid. 'Nice?' Is that really what just tumbled out of my mouth?
"You ladies should join us," Derek offers. "Pull up a chair."
"Oh, we don't want to interrupt your date," I say.
"Yeah, Derek, we should let these two friends enjoy their evening together," Nadia chimes in.
From the annoyance in her eyes, it's clear to me that we are ruining her date.
"Nonsense! Sit down. The more the merrier," Derek insists.
I figure he isn't going to take no for an answer, so Ash and I decide to sit down and join them after all.
"What are you two ladies up to tonight?" he asks.