When I woke up the next day, I was surprised to find that I had fallen asleep in my dress. After spending most of the day shopping with Victoria and then the charity dinner, along with a few too many cocktails, I’d stretched out on my bed to unwind before getting ready for bed. Ha, and here I was. Completely dressed, jewelry and all. At some point, I’d got under the covers during the night.
I struggled to get out of bed with the blanket tangled around my legs. I glanced at the mirror and laughed out loud. What a mess!
Last night I looked pretty and stylish. Everyone liked my unkempt wavy hair. Go figure.
The dinner party for the charity was really wonderful. Samantha had held tightly to Parker all evening. Clearly she thought they were more than friends. The poor thing. Murphy’s friend Donald had been loads of fun. He enjoyed dancing the night away. A man after my own heart. I wondered all evening if he was more than a friend to Murphy. He was such good company. Donald had been well liked by the ladies, and he’d done his fair share of dancing with a lot of them. He made me promise to save a few dances for him, which turned out to be more than a few.
“Now I know why Murphy said come have fun with the both of you. Parker has been hiding you away in his condo,” Donald had said. “She was right in saying that you were beautiful and funny.”
I made my way to the kitchen, still wearing last night’s dress. It wasn’t quite the walk of shame but rather it’s cousin. I seriously needed a tea. Even a coffee would be okay right about now.
I hadn’t expected to run into people. Parker, maybe yes, but not Samantha. Yet there they both were.
“Well, that dress has seen better times,” Samantha said sarcastically. “I’m not really surprised you’re still in it after last night.”
I felt my face heat up with either embarrassment or anger. I wasn’t sure which.
Could I get away with hitting her? Or throwing a drink in her face? Eh, she’s not worth it.
“Good morning to you, too, Samantha,” I said, brushing past Parker to get a coffee. “Too bad you guys didn’t have as much fun as us last night, or you would be smiling right now. Maybe next time.”
Parker almost spit his coffee all over himself but quickly covered it by raising the newspaper higher so Samantha couldn’t see he was laughing.
Oops, was that too bitchy? Whatever with this privileged girl. Oh my gosh, I never act like this.
“Don’t mind me, you two. I just needed a coffee, and now I’m off to jog,” I said, bumping into Parker’s chair.
I gave a side nod to Samantha, then took a glance at the sky that was telling me I had full daylight for my run which meant it would be a little warmer.
When I came out of the bedroom tying my hair up in a ponytail, Samantha was lounging on the couch while Parker was in his office.
I don’t want to have to make small talk with her. She was not very nice earlier.
“Nice meeting you, Samantha,” I said as I quickly walked past her to the front door.
* * *
The sun had risen completelyon Central Park. The horse carriages were lined up in place while tourists huddled around the kiosks for coffee and hot chocolate. I waved to the doorman busy hailing a cab for the elderly lady on the second floor. Stretching completed, I turned on my iPod and started my run.
I need to sweat out all that liquor from last night.
I had just finished my first mile when my cell started ringing. I jogged in place, checking my pulse and trying to ignore the ringing cell but knowing I had to answer it in case it was Chloe.
It was Murphy, not Chloe, but I answered anyway. “Hey, Murphy,” I said, crossing the street through the middle of the park.
“Good morning, Mia. . Hey, I was thinking. Let’s do brunch, then we can get our hair and nails done. I don’t know about you, but I could use a facial and a massage before the big dance tonight.” Murphy said, barely stopping to breathe. “I have a few people coming tonight that I need to impress by looking confident and crisp. My charity needs their backing and…”
“Murphy. I’m jogging right now,” I said, running in place while a horse carriage passed by.
“Oh sorry. I forgot you run like Parker at God-awful hours.”
“Ha. It’s only a God-awful hour because you—we—drank too much last night,” I said, jogging onto the bike path.
“Touché,” Murphy said. “But I’m not jogging. I’ll pick you up at nine thirty. Which dress are you wearing for the dance?”
“I hadn’t decided yet,” I said. “I guess I better decide so I can make sure I have the accessories.”
“Then you’re wearing the navy blue dress with all of the rhinestones. It’ll look great with your blue eyes too. Mom sent me pictures of the dress, in case you were wondering how I knew