Chapter 2

“The new law firm helping us sort out the mess with Kyoto is having a fundraiser gala,” Bryan explained. “They invited all their clients. Lots of people, three or four hundred easy. You should have no trouble finding someone interesting to talk to.”

Jenny stopped in her tracks, staring at him in disbelief. “You’re just going to abandon me when we get there?”

With a sigh, he turned to face her, the streetlight overhead illuminating his closely cut sandy hair. “I’m going to have to schmooze with the lawyers, Jen. And you hate having to listen to me talk about my work. Why wouldn’t you look for somebody else who’s not going to bore you all night?”

Because nothing ever changes at these things, she wanted to say. “I guess I’ll figure something out.” Her footfalls were louder against the concrete as she headed to the car. Arguing about it now would only make the night worse.

As they slipped into the night’s traffic, Bryan reached across the seat to take her hand, never saying a word. Jenny glanced over, but his attention was fixed on his driving, wide-set hazel eyes constantly moving from mirror to mirror, his thin mouth set. Inwardly, she sighed. She knew he meant well; she knew how hard he tried. She only wished he’d open his eyes a little bit and see that sometimes square pegs couldn’t fit into round holes.

It was dark by the time they reached the party, the valet whisking away their poor five-year-old Toyota to park it amongst all the luxury sedans and convertibles. Putting on her best cheerleader smile, Jenny draped her wrap around her shoulders and followed Bryan inside. The meet-and-greet was always the toughest part. Smile and nod. Go through introductions. Pretend to remember the ones she’d met before. Try not to see the condescending lifts of brows when people learned that their darling Bryan Gillis was engaged to an auto mechanic who only got through high school on her pompoms. And if she had to listen to one more person ask why she hadn’t followed Bryan out east for college, Jenny was pretty sure she was going to lose it.

She grabbed the first waiter she saw, taking a champagne flute from his tray and downing it like it was water. That tiny line appeared between Bryan’s eyes when he noticed, but he never broke from the conversation he was having with a portly middle-aged lawyer and his wife. He was a pro at this. He always had been.

“So how long have you two been together?” the lawyer’s wife asked, turning to Jenny with a whitened smile and Botoxed brows.

“You mean, this time?”

Her joked response made the couple pause, glancing at each other before Bryan jumped in.

“What Jen means is that we dated all through high school, but then I went off to college while she stayed here. We got back together after I moved back to LA and joined TDC.”

“So it’s been four years this time,” Jenny finished with a smile. “Or seven years in total. But high school never counts for anything, right?”

The pair chuckled, but she saw the look in their eyes and knew the joke had fallen flat. She glanced down at her empty flute. One of these days, she was going to remember to stay away from any attempts at humor around these people.

As soon as the conversation shifted to wedding plans, Bryan found an excuse for them to get away. Neither liked to talk about the fact that they didn’t have a date set, a detail that was as sore in private as it was here. Though they had been engaged for over a year, they agreed they didn’t want to rush into anything, which only brought raised eyebrows whenever it got mentioned in public. Nobody seemed to understand why they weren’t in a hurry. It was as if it wasn’t all right for two people to simply be together anymore.

She had finished her third glass of champagne before Bryan finally disengaged from her to go and talk to Mr. Portman. He promised he’d only be gone for a few minutes, but they both knew the truth. Jenny was going to be on her own for the rest of the night.

“At least they break out the expensive stuff for these shindigs,” a deep voice said from behind her as she reached for her fourth glass.

Whipping around to see who had spoken, Jenny was greeted by a pair of the bluest eyes she had ever seen. The man they belonged to wasn’t much taller than her—five-seven, five-eight at the most—with dark hair falling boyishly across his brow and a smile that made her want to smile back. It was the wicked grin of a child who knew the best secret on the block, but wouldn’t tell until everybody was begging to know. It was a grin she would have remembered if she had encountered it before.