Page 15 of It Had to be You

"Where were you hiding that?"

She hit a speed dial number and reached up with her free hand to remove her dangling earring.

"I have an excellent tailor and they make sure I always have pockets." She rolled her eyes. "Men. I was trying to get your attention. My phone was buzzing and you were all," she gestured vaguely in front her face, "dreamy. Really, you should pay more atten- Charlie, why did it take so long to answer my call?"

Alexander stepped back and turned his attention back to the dance floor. A few of the couples from the class were on the floor and one of the couples weren’t having much luck at remembering who was supposed to step where, but they were having a great time.

Lucky.

"Uh oh." Blair stepped behind him and he could tell, by how muffled her voice was, she was crouched down behind him. "Martina is coming this way!"

A sharp pain lanced through his back. He had a feeling that his old frenemy had just elbowed him in the back.

"Hide me."

"You and I promised to set aside our phones."

"I bet you have yours in your coat."

"No." He couldn’t help the frustration he felt that she thought he was doing the same thing. Then again, they were supposed to be a match.

"Right. Look, just hide me for another minute or two-"

"Why don’t you just go outside? There are a bunch of places where you won’t have to worry about-"

He heard the soft click of the door behind him and knew he was alone.

Okay, even if he hadn’t heard the door, he would have known by the sudden silence.

With a sigh he reached up and opened the top button on his dress shirt. "Finally, a chance to breathe."

"Ouch. Is it that bad?"

He shook his head and schooled the smile on his lips as he turned to face Martina.

"No, not that bad. How are you, Martina?"

"I’m fine." Stepping up beside him, her voice barely managed to hide the humor in her tone. "But the real question is… ‘How are you doing?’"

He opened his mouth to respond, but he closed it again. He quickly rewrote the words in his head. "I’m good. Having a good time with the events and there are a lot of interesting couples here."

There was a pregnant pause before Martina spoke. "You’ll forgive me if I’m not about to ask you for a quote for my marketing brochures."

Alexander coughed in surprise.

"I’m serious, Alexander. I’m here to help you. And to help Blair, who was the person ducking out the side door a moment ago. Am I right?"

Nodding, he smiled and felt the gesture deep down. "You’re right."

"From what I heard," Martina took a step back and turned so she could look at him, "she left partway through the morning class and just joined you for dinner."

Nodding, he lifted a hand to wave at another couple from the class as they waltzed by. "Work emergency."

"And you, Alexander, how is work doing without you?"

He nodded and smiled. "Great. My department heads send me progress reports and my assistant distills what I need. She knows why I’m here. In fact, Sydney is probably the reason why I’m

here."

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