Page 14 of Minted

That’s when I realize that he wants me to spruce up his profile. I’m asking him to spend twenty hours of his life with me—enduring boring work talk. Maybe asking for all the parties is overkill.

Right?

Right.

“Yeah? What can I do?”

“You said you’d be here during the holidays,” I say, “and for work, I have to go to a few parties with my ex and his new girlfriend.”

“Yeah, you said. That really sucks. I wasn’t kidding about the job. I’m sure we could find you—”

“That’s more than a simple favor,” I say. “And you may think this is too much, and it’s fine if you do. But I was thinking maybe you could go with me to some of them as my plus one.”

Silence.

“Not as an actual date or anything.” I cough. “But the thing is, just having someone there with me, a friend at my side, would help.”

“Why not as your date?”

Now I can’t breathe. Is he making a joke? It’s probably a joke.

“I never told you this, because it would have sounded petty or jealous or something coming from me, but I hated James.” He chuckles. “I hate him still, I guess. More, now. Before I just didn’t like him, but now? I want to punch him. A lot of times.”

“No punching at work things,” I say. “Though if it happened in the parking lot. . .” I make a weird Eh sound.

Now he’s actually laughing. “I’ll keep that in mind. But listen, I’d be happy to be your date. Or to go as your friend, if that’s better for you. Whatever you want.”

He’d go as my date. Or not. Whatever I want.

Something must be wrong with my hormones, because I swear an image of Bentley in swimming trunks at the Hamptons flashes through my mind. I shake my head to clear it. “Really? That would be amazing. I have a lot of parties to attend, but if you could just do a few of them, I can just say you have conflicts on the others, and I won’t feel nearly as self-conscious.”

“The beauty of owning your own company is that any conflicts I have, I can remove. Just text me when they all are, and I’ll clear my calendar.”

Holy holly. I just landed the hottest date in New York State for what I thought was going to be the most miserable Christmas of my life.

5

Bentley

My mother had this purse—a Birken—that she loved. It was the right size. It was the right color. It had pockets for all the things that needed pockets. She would rave about it to friends, to family, and to neighbors. Of course, part of that was because it was limited edition, and she had one of only one hundred that were ever made.

I’m pretty sure she liked that bag more than she liked me.

I wish that was a joke.

To my parents, I’ve always been a bit of an accessory. To my tutors, I was a nuisance they were paid to teach. To my teachers, I was a scary problem—if I got bad grades, my parents who paid their tuition complained. To my coaches in sports, I was a tool to help them find success. To everyone in my life, I was something to be used.

Except to Dave Fansee.

He was the first person who ever treated me like someone he loved—someone he actually cared about. He saw me as a person. So while we were growing up, he always thought that I had the good life. But when I went to eat dinner at his house, I would bask in the shiny, warm love of his rambunctious and affectionate family every second I could before I went back home.

I know.

Poor, little rich boy. My parents always provided the very best for me, and I’m not someone who spent a lot of time complaining. But when everything you eat is a carefully prepared and executed meal made by a Michelin chef. . .sometimes you just want a Big Mac.

Now, at forty-three, I’m looking around at my life, and I’m beginning to think that the reason I’ve never found my Seren is that I’ve been going about looking in entirely the wrong way. Dave wasn’t even looking when Seren fell in his lap, so I thought I could do the same. I would just live my life, and she would simply find me.

Did you think some woman is going to show up and present an engraved invitation that says, ‘Bentley’s Future Bride’? Dave’s words keep rattling round and round in my brain. I mean, obviously I didn’t think some woman would show up with my name in blinking lights. I didn’t think it would be that obvious.

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