Page 10 of Unraveling the Truth About Love
Chapter Six
RILEY WAS THANKFUL to be buried in work, allowing only moments of worry about whether dinner with Josh was meant to be a date or a work assignment. The way he’d touched her arms didn’t feel very businesslike. Then again, having dinner with Josh and Peter Stafford, head of the biggest modeling agency in New York, was definitely all business.I’m overthinking the situation.Of course,he had asked her to a business dinner, a welcome-to-New-York dinner, as opposed to a date.Or had he?
As soon as she left the office, sheer panic stepped in, filling the space that work had occupied before. Her nerves tangled and fought, making her feel sick to her stomach. She took a hot shower, going over possibilities in her mind. If it was a date, how should she dress? How should she act?She’d been so comfortable with Josh back in Weston. Why was she so nervous now? What if she said something awkward and embarrassed herself in front of Peter Stafford?
She tipped her face up to the spray of the shower to wash away the bombardment of what ifs. What advice would she give Jade? She thought about that as she dried off and stepped from the shower.Just be yourself.Jade was beautiful,smart, and funny. Being herself worked. Riley looked in the mirror, feeling like a drowned rat. She needed to bring in the cavalry. She needed support. She reached for her cell phone.
Jade answered on the first ring.
“Tell me I’m beautiful, smart, and funny,” Riley begged.
Jade laughed. “Why?”
Riley sighed as she sat on the toilet lid. “Because I’m having dinner with Josh and Peter Staffordtonight. Do you know who he is?” She didn’t give Jade time to answer. “He runs the biggest modeling agency in New York. Can you believe it? And I have no idea if it’s a business thing, a date, or what, and I don’t look like the spit-skinny models, and I’m from small-town Weston, not New York City, so who knows how many ways I’ll mess this up.”
“Oh, is that all?” Jade teased.
“Jade! I need support.Please? Someone told me today that I’m not afraid to eat. That’s code forfat, and now I’m not sure if I should just pretend to eat when I’m with Josh and Peter frickin’ Stafford. I’m so nervous I could puke. I probably won’t eat anyway.”
“Oh my gosh. You’re kidding, right?”
“Jade.” Riley closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Come on, Ri. You know how pretty you are. You turn heads everywhereyou go. You have curves and you know how to work them. Guys love that.”
“I don’t think New York guys do.”
“Really? Josh is a New York guy now. And you know the way he looked at you before he offered you the job.”
“How could I forget?” Riley asked.
“And remember that night at the concert? I swear, Ri. The man didn’t give you thirty seconds with the rest of us. He whisked you away.”
“We weretalking about fashion. He was probably just interested because I wasn’t a complete novice. He never made a single move on me, Jade.”I swear the butterflies in my stomach are taking steroids.
“For a smart girl, sometimes you’re a real dunce. Look, it’s Josh Braden. Think of him as the boy from high school. Be yourself. You’re charming and witty. You’re gorgeous and smart. Ri, you’re so likablethat I can’t imagine anyonenotliking you.”
The sincerity in Jade’s voice settled Riley’s nerves…a little. “You really think so? I don’t even know which fork to use in a restaurant.”
“Google it,” Jade joked.
“You laugh, but I will before he picks me up.”
“Josh is picking you up?” Jade asked.
“Yeah.”
“It’s a date,” Jade said emphatically.
“Why? Just because he’s coming to get me? I don’tknow where anything is around here and I’m petrified of the subway, but I promised myself I’d start taking it tomorrow. I think Josh is just being nice.”Oh gosh, a date?
“I don’t know. You’re asking me to define something that’s hard to figure out. I don’t know how things work in New York, but if it’s a friendly dinner, you know, you meet them at the restaurant. How did he ask you?”
This wasgetting more stressful by the second. “Well, he said that he hadn’t given me a proper welcome and asked if I wanted to have dinner with him. Then Mia said he had this dinner engagement with Peter Stafford, and he asked me to come along.”
“It kinda sounds like a date, but also like he was being nice because he brought you into New York, you know, welcoming a friend.”
“See,” Riley said. “That’swhat I thought, too.”
