Page 33 of Prelude To You

I looked up at Meg where she was seated on the couch. Imagine Albert Einstein’s face when he figured out that famous theory of his. The same expression slowly blossomed on Meg’s face.

“Wait, this card belongs tohim?” she said breathlessly. “Then why in the name of Sweet Baby Jesus aren’t you getting ready!?”

I whipped the cold cream into the hot Belgian chocolate until the texture became a gleaming lava of deliciousness. “I’m not sure what you mean,” I said, somewhat confused. “Get ready for what?”

And then Meg was right in my face, waving the black card like it was a winning lotto ticket. “Oh, Isabel! Now is not the time to be coy. Why aren’t you getting ready to go to this damn auction!?”

“What would I want to do at an auction!? I don’t have enough money to buy a pair of socks right now.”

Meg stared at me incredulously, then shook her head dramatically. “Or… Now stay with me here for a second.You could dress up like the gorgeous woman you are andaccidentallyrun into your secret paramour.”

I piped the pastry cream into the holes of the first éclair and then dipped the cream-filled pastry in the chocolate glaze. There was no time to waste since I didn’t want the glaze to cool. But I did take a second to blast Meg a skeptical look.

“Do you hear yourself,” I said. “Trying to “run into” this man spells disaster of epic proportions. Why would I want to humiliate myself like that?”

Meg cocked her head at me, boldly holding my gaze. “And what you’re doing right now is disassociating from reality because you can’t handle the chance of womaning up and facing this man that had you taking a thousand cold showers since last night.”

“Exaggerate much?” I feebly attempted to defend myself. “I mean you can’t be serious about this right now.”

“I’m serious as a goddamn heart attack,” Meg went on. “You dress up and you pretend to run into him. How hard can that possibly be?”

“Excuse me, what happened toHey, it’s your life not mine, last thing I wanna do is interfere.”

“I’m not interfering,” Meg argued. “I’m suggesting you explore this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet again with your wet dream.”

The mere thought of running into Stranger gave me goosebumps, dragging my memory right back to the bookshop and that kiss. I blamed the hot kitchen for the sudden flush in my cheeks.

“Well,” I said firmly. “You can put that on the list of crazy things I’ll never do. No way will that man think that the mess of a woman he met last night belongs at the same auction he was invited to. I mean last night he couldn’t wait to get out of there.And it wasn’t like he was begging for my number. Get off my case, please.”

“Wow, this is a side of you I don’t know,” Meg said. “This sad, insecure woman who’s swatting away the only chance for true love in her life.”

I shook my head in frustration. “Oh for fuck sake, Meg. Just stop. He already humiliated me once. There is no way I’m going to give him a chance to do it again.”

“Maybe there was an emergency and he had to leave. Or he was late for a funeral. Or something.”

“A funeral at night? What is he, a vampire?”

“Admit it, it would be cool if he was,” Meg said. She grabbed her phone from the counter and started texting.

“What are you doing?” I asked, wary.

“Getting us pizza.”

“I can just whip us up something to eat here. We have pasta and I can do thatcrème fraicheAlfredo with bacon and spinach, if the spinach is still good...“

But Meg continued to text as if her life were at stake. “We’re not going to have time for that,” she said ominously. “We have other things to do.”

I was getting suspicious. “Like what?”

“Like getting you ready, because you are going to that auction.”

“Like hell I am.”

I was now piping the éclairs with pastry cream and dipping them in the chocolate glaze at a frantic pace. All my frustration was poured into this simple task. Anything to ignore the delicious sensation whirling inside of me at the possibility of seeing Stranger again.

“And we’re going to make you look fabulous,” Meg went on.

“I said no.”

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