The Essence of Perfection Read online

  Nicola’s cell phone buzzed. She pulled it from her pocket to find Bobby’s number. She smiled as her nerves jumped.

  “Bobby? Hey.”

  “Hey, Nicola, I just got here. I’m heading that way. Are you there already?”

  “Yeah, I’m standing in front of the restaurant.”

  An ambulance went down a side street. She heard the echo in Bobby’s phone. She turned around to look for him. It didn’t take long to spot him. He must have recognized her at the same time, because he smiled and lowered the phone from his face.

  Bobby hadn’t changed much. He was about ten pounds heavier, but the extra weight only filled in his build. Gone was the fade he’d worn in college, replaced with a smooth bald head. A full, well-groomed beard covered his jaw. When he hugged her, his body was warm and solid. He smelled of sandalwood and spice. A competitor’s cologne.

  “You look great,” Bobby said after he pulled back. His eyes trailed up and down her body several times.

  “Same to you.”

  Darcy spoke up. “Can you do that again. I didn’t have the camera up.”

  Bobby glanced at Darcy and her camera. “You’re hiding my face, right?” That was the one thing he’d asked for when Nicola mentioned the camera.

  Darcy nodded. “As promised.”

  He grinned, gave Nicola another once over, licked his lips, then winked at Darcy. “Alright. As long as my face is hidden. That’s cool.” There could be a number of reasons he wanted his face hidden. The top of the list being he didn’t want his personal life on display. The thought that lingered in her brain was that he didn’t want to be seen on television going out with her.

  Bobby leaned in for another hug. With this one, he squeezed her a little tighter and several seconds longer before letting her go. Nicola tried to smile as Bobby wrapped an arm around her waist and led her toward the front of the restaurant.

  “I’m so glad you called me,” he said. “I’d hoped to look you up once I got back in town. You know I really had a thing for you back in college.”

  A hint of relief washed through her. Okay, maybe he wasn’t embarrassed to see her. She tried to relax even though he clutched her close against his side. This was what she’d wanted, kind of. He seemed just as excited about this chance for reconnection as she was. Maybe this was going to turn into something. They’d start dating. Things might get serious. They’d take long weekends out of town together, and she’d start to look forward to leaving the lab early instead of spending so much time there. Her chance to tell a guy she loved him.

  “I didn’t know you had a thing for me back then,” she said once they were seated at the bar and had ordered drinks. She tried to ignore Darcy as she set up her camera to focus on them. The people outside didn’t seem to care, but those inside watched her and Bobby with blatant curiosity.

  Bobby turned completely toward her. He lifted his drink and slowly wrapped his lips around the tiny straw protruding from the glass. His eyes never left her face the entire time. If the move was supposed to be sexy it failed. She bit the inside of her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

  After taking a long sip, Bobby let the straw slip through his lips. “You always seemed kind of hands off. Focused on work all the time. I was sure you’d turn me down.”

  Nicola hoped he wasn’t attempting to be seductive and that was just the way he drank from a straw. Then again, maybe she didn’t. “I never got the feeling you were into me,” she said. “If I would have known, I would have asked you sooner.”

  “Then maybe I would have married you.” He reached over and squeezed her arm. His eyebrows wiggled.

  Nicola’s eyes widened and she leaned back. “You think?”

  “Yeah. Marrying you would have been the right decision. No drama. I bet you wouldn’t give me a hard time about who I’m talking to and where I’m going. Would you?” He grinned and sucked on the tiny straw.

  “I don’t know. Would I need to give you a hard time about that?”

  Bobby laughed, put his drink down, and took her hand in his. His hands were wet from the condensation on the glass. “No, you wouldn’t. You see, I’m not that type of guy. I’m a one-woman man. Once I give my heart to a woman I’m not going anywhere. That’s what I always thought about when I thought about you. Being with someone real. Someone who wants the same things out of life.”

  Nicola pulled her hand from his. “That’s cool. What have you been up to since college?” she asked, hoping to steer the conversation away from marriage. She supposed she should be flattered he’d once thought about what it would be like to marry her, but he spoke about marrying her as if she’d be more support than partner.

  “Working,” he said. “That’s all I have time for. Work and then I go home. I need a break from all that. Don’t you?”

  “I do. It’s one of the reasons I agreed to do this. I want to spend some time having fun and enjoying life.”

  “Me too. I knew this was fate when you called me. That it was time for my life to turn into something great.” He took her hand again.

  Nicola looked into his eyes and relaxed. She wouldn’t get her hopes up, but maybe things with Bobby would turn out well. “We’ll see how things go.”

  “I know they’ll go great.” Bobby lifted her hand and brushed his lips across the back.

  “Oh, hell no!” a woman yelled from the other side of the room.

  Bobby stilled. He dropped her hand and sat up straight. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Damn.”

  Nicola leaned toward him. Worry replacing her earlier unease. “What’s wrong?”

  “That’s my wife.”

  “Your wife?” Nicola jumped up from her seat. She looked in the direction of the angry outburst. A woman charged in their direction. Rage in her eyes.

  “Bobby, I know your ass isn’t out here in these streets again. Not when I just had to finish antibiotics from you burning me just a few weeks ago.” The woman reached them and slapped the back of Bobby’s head. “You are a jerk.” She turned her glare on Nicola. “And who the hell are you?”

  Nicola raised her hands. “Someone who did not know he was married.” Separated her ass. She was going to kill Shonda. Never again would she rely on social media statuses when it came to people’s relationships.

  Bobby’s wife lifted her hand and wiggled the finger with a ring on it. “Hell yes, he’s married. Been married for seven damn years. You ain’t about to take my husband.”

  “You know what. You can have him. I don’t want a thing to do with this.”

  Bobby pleaded for Nicola to stay and for his wife to calm down as Nicola grabbed her things and rushed out of the restaurant. Darcy chased Nicola out of the restaurant. Her entire body was on fire. Anger and embarrassment were a toxic mix in her stomach. Making her feel sick. She never should have done this. What was she thinking? Fate hadn’t brought Bobby back in her life. Now she was humiliated for the entire world to see.

  “Nicola, wait!” Darcy called.

  “I’ve got to go.”

  “No, listen.” Darcy grabbed her elbow. “I won’t use this at all. I promise. We won’t even bring it up. I’ll tell the network he didn’t show up or something.”

  Nicola placed a hand over her face. This had to be the worst night of her life. She’d been the other woman. No matter that he hadn’t really answered her question about being single when they’d talked. How dumb was it for her not to insist on a straight answer? “That’s great. They’ll think I was stood up.”

  “It’s either that or let them know he tried to play you,” Darcy said in a no-nonsense voice Nicola couldn’t ignore.

  He had tried to play her. She wanted to go back in that restaurant and slap the back of Bobby’s head, too. All of those you wouldn’t question me comments he’d thrown out. He’d thought she was naïve. Easily manipulated. Easy to play. She dropped the hand from her face and glared back at the restaurant. “You know what. Let the world know. Maybe it’ll save the next woman he tries to lie to.”


  Darcy shook her head. “I won’t use it. I promise.”

  Bobby and his wife came out the door. They were arguing. Bobby caught her eye and looked like he wanted to head her way. Nicola’s stomach clenched. No way was she going to get pulled back into that drama.

  “You know what, do what you want,” she said to Darcy then hurried away before she cried. This was why taking risks was absolute crap.

  Chapter 14

  “Don’t you dare laugh!” Nicola pointed at Mr. Goldberg sitting across from her in the Tuesday afternoon pottery class.

  They were still making things by hand and not throwing on the wheel. Mr. Goldberg had decided to be original, his words, and make a miniature sculpture of his dog. Nicola was sticking with bowls. The smell of clay and glaze had taken some of the tension out of her neck and shoulders when she’d walked into the studio that afternoon. Maybe that’s why she’d lost her mind and decided to tell Mr. Goldberg about her disastrous date with Bobby.

  “What did you do when she slapped the back of his head?” Mr. Goldberg wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “I would have loved to have seen that.”

  “It wasn’t funny. It was embarrassing.” But as she re-told the story she could see some of the humor in the situation.

  “Would you prefer if she hadn’t shown up and then you would have continued to date a married man? Maybe even fallen hard for the guy?”

  “No. In fact, I don’t know if I really would have gone for the second date. There were red flags. He was kind of creepy with the way he eyed me like a piece of steak. Plus, the questions about if I’d harass him about where he went and what he was doing.”

  Bobby had given off enough bad vibes to make her wonder if she’d romanticized their friendship back in college. He’d been a brilliant chemistry major, but he’d also been a member of one of the most popular fraternities on campus. She’d been a little dazzled that someone as popular as him had been interested in her. A side effect of being the uninteresting one in the family for years.

  “Then I suggest you laugh at the humor in the situation and shake off the embarrassment,” Mr. Goldberg said. “He was the screw-up in this situation, not you.”

  “When you put it that way.” Nicola thought back to the guilty expression on Bobby’s face when his wife had yelled from across the room. The corner of her mouth lifted. “It was kind of funny. He did look like a kid caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to.”

  “The other day I caught my grandson on the video game right after my daughter told him to get off. When I walked in the room the boy looked like he’d been caught stealing the crown jewels.” Mr. Goldberg held up his hands, his eyes wide and his mouth opening and shutting like a fish. “Mom didn’t . . . I thought . . . but I . . .” He started laughing. “He couldn’t even get out a good excuse. In the end he just tossed the controller aside and stood with his head down. Caught in the act.”

  Nicola placed a hand over her mouth, but that didn’t muffle her snort of laughter. “Yeah, that’s about how Bobby looked when his wife slapped the back of his head.”

  “See, I told you there was humor in all situations. So, what happened next?”

  “Nothing really. She turned on me, but I quickly shut that down. I told her I didn’t know he was married, and she could keep him. Then I walked out with my head held high. They were screaming and yelling in the background.”

  Darcy had called her again to say she wasn’t going to show the clip. Nicola had thanked her. In hindsight, even though she’d originally wanted them to humiliate Bobby the way he’d humiliated her, she’d changed her mind. She just wanted to be done with him and not provide proof to the world of her embarrassing encounter.

  “Good for you!” Mr. Goldberg lightly slapped her arm with the back of his hand. “See, classy woman with a classy exit. His loss.”

  “You’re right. His loss,” Nicola said, nodding. For now, she’d put telling someone she loved them at the bottom of her list of things to get done.

  They’d both turned back to their projects and were silent for several minutes when Mr. Goldberg asked. “When is your next date?”

  Nicola nearly pinched a hole in her bowl. “With Bobby?”

  “No, with a new guy, or gal. I don’t want to paint you into a box.”

  Nicola chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ve painted myself into a box. The I’m happy to be single box. There will be no next date.”

  “Why not? Because of one jerk?”

  “Because it’s too much. The drama of dating. I can have fun doing the things on my list without going on multiple dates.”

  Without risking further embarrassment. This entire ordeal was about living her life to the fullest. Not about finding true love. If that even existed.

  “What about your list and doing everything on it?” Mr. Goldberg asked.

  “There are other things on my list I can do.” She could still do something to prove her life was about more than creating the fun scents of the world without actually going out and experiencing the things she imitated on those briefing documents.

  “But don’t give up on dating. Everyone needs someone in their life. Even if it’s just for sex.”

  Nicola’s jaw dropped. “Mr. Goldberg!”

  He shrugged and added the tail to his dog. “I’m not lying.”

  Damien walked into the room then. As if the utterance of the word sex had summoned a man who inspired sexual thoughts. He’d shown up for the second class last week as well. Like then, Fran seemed surprised he was there. He scanned the room and stopped when his gaze landed her and Mr. Goldberg. He returned her smile, which hadn’t gone away since Mr. Goldberg made her laugh, and walked over to their table.

  “What’s so funny over here?”

  “Just telling Nicola not to let one bad date get her down,” Larry said.

  Damien’s laser sharp eyes focused on her. His dreads were pulled up in a loose knot at the top of his head. His light grey t-shirt was spattered with blue, green, and orange stain along with the ripped jeans. The scent of clay clung to him and combined with his own woodsy scent.

  “Your date didn’t go well the other night?”

  She considered kicking Mr. Goldberg for spilling the beans, but it wasn’t as if her bad date was a trade secret. She’d seen a few other members of the class chuckle to themselves as she’d told him her story. “Fortunately, it did not.”

  “Fortunately?”

  She pinched the sides of her bowl to try and evenly distribute the clay. One side was definitely thicker than the other. “Yes, turns out my date was married. His wife showed up. I got lucky that I found out sooner rather than later.”

  Mr. Goldberg leaned over. “And I’m telling her that she has to get back out there.”

  “And I was telling him that I’m in no rush.” She replied with raised brows.

  Damien placed his hand on the back of her chair. He didn’t touch her, but the movement brought him slightly closer. Her skin tightened. The essence of him was so tangible and real he might as well have touched her. “Sorry to hear about your date, but you’re right, you were fortunate to find out. You deserve a man who’ll treat you like the queen that you are.”

  She glanced at him from the corner or her eye. “You think I’m a queen? Is that something you say to all women?” She didn’t mean to let the skepticism come out in her voice, but no man had called her a queen. After the blowup with Bobby, she was feeling extra critical of male attention. Wasn’t that just some line wannabe players tried to use?

  Damien leaned in a smidge closer. “No, I don’t tell that to all women. And, yes, I do think you have the grace, poise, brilliance, and beauty of a queen.”

  Nicola sucked in a breath. Heat spread through her chest, up her neck, and across her cheeks. Was he serious? He looked serious. No traces of laughter or gaslighting in his expression or tone.

  Why would he say that? Did she care? God, she was falling back down the Damien thirst trap. This man had disavowed
relationships in her presence just a few days ago.

  “Well, that sounds like an invitation to ask him out on a date,” Mr. Goldberg said with all the subtlety of a bucking bull in a library.

  Damien dropped his hand from her chair and took a step back. Nicola shook her head and tried to appear unfazed.

  “I wasn’t trying to hit on her.”

  “He was just being nice.”

  They spoke at the same time. Damien rubbed the back of his neck and gave her a sideways smile. “I’m going to check out the other students.”

  “Yeah, I need to get back to this.” She focused on her bowl and didn’t look up as Damien hurried away. Dear God, let me erupt into flames of embarrassment right now.

  “He likes you,” Mr. Goldberg whispered.

  “No, he doesn’t. He’s just being nice.” And just announced to the entire class that he wasn’t hitting on her.

  “You said that already.”

  “I know what I said. I said it because the words still stand. Damien is cool. I’ve got four more weeks in this class and then I won’t see him again.”

  Mr. Goldberg’s lips twisted as if he were holding back words, and thankfully he did. Nicola went back to her bowl. She didn’t look Damien’s way again as he strolled through the studio and gave feedback with Fran on the various artwork. Damien was divorced and had made it very clear at the farmers market he wasn’t even trying to get involved with anyone. She could admire his arms, legs, eyes, and that mouth from afar, but there was no way she was going to get caught up in thinking he might be interested. She had bigger things on her plate. Starting with picking the next item on her list.

  Chapter 15

  Quinn saved Nicola from having to think too long about the next item on her list. After Nicola told her sister about the disastrous date with Bobby, Quinn immediately went in with her signature brand of commentary.

  “I always knew he was a liar,” Quinn had said. Amazing how she’d never brought that up before. “Forget him. I know exactly what you’re doing next. Remember when that prince guy wanted you to pet his tiger?”