Cinderella Next Door by Nancy Robards Thompson

Author:Nancy Robards Thompson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-12-16T20:26:57+00:00

* * *

Draper waited until three o’clock to call Ginny. He remembered her mentioning that the last bell rang at two thirty. He wanted to give her enough time for the kids to clear the classroom.

He figured that was the earliest he should call.

Sitting at his desk in the Fortune Investments office, he pushed the call button and sat back in his chair, staring at the corner of the ceiling as it rang once, twice...three times. In his head, he began composing the message he’d leave on her voice mail, when she finally answered.

“Hello?”

The sound of her voice made him suck in a breath.

“Hi, Ginny,” he said. “It’s Draper.”

She was quiet for a beat, and just as he started to wonder if the call had gotten dropped—or worse, if she’d hung up on him—she said, “Hi, Draper.”

The sound of her saying his name did something strange to his stomach.

“Hi, um, yeah, I was just calling to make sure we’re still on for Saturday night.”

Again, there was silence on her end.

In the void, he wondered if he should try to explain the Natalie situation, but she answered before he could.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Can you tell me more about it?”

Oh. Okay. It wasn’t a definite no.

“My friend Mackenzie Cole will be in Austin this weekend. The Museum of Women in the Arts is honoring her for her work.”

Silence.

“I hate to subject you to yet another stuffy black-tie dinner, but I can assure you it’ll be worth the pomp. Macks is great. She’s someone you need to know, and I know she’s going to love your work. In fact, right after we get off the phone, I’m going to send her pictures of the pieces I have.”

He stopped at that, deciding to employ an old trick he’d learned in sales—be quiet until the other person speaks.

“Is that what you do in your free time?” she asked. “Go to black-tie events?”

Her reply disarmed him, and he laughed. “It must seem like it, right? But look, as I said, Macks is someone you really need to know. She’s a great champion of women in the arts.”

“Hence the award,” Ginny said.

“What?”

“Her award for her efforts supporting women in the arts.”

“Right. Right,” Draper answered.

Ginny sighed and it made him think of how her breath had smelled like the berry notes of the wine they’d been drinking right before he’d almost kissed her.

He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, as if he could clear away the thought.

“Could I meet her on Sunday?”

“That’s not going to work because she’s leaving early Sunday morning.”

“Look, um, I appreciate you thinking of me, Draper,” she said. “I know you’re just trying to help me and I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but I’m going to be real with you. I don’t have anything appropriate to wear to a black-tie event. I borrowed the dress I wore to the Austin Arts Gala and I’m fresh out of options.”

Draper sat up in his chair, and a smile spread over his face.

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