Accidentally Yours (2 page)

Chapter
2

Another Auld Lang Syne

V
ivian didn’t understand it. Why were she and Glenda sitting in her apartment, dateless, in front of the television on New Year’s Eve? And not just any New Year’s Eve, but the most important one they would ever see, the dawn of a new millennium. So what if all the date specialists, or whatever those people were called, said that the Twenty-First Century wouldn’t officially begin until January first of Two Thousand One. The calendar was about to flip from Nineteen Ninety-Nine to Two Thousand. She and Glenda should be out partying like it was, well, Nineteen Ninety-Nine, not sitting in front of the TV on this big night. They were young, reasonably attractive, had good jobs, used breath mints regularly, and watched their weight.

She bowed her head, knowing she wasn
’t being totally honest. It was true that they looked good and their breath was fresh. They had well-paying positions at the same chemical manufacturer—Glenda ran the payroll department and she was an administrator in human resources. Her fibbing was in regard to their weight and ages. It was true they were watching their waistlines, but in her case, hers was getting easier to see with each passing week. The loaded pizza with sauce-filled crust they were munching on certainly wasn’t doing anything to combat calories. Both of them had picked up about ten or fifteen pounds over the last year. Weight had never stuck like that before. It probably had something to do with getting older. At this point they could only be called young if the person doing the calling was over sixty. They were both thirty-four…and thirty-five was just around the corner, especially for Glenda, whose birthday was January twenty-third.

“
Maybe we’re too old,” Vivian said, thinking out loud. Now she knew how Demi Moore must feel. One minute she’s the twelve-million-dollar woman, and the next she hasn’t made a picture in three years, and there’s a younger, equally pretty brunette on the scene. It can happen quicker than you can say ‘Catherine Zeta-Jones.’

“
What?” Glenda’s voice was muffled because she had a mouthful of pizza.

Vivian responded by picking up the remote control and clicking off the television.

“What’d you do that for? They’re about to show the good part.”

“
It’s cable, Glenda. You’ve seen it a million times before.” She made her voice sound flat and dunce-like, imitating the line from the Eighties comedy
Night Shift
she knew her friend was waiting for. “‘Barney Rubble. What an actor.’ This is important,” she added, speaking normally.

“
All right. What is it?”

She paused for dramatic effect
. “This is the year we’re going to meet our Mr. Rights.”

Glenda made a face.
“Puh-leeze. I’ve known you for what, four years? Both of us were looking even before then, and nothing’s changed. Personally, I’d be happy to just have a date next New Year’s. Nothing against you, of course, but I’d like to see the new year with a fella. Someone I can share that special kiss at midnight with.”

“I know,” Vivian said with a sigh. “I feel the same way. But I want more than New Year’s. I want forever.

“Face it Viv. If it’s not fated, it ain’t gonna happen.”

“
Well, maybe fate needs a helping hand.”

“
So what do you plan to do about it?”

“
Prospective husbands aren’t going to come ringing our doorbells. We have to get out and find them. And I do mean ‘get out.’ We’re going to travel.”

“
Travel how?”

“
There are organizations all over the country that sponsor social events. We’re going to go. Whether it’s a winter ski trip, a summer cruise, those music festivals they have every year in New Orleans and the Caribbean…we’re going.”

“
Are you crazy? That’ll cost a fortune!”

“
We both got bonuses last week. The company made a bundle last year with those new products they introduced. We’ve never gotten so much.”

“
Especially you,” Glenda pointed out “Remember, I’m just a lowly payroll supervisor. You’re the big-shot human resources administrator, giving people their walking papers.”

“
I know how much you make, Glenda. Don’t put on a poor mouth with me.” Glenda had been with the company considerably longer, and because of her seniority her salary was actually slightly higher than Vivian’s. It was only because Vivian’s position had a higher profile that she had been awarded a larger bonus.

“
And I was going to invest mine.”

“
You always invest yours. Spend it this time.” She shook her head. Sometimes her friend could be tighter than Mariah Carey’s dresses. “It’s not like you don’t put away anything from your regular paychecks.”

“
What about you? Are you going to be able to afford to do all this traveling plus that safari you’re going on? Your bonus wasn’t
that
big.”

“
Most of the money for my safari is coming from my putting off buying a new car. You know I’ve always wanted to take this trip.” When Vivian and her childhood friend Lauren Williams booked the trip she had invited Glenda to join them, but her friend didn’t find the idea of sleeping under the stars appealing. “Take me to the nearest Holiday Inn,” she had said with a wave of dismissal.

“
It won’t cost us anything to go to the open house tomorrow,” Glenda said now.

“
Yes, but everything else will have a price tag, so find a money market with a nice rate to park it in. You’ll need a good return. Chances are you’ll spend every penny of it, and then some.”

“
I’ll say. What you’re proposing will take all of this year’s bonus plus last year’s, too.” Glenda took another bite of pizza. “This better not backfire,” she said after she swallowed. “If I spend all that money traveling to New Orleans and the Caribbean, only to meet my soul mate and find out he lives in Texas or California someplace, I’m telling you now, I’m gonna be hot.”

“
Life’s a chance, Glenda. All I know is that after my last attempt at dating I’ve got to do something.”

“
I guess I can understand why you’d feel that way. I think of your experience with that microbiology dude every time I disinfect my drain.”

Vivian laughed.
“I do mine regularly now, too. Those pointers he gave me did come in handy, but it would have been nice not to have learned about them on our first date.” She wrinkled her nose. “That’s why it was also our last.”

“
Just think, Viv. You could’ve had a doctor, if you’d let Desireé give him your number.”

It was true that Vivian
’s former neighbor Desireé Mack, who lived in Colorado but had spent an extended period in New York the year before, had wanted to introduce her to a single physician who was her boyfriend’s close friend. The two men owned the building Vivian lived in, and she had looked forward to the meeting, but it had never panned out. Whenever Vivian was available, the doctor wasn’t, and vice versa. “I don’t like the idea of giving my phone number to total strangers. Besides, Thomas was a doctor, and he was a jerk, so there’s no guarantee.”

“
Thomas doesn’t count, Viv. He wasn’t a people doctor.”

“
No, but he’s a Ph.D. Don’t make it sound like he was a vet.”

*****

The New Year’s open house was being held at a loft in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, West Twentieth Street. Glenda had met Ivy Smith at a pay-per-view screening of a heavyweight boxing match she had attended at someone’s apartment with a date. When they were introduced Glenda noted that her last name was Ivey. They determined that they used different spellings, and they ended up chatting while the fellows watched the fight, and Ivy invited Glenda to the open house, which she was giving with four friends. The object was for each woman to invite five men and three women, with hopes that their friends would meet interesting people in a setting where the men outnumbered the women.

It took forever to find a place to park, the standard for Manhattan, which Vivian regarded as a nice place to live if you could afford taxi fare every time you went out after dark. After getting their hopes up at what always turned out to be a fire hydrant or commercial driveway, they found a spot on Seventeenth. The minute Glenda turned off the engine they pulled down their respective sun visors to take a last look in the mirrors on the backs.

“Oh, my. Do you see what I see?” Glenda asked as they approached the building. Three men were approaching from the other side, along with a woman, who was obviously the date of the man her arm was linked with.

“
Yes. Let’s hurry so we can meet up.”

The parties got to the front of the building simultaneously.
“Hello,” Vivian said to the others. “Are you ringing loft four?”

Someone said yes, and the door was held open for them when the buzzer sounded.
“Thank you,” Glenda said graciously.

The six of them loaded the elevator. It was only one flight, but by the time the doors opened on the second floor they had all exchanged names. Vivian noticed that the man named Bobby seemed to stick close to Glenda, and that from the beauty contestant smile on Glenda
’s face, she didn’t mind.

The scene inside the loft was even more promising. There were men everywhere, most of whose attentions were focused on the big-screen TV in the huge, bright living room—the windows were easily six feet tall—which was broadcasting a college football game.

“Happy New Year!” Glenda said as she hugged a strikingly attractive woman who was wearing a V- neck boucle sweater and wide-legged slacks. “Ivy, this is my good friend, Vivian St. James. Vivian, Ivy Smith.”

“
Hello, Ivy. Happy New Year.”

“
Happy New Year to you, Vivian.”

“
Thanks for inviting me.” Vivian’s eyes scanned the mostly male crowd and tried not to salivate, but she felt like a half-starved person at a smorgasbord. The men came in different varieties: Thirtyish, fortyish, short, tall, bearded, clean-shaven, and a few shaved heads.

“
Happy New Year. I’m glad you could make it,” Ivy replied with a hint of a British accent. “We’re putting coats in the first room on the right. The bar is in the corner. It’s self-service, and if you like your eggnog with a kick you’ll have to spike it yourself; we left it nonalcoholic for those who prefer it plain. The buffet table is across from the bar, by the kitchen.” She pointed with a discreet index finger. “The powder room is in the hall, the first door on the left. There are ashtrays all around if you want to smoke. That’s it, I guess. Go ahead and introduce yourselves. I don’t know half the people here, anyway.”

“
We will,” Glenda said. “This is a beautiful place, Ivy. Is it yours?”

“
Don’t I wish. It’s owned by a family friend. He’s on extended assignment in Europe. I’m just watering the plants, walking the dog, dusting…stuff like that.”

“
Ah, house-sitting. Nice work if you can get it.”

Glenda and Ivy went into a conversation about the advantages of taking care of someone else
’s home, but Vivian wasn’t paying attention. Her eyes had connected with those of a man sitting in one of the leather director’s chairs in the living room. He had a rather large head in proportion to his body and a receding hairline, but regardless of that there was a blatant sexiness about him. She slipped out of her coat and handed it to Glenda. “Would you be a sweetheart and put this away for me? I’m really thirsty. I’m going to fix myself a drink.”

At the bar she poured herself a glass of white wine. They were using real glasses, too, not those annoying Styrofoam cups that were more suited for
children’s parties. Her intuition told her she would not be alone for long, and when she heard a deep voice say “Happy New Year,” she knew who would be standing there before she looked up.

“
The same to you,” she said. She wasn’t disappointed. His mustache and beard were laced with gray, but curiously, there was none in his hair.

“
I’m Gary Allen.”

“
Vivian St. James.”

“
Are you a friend of Bethany’s?”

His lips, surrounded on all sides by facial hair, fascinated her. She always thought there was something incredibly sexy about a bearded man
’s mouth. “No, I don’t know her. I’m a friend of Ivy’s, or rather the friend of a friend of Ivy’s.”

“
Ah, yes. It all gets rather tricky, with so many hostesses. Five of them, I believe. But it’s always nice to meet new people. Tell me, are you a football fan?”

“
No, not particularly, but I guess I can shout out when you do.”

He responded by holding out his arm, which she took. As he escorted her to the seating area of the living room she looked around for Glenda, finally spotting her fixing a plate at the buffet table with Bobby and looking quite content.

It was apparently an exciting game being played in this year’s Rose Bowl. There was a lot of shouting, sometimes so loud Vivian thought they might be able to hear it all the way in California. Most of the women wore the same I-don’t-get-it look that was on her own face, except for one show-off who was making comments like, “Great run” and “What a hit,” clearly understanding everything the fellows were saying. Vivian disliked her immediately.