The door slammed behind him, and for several seconds, silence prevailed in my living room again.
"Naomi, gentlemen, welcome to the most convention-breaking project anyone has ever produced." Nick elegantly ignored Elijah's escape and addressed us all. "I'd ask you to remember that exit. Remember how awkward this makes you feel, remember your thoughts about Elijah's action and remember everything that's happening right now. Remember it, and make sure to act differently if and when you're the one forced to say goodbye."
"Nick's right," I said, joining his request. "If this has proven to be difficult for me, then surely this is a nerve-wracking experience for you, but still, I'd love it if you'll allow me to walk you out and say a few words in regard to the relationship we were able to build." I felt my breath settling down on its own, and my mood getting better for some reason.
Then, Nick started up again. "Gentlemen, three of you will go on a particularly romantic date with Naomi as early as tomorrow. I know you're all worked up now, but I assure you that by tomorrow, this evening will look like ancient history."
"Tomorrow?" I exhaled in relief.
"Yes. Tomorrow, you'll embark on a sweeping, innovative and crazy journey, and at the end of it, one of these guys will kneel down and ask you to be his wife."
"Should he choose to do so," Omar added.
"I beg your pardon?" Nick turned to him.
"I said, should he choose to do so," Omar repeated in a precise manner.
"Of course." Nick cleared his throat and exchanged a puzzled look with me. "One of you will ask for Naomi's hand in marriage, should he choose to do so," Nick added with a wrinkled brow, and everyone looked at Omar with confusion.
Of all the words in the world he could have said...
Maybe he should have kept quiet after all?
"Umm…" I was about to reply, but Nick continued and prevented me from doing so.
He insisted I leave it at that, say goodbye to the men immediately, and then led me, with Etty my hair and makeup artist, to the back of the cocktail party area, through the red fabric.
"So, what did you think about all this?" I asked Etty once we were in the privacy of my bedroom.
"What did I think? I think you're out of your mind, that's what I think."
"Did you hear any interesting talk going around? Something I might have missed and should know about?"
"What could I possibly hear?" She opened her cosmetic bag and took out some bottles with white liquid in them, then started to remove the heavy makeup she had smeared on me before.
"I don’t know..." I shrugged. "Maybe you overheard the men talking in a not-so-nice way about me? Or maybe someone said something very complimentary about me that I'd love to hear?"
"I didn’t hear any of that, now sit still."
"Maybe you noticed someone complaining about the project or about the other men?"
"Naomi, my dear sweet girl, I'm too old to be keeping track of party gossip." She smirked. "I think there comes an age in which your brain just blocks such things at the entrance."
"Really? You really heard nothing? You have nothing interesting to share with me?"
"Would you rather I lied to you? I heard nothing. I was sitting in the corner by that nice guy and played on my phone the whole night."
"You were sitting next to Omar, right?" I wondered what made her decide he was a nice guy. Did they talk? Did he talk?
"Omar? Is that his name?" She smoothed a cotton swab with cool liquid on my face and forced me to be silent as she kept talking. "I sat by the only guy who looked like a man in there. Everyone else was trying to impress you, but not him. He just sat there, admiring you with a confident and peaceful look. "
"Admiring me?" I mumbled with my mouth mostly closed.
"That's what I saw in his look."
"Omar? Are you sure?"
"I never caught his name, honey. He was a quiet fellow. The only quiet one of all that noisy bunch you invited."
"Yeah, that's Omar. You have to be talking about Omar, but—"
"Now, how about you try being quiet for a while?" She smoothed the cotton wool on my lips and damned me to silence again. "The guy I'm talking about had very gentle facial features. He had short, brown hair and a French beard." I still couldn’t comment, so she went on. "He was wearing a black shirt, not too tight but also not too loose and blue pants. He was just the right amount of man and just the right amount of a teddy bear."
"Etty, honey," I smiled at her as she allowed me to speak again. "It actually seems that you took a liking to him." I tilted my head to its side slyly.
"Sweetheart, I'm just old, not dead. I absolutely took a liking to him. That's what a man should look like. That's how I like my men to act."
We spent quite a while in my bedroom, and by the time we came out, I was amazed to see that there was no trace of the cocktail party that had taken place in my living room.
All my men were gone, Lia and Amber were finishing up in the kitchen, and I assumed that Nick, and the three gorillas he brought with him took apart the party decorations and replaced them in their crates, which were stacked in the corner so that they could stay there till the next time they're needed. The next cocktail party. Next Saturday!
Beat and exhausted, I said goodbye to everyone and went straight to bed. Mixed feelings of excitement and misery had me wondering who were the men I had lost, even before I took off.
At the screening and picking party, twenty-five men were chosen as potential candidates. Twenty-five men who seemed interesting enough for me to get to know them better, yet only eight of them will take part in my project.
Eight men haunted my sleep that night, but I took comfort in knowing that my husband was among them.
I couldn’t wait for the next morning to come, and for my first group date with the men to begin. I simply couldn’t wait to have my heart swept away!
END OF VOL. 1