But, for some unusual reason, none of those things came out as Nikki described Luke to Sara.
“Oh, that’s right. I remember now – that loser who left after a couple minutes without telling you why. Well, Luke blew it. If he won’t even stay through a first date, there’s no way you’re giving him a second.”
By the time that Nikki realized she’d just made a mistake in not telling Sara more about the circumstances of Luke leaving, it was too late. Sara had made her mind up about who would get the second date. And apparently, that meant she’d also made her mind up for Nikki as well.
“Ryan.” Sara said, looking cheerfully at Nikki. “Nikki, if I were you, there’s really only one choice. I think you give Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome another shot. Give Ryan a call for a second date. I’m doing you a favor and making the decision easy for you. Trust me. Go out with Ryan again.”
Sara’s reassuring confidence was something that Nikki did trust. Sara knew her better than anyone. So, she was willing to do it. Just hearing Sara talk Ryan up and nicknaming him for his good looks was all it took for the mysterious nature of her date with Luke to fly out of her mind.
Nikki liked the idea. “Yeah, Ryan,” she repeated in a vote of approval. “I think I’ll do it. Ryan it is.”
Chapter 10
Nikki and Sara’s jaws dropped at the number of guests who Nikolai somehow managed to squeeze into his space. And this evening’s event was just the rehearsal dinner for the two families. There’d certainly be even more people at the wedding in just a couple of weeks.
“Are you planning to break the walls down for the actual wedding?” Nikki mocked Nikolai as she passed him with trays full of food. Nikolai gave a nervous smile unfit for his normal confident bravado, and the accumulating sweat on his red forehead gave away that he knew it was a mistake to host such a large party in his event hall.
Nikki was just glad that Nikolai had decided to use a second catering company to help them with the food for the rehearsal dinner that evening. They’d never done something like that before, but it was definitely necessary for this event. What food they had prepared was quickly being extinguished from the crowd’s endless hunger. So, Sara and Nikki had developed a plan. Sara remained in the kitchen rapidly cooking more of whatever Nikki yelled that they were running short of, while Nikki was left to host and manage their other caterer co-workers outside. They were just one team of a few on Nikolai’s catering staff, but they were by far the most experienced and knew this was the most effective way to serve the crowd.
Nikki moved swiftly among the dinner guests, collecting plates and refilling entrees, all while keeping a brilliantly-pasted smile on her face. She knew that the better she took care of the guests, the better Nikolai would end up rewarding her financially. The couple being wed obviously came from well-off families. So, Nikki knew her tip from Nikolai would be sizeable. It wasn’t her dream job of cooking wedding cakes and pastries, but she figured that any bonus would take her one step closer to that dream. Even if that dream was truly unattainable or too far off in the distance, just the thought of being on the path to it would be enough to keep that dream alive as a spark of motivation in her mind.
Nikki was so busy tending to the many needs of the dinner guests that she hadn’t really even focused on what the other catering company was doing. But that suddenly changed in an instant with just one glimpse of the caterers in the other company. What she saw made her come to a screeching halt from her bustle around the many dinner tables.
It was him. The cute guy from a couple weeks ago who mysterious left so suddenly on their date after just a few minutes despite their instant chemistry. It was Luke.
Nikki almost dropped her serving tray in shock at seeing him moving quickly around dinner tables on the other end of the hall. She knew that he had not yet spotted her, just as she had not yet seen him until now. It was as if she gained the upper hand on something … something … well, an unexpected situation that she didn’t even know how to describe.
Surprisingly, Nikki’s heart raced like a firework trapped inside of a bottle. She felt an intense mix of emotions – shock, confusion, exuberance, and wonder. She never thought that she’d see him again in the big city, let alone in an off-the-cuff situation where they’d essentially be co-workers at an event. She still wondered what had caused him to leave so swiftly on their date, and she was confused about why she’d never heard back from him. She never even received a simple apology in the days that followed. But, still, she remembered the feeling of sitting on the other side of the restaurant table and being captivated during just the couple of minutes of conversation that they shared about fate.
Fate. There it was again. That tedious, unrelenting reminder of how many questions she had about her love life in the grand scheme of everything. And yet there he stood, working just on the other side of the event hall. Was that fate? The question briefly crossed her mind.
She wanted to find her way over to him, pull him aside, and finally have him answer the very question that he was unable to answer before he was mysteriously pulled away from their date: do you believe in fate? But she didn’t do that. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t. Perhaps it was the beat of her heart unexpectedly going off in her chest, resonating throughout her body like the sound of an alarm that wouldn’t turn off. Perhaps it was because she was captivated by his looks – his intense focus on his work instantly drew her in. She saw that he wasn’t smiling much while focusing on his job – probably from feeling overworked at this event just as she did. But she knew he had a great smile. She still remembered that handsome, calm and down-to-earth smile from a couple of weeks ago.
Or perhaps, she didn’t go over to approach him for the simple reason that she was nervous. And when Nikki realized it, she couldn’t believe it – she was actually nervous! This couldn’t be, she told herself – she’d already been out with him. Indeed, she’d been out with so many men, that she shouldn’t ever be nervous to see a man. But yet, she was.
Panic quickly set in, though, when she saw that Luke was working his way over to the side of the room where she stood in shock. She’d been standing there staring at him for so long that she knew he hadn’t yet seen her. Despite feeling it was physically impossible to be beating any louder, Nikki’s heartbeat somehow still increased in intensity as she saw him walk over to her side of the room.
In the split second that she had to react, she didn’t know what to do. So, she just turned around and faced the other direction, now staring at a table of dinner guests. She shot a quick, nervous smile at them, pretending to be attending to their needs as their host, hoping that Luke would just move past them without noticing her.
Nikki’s mind raced. What would she actually say to a man who seemingly had rejected her and thought nothing of it? Would he even recognize or remember her? One thing was for sure, this was such an unusual situation for her, that she did the one thing that popped into her mind: try to avoid the situation.
Once Nikki noticed an open chair at the table in front of her, she rushed right down into it. The guests were so busy eating and talking among themselves that they hadn’t even noticed Nikki sitting with them. Nikki felt Luke’s presence just behind her as he waited on the neighboring table. She closed her eyes as her thoughts raced about what to do. She glanced around her table, observing how no one at it seemed to give her a moment’s notice. So, she untied her apron from behind her neck, allowing the top of it to fold down and reveal the black blouse she was wearing underneath. With the apron folded down over her waist and legs while sitting at the table, it looked like a skirt instead of giving away that she was actually the hired help.