Crystal Green - Lead Me On

Had he lied about destroying the tape way back then because he thought he could get into her good graces...or her pants...so he could close the deal? And had he aired it now, just because he thought it’d be funny for the reunion?

She wished he’d walk into the bar so she could face him down and tell him to grow up. She was so far beyond him and that night.

As she rested her hand on her glass of Midori Sour, she smiled at her friends. “Why bring that crap up again when we have more important things to talk about? As in, auction baskets for this weekend?”

Leigh caught her cue and shot a glance to Dani. They’d all met in the lobby about fifteen minutes ago and had just sat and started chatting when the scandal had reared its ugly head again. Margot had already told them she was over it on the phone during her drive there, but leave it to Dani and Leigh to question her.

Anyway, when they’d first seen each other, hugging and laughing, she and Leigh had sprung their own surprise on Dani, telling her about the charity auction the two of them were throwing tomorrow night because they wanted her to have the big wedding she’d always yearned for. It’d be an All-American college-reunion good time that wasn’t going to be ruined just because some ass—had it been Clint?—had decided to pep up the event with a memory Margot would’ve rather forgotten.

Once again, she thought of the cowboy, with his denim-blue eyes, his lackadaisical way of watching her walk through one of the many parties their fraternity and sorority had thrown together. Then, just as quickly, she tamped down that spark in her belly.

Jerk.

“Guess what I’m going to call my auction basket,” she said, ignoring thoughts of him.

Dani was strangely quiet, just as she’d been when Leigh and Margot had launched the surprise on her, come to think of it.

But Leigh was already talking, leaving the video behind, although Margot suspected it’d come up again.

“Lord knows what you conjured up, Marg.”

Her smile grew. “‘Around the Girl in Eighty Ways.’”

She waited for them to give her that “come again?” look that she’d gotten so used to back in college when she’d whipped up similar harebrained ideas.

And, yep, there it was.

Come again?

Leigh took the bait first. “How does going around the girl in eighty ways fit in an auction basket?”

“I’m betting it’ll fit very nicely on auction night. Hopefully even more than once.” Margot shot Leigh a saucy grin, while Dani just lifted an eyebrow at Margot.

Then Dani said, “I’m not sure about all this....”

Leigh nudged Dani good-naturedly. “You’ve got to hear Margot out. She came down here, even in the midst of a pride-spankin’, just for you, Dan.”

“Thanks,” Margot said, narrowing her eyes at Leigh. She spoke to Dani. “This is just the first of many gifts for our bride-to-be.”

“But I don’t need—”

“It’s not a matter of need or not need,” Margot said, on a roll. See—it wasn’t so hard to forget about that video. Sort of. “You used to talk about the perfect wedding all the time. Everyone wants it to happen for you at the end of this year in the huge, grand way you used to describe to us.”

“You were our Wedding Girl,” Leigh added, giving Dani’s arm a friendly, light squeeze.

Dani said nothing, and Margot caught Leigh’s gaze. Sure, they’d talked about whether or not they were being too intrusive, assuming Dani would want their help, since her funds were too low to afford that dream wedding. But, my God, this was Dani. And this was their chance to help her achieve the fantasies she’d collected in her wedding scrapbook—pictures of frothy white dresses and creamy cakes, blooming flowers and a bride and groom who couldn’t take their eyes off each other.

If someone good like Dani didn’t deserve it all, then who did?

“You’ve already talked about this auction to everyone?” Dani finally asked.

Across the table, Leigh looked a little sheepish as she put down her beer. “We might’ve secretly suggested it to the sisters on our email loop.”

Dani was flushing, and Margot wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed or angry with them. But Dani never got angry.

When she spoke, she made Margot rethink that.

“So everyone knows that poor me, the lowly caterer and not the Paula Deen she aimed to be back when she majored in home ec, can’t afford a decent wedding? And her fiancé is only a small-estate manager, not the business mogul he wanted to become, so that means they can’t possibly afford even fancy flower arrangements?” She laughed. “I suppose that’s not too embarrassing.”

Margot glanced at Leigh again. Whoops.

Leigh seemed just as helpless as Margot as she peeled away the label of her beer. “Can I just put things in perspective and volunteer that Margot’s video is going to take all the ‘embarrassing’ out of the reunion for you, Dan? That’s what everyone’ll be talking about.”

To Leigh’s credit, she was merely doing her best. Margot followed suit.

“Once again, Leigh, thanks so much.” She smiled at Dani. “No one thinks you’re destitute. It’s only that your wedding plans were legendary in the sorority. Hell, your nickname during pledging was ‘Hearts.’ We’d talk about getting together for the ceremony someday and how it’d be a time when we could all celebrate together.”

“It was going to be a milestone,” Leigh added.

Margot went on, and it was just like the old days, when she would get a lightbulb idea going and Leigh would join in, eventually followed by Dani.

“The wedding is as much for us as it is for you,” she said. “It means everything because you’re marrying the guy from our counterpart fraternity, and everyone knew you were going to get together with him even before the two of you knew it. It’s a big deal for all of us Rhos and Taus.”

Dani finally smiled, probably because of the memories.

Times like the spring-break trip to Cabo—a Bacchanalia that had sworn Margot, Leigh and Dani off booze for...well, weeks. It had been just one of many adventures they’d shared as sorority sisters and Margot would never forget them. The three of them had grown up together during some very pivotal years, then tossed their graduation caps in the air as one, letting them rain down with the joy of exploring all the roads ahead.

Back then, Margot had nursed so many ambitions—to travel the world, to write books—and she’d done all of it in the time from there to here.

But dreams could last only so long.

She ate the maraschino cherry in her Midori Sour, yet it didn’t taste as good as it used to—not after the bad news she’d gotten last month about how her latest “single girl on the go” travel book had done.

Or, more to the point, hadn’t done.

As usual, Margot tried not to show how upset she was. She’d been keeping the news to herself that her publishing company hadn’t wanted to go to contract after she closed out this most recent book. Surely something else was bound to come along.

Wouldn’t it?

Dani was talking. “But...I still don’t know about raising money for my wedding.”

Leigh said, “Don’t they have money dances at receptions? We’d just be doing the asking before the wedding.”

“Besides, it’s not any old auction,” Margot was quick to add, dangling the cherry stem between her fingers. “This is something everyone will love. A basket auction, just like they used to do in the old days at picnics. You know, when the girls packed a lunch in a basket and tied a telltale ribbon around the handle so the boy she was crushing on would know it was hers and take her out?”

“Days of innocence,” Leigh said in her ranch-girl drawl. Country-singer cool, she rested her free arm over the top of the booth. She seemed as down-to-earth as they came—if you didn’t know her very well. Leigh was the type to come off as earthy, even though she was a rising star at The Food Network with a new show that Margot could describe only as “sensuous farmhouse cooking”—like putting Faith Hill in Martha Stewart’s kitchen.