First Date (16 page)

Ruby, Addy’s stylist, tried desperately to get her to wear an ultrarevealing V-neck red dress that clung to her like Saran Wrap on a chicken wing.

“It’s just not . . . me.” Addy found a plain blue sundress. “How about this?”

“You are goin’ to a five-star restaurant.” Ruby shoved the dress back on the hanger. “You have to wear an evening gown.”

Finally they compromised on an elegant violet floor-length gown with a sweetheart neckline and intricate beadwork. Once the dress was selected, Ruby gave it to the wardrobe people to tailor and press. It would be waiting for her once her hair and makeup were done.

Ruby insisted on an updo. She really wanted Addy to have bangs. “Your hair is too thick to be all one length.” She lifted Addy’s hair and let it drop onto her back. “And you really don’t have the face shape to pull it off anyway.”

Addy was sure Hank had handpicked Ruby for her lack of any sort of compassion. Ruby always acted like she was being put out, having to work with Addy—such a boring, non-risk-taking ingrate.

In the end Addy won out, and Ruby pulled her hair straight back into a ponytail. She curled, teased, sprayed, and brushed Addy’s hair until she rolled it all under using bobby pins and possibly staples, coating it in what was probably a lethal amount of hairspray.

Makeup was next, and that was even more unpleasant. Ruby insisted that since this was a black-tie event, Addy
must
have smoky eyes. Addy wasn’t sure what that was. She discovered it meant every part of her eyes would be covered in dark shadows and pencils. As usual, a great deal of foundations, concealers, and multicolored powders were layered on first, making Addy feel like the canvas for a kid’s first oil painting.

When the process was completed, Ruby stepped back and praised herself on being so good. She took Addy to a full-length mirror.

“Wow.” Addy looked like a model. She didn’t look like herself at all, but Ruby’s creation was fabulous.

“Addy, do not move until the van comes to take you to the airport,” Ruby insisted.

“All right.” She sighed, twiddling her perfectly manicured thumbs.

“Stop!” Ruby grabbed Addy’s wrists. “You might chip the polish or make the acrylics pop off. Just sit still, all right?”

So Addy sat, feeling like a porcelain doll on display in a shop window.
I sure hope this night goes by quickly. At least I have Kara to help me
.

Chapter 24

W
ell, look who’s joining us.” Lila glared at Addy as she slid her linen napkin out of its sterling silver ring.

Addy’s attempt to be seated with Kara was squashed before the girls even made their way into the ornate restaurant.

“Your seating arrangements have already been made,” a smug Hank said. “Just look for your name plates at the tables.”

Addy had been placed at a table with Lila, Anna Grace, and Jessica.

Addy sat down, the beads in her dress cutting into her legs. She wanted to enjoy the restaurant, with its crystal chandeliers, floor-to-ceiling windows framing the Rocky Mountains, and waiters in tuxedos. But she couldn’t do anything but check her phone and count down the hours until this evening would be over.

Lila’s waist-length black hair had been styled and curled the way Ruby had wanted to style Addy’s—soft waves, bangs framing Lila’s heart-shaped face, drawing attention to her huge onyx eyes. She looked perfect. Her smile was for the cameras, but Addy saw the hatred behind it as her gaze rested on Addy.

“Split-pea soup, my favorite. Hank added it to the menu just for me.” Lila took dainty sips from the sterling silver spoon. “Have I told you girls that my parents have been talking to Hank? They’re going to help finance his new project. He says there’s a perfect part in it just for me.”

“Oh, Lila.” Anna Grace batted her eyelashes, her short blond hair styled to make her look like a teen Reese Witherspoon. “You are so lucky. What kind of project is it?”

As Lila turned to respond, her knee hit Addy’s. Addy had a spoonful of the split-pea soup halfway to her mouth. It spilled from the spoon onto the white tablecloth.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Addy.” Lila dabbed at the stain with her napkin. “How clumsy.”

Cameras at her side, Addy smiled and tried again. This time the table shook as Addy dipped her spoon in the bowl. Looking up, she saw the three girls smiling conspiratorially at each other. She gave up and waited for the next course.

Unfortunately, the spinach-and-strawberry salad also went untouched as Addy’s fork was “accidentally” knocked from her hand, and her goblet of water almost fell right into her lap when the tablecloth unexpectedly shifted.

“Jonathon’s coming,” Jessica announced, and the girls all sat up straighter and smiled.

“Good evening, ladies,” Jonathon said. “You look beautiful.”

Addy watched Jonathon look at each of the girls.
They’re so pretty
, Addy thought, not for the first time.
I just blend into the background around them. Why do I even bother trying to get to know Jonathon? I can’t compete with them
.

Addy spent the next thirty minutes watching each of her three tablemates interrupt and talk over each other in an attempt to garner Jonathon’s attention. Anytime the young man tried to speak to Addy, one of the girls would find a reason to draw his attention away.

“Jonathon, how’s your baseball team doing?”

“Where are you looking to go for college?”

“Try this filet mignon. It’s delicious.”

When Hank walked over to announce it was time for Jonathon to join another table, all Addy had been able to say to him was “hello.” Addy thought she saw sadness in Jonathon’s eyes as he was leaving.

Please
.
I’m fooling myself. He might be sad, but not about leaving me. No way
.

As soon as he left, Addy’s tablemates’ sweet words and friendly banter ended. They were back to shaking the table and kicking Addy’s leg and doing anything else that would cause her to look even clumsier than she already felt.

The time after the dinner flew by. The girls were given a day of skiing in Vail, a spa day in Breckenridge, then they were shuttled back to The Mansion for two days of schoolwork and photo shoots.

In that time, experts were brought in to comment on the tapes of their dinner. Their comments were edited in with the footage so the entire four-hour-long ordeal was a neat and tidy forty-two-minute package.

Oh, God, I would really like to just disappear right now
. Addy shifted in her seat on the front lawn of The Mansion as she waited for the show to air
. I hate seeing myself on TV to begin with, but seeing the super made-over version of myself trying to act like I knew what I was doing is awful. Not even getting to see Colorado was worth having to be so formal
.

“Okay, ladies. Tonight we watch the footage from earlier in the week.” Hank walked out of The Mansion like he owned it.

“After the airing, you’ll all be interviewed about your thoughts on the comments made about your performance at the dinner. So pay close attention to what is said so you can speak about it.”

“Great,” Addy said to Kara. “Just what I want to talk about.”

“And then, of course, tomorrow night, five more of you will be asked to leave.” Hank looked expectantly at Addy.

“And,” he added to the rest, “a very special announcement will be made.”

The girls clapped even harder, plastic smiles in place just in case the cameras surrounding them were on.

Kara squeezed Addy’s hand. “It’ll be fine, I’m sure.” But both girls knew that wasn’t likely.

The introductory segment confirmed Addy’s suspicions.

“Which girls demonstrated grace and poise, and which should have some private lessons with Miss Manners?” Hank’s voice-over said as clips of several of the girls daintily wiping the corners of their mouths with linen napkins preceded clips of Addy dropping hers and looking confusedly at her forks.

“You’ll find out tonight on
The Book of Love
,” Hank said as the opening credits rolled, followed by commercials for everything from bookstores to feminine products.

The next half hour went by smoothly. The panel of experts was introduced, followed by a short segment explaining why they were chosen to be on the show. Each of them emphasized the deplorable lack of manners shown in our country and hoped that this episode would encourage a return to proper table etiquette and fine dining. Next, each girl was analyzed.

“Jessica showed great poise,” one of the experts said. “But—oh dear—didn’t know that the spoon was to be placed on the
plate
, not in the bowl, when she was finished. Tsk tsk.”

A second expert then appeared, her pearl necklace circling a tiny neck supporting a perfect face. “Anna Grace lived up to her name, sitting up properly, nodding to the waiter in the appropriate way at the appropriate time. Bravo.

“Heather, Renae, and Kara all showed above-average etiquette. They did make a few mistakes, see there.” The expert pointed to the screen behind her. “Wrong fork. But overall, I was pleased with their understanding of the rules of etiquette.”

Addy thought she’d fall asleep from all the soft voices and classical music playing under each of the video segments that night. She hadn’t even seen herself since that first clip, so she was hoping they’d just left her out entirely. Hank’s way of “getting even” at her for earning immunity the week before.

No such luck.

After the next-to-last girl had been discussed, the teaser right before the commercial break promised that the best was yet to come. Circus music played beneath the promise with Addy’s face, screwed up in a “What do I do?” pose, filling the screen. The girls around Addy hooted with laughter and clapped. Hank leaned against an oak tree looking smug.

The commercials ended and Hank said, “While most of the girls behaved like refined young ladies who would be a jewel on the arm of any young man, one stuck out like a bad piece of costume jewelry.”

Images of Addy asking which fork to use, waving the waiter over, almost spilling her drink, and being told to sip the soup from the other side of the spoon played on the screen with pipe organ music pumping in the background and cymbals crashing for effect every time she made a mistake. The whole thing made Addy look like a complete buffoon.

And to make it worse, as the night went on, her makeup began smudging, and of course no one had told her. She’d wiped her eye at one point and drug a finger-width line of “deep amethyst” eye shadow halfway down her cheek. Her lipstick was gone by the third course, making her look eerily corpselike, and her hair began coming out of the perfectly smooth bun, piece by teased, curled, unruly piece.

Addy’s segment was last, and Hank concluded the show laughing and shaking his head. “Well, folks, that’s it for tonight. But don’t miss tomorrow’s show—we’ll hear from each of the girls as well as Jonathon, and we’ll also find out which girls’ chapters have ended in . . .
The Book of Love
.”

Addy wanted to raise a white flag and declare defeat but, having had enough attention for one day, chose instead to stand quietly and make her way back to the trailer as inconspicuously as possible.

Hank caught her before she could depart.

“Nobody leaves yet, girls.” He smiled like a cat that had finally gotten its mouse. “Interviews, remember? I hope you were all paying attention to your segment. Go ahead to your spot and get ready. We’ll start shooting in ten.”

Addy sighed. She had her own “spot” set up with a cameraman, interviewer, and crew. She was to sit in a wicker chair on the east side of The Mansion with the camera beside her so it could catch the beautiful Tennessee hills in the background, in case what she had to say was too boring.

Addy was determined to be as dull as possible, leaving no further room for humiliation. She wanted her last “package” to be circus-music free.

“Yes, I was unprepared.”

“But you girls had access to information about etiquette before the dinner. Didn’t you study?”

Addy knew the interviewer was fishing to get her to admit frustration or gossip about the other girls. But she refused to give him any more ammunition to use against her. She would be polite and forgettable.

“Yes, the producers did give us a packet of information. They are very kind.”

“And yet you didn’t even know which fork to use with the courses. Did the girls at your table not help you?”

“They did all they could.” Addy smiled. “But I just wasn’t prepared.”

“Don’t you have anything else to say, Addy?”

“It was a lovely restaurant. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have gone.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes, sir.”

“All right, then . . . you sure?”

“Quite.”

Addy was finally released, and she dragged herself back to her trailer. To pack. So much for getting to know Jonathon better or having the opportunity to make a difference here.

She had blown it all in one excruciating seven-course meal.

Chapter 25

A
ddy woke up to find Kara’s laptop at her feet, a sticky note attached to the screen. Addy lifted it off and read, “Midas Strikes Again.”