Road to Casablanca (4 page)

“Remember you told me about your little…matchmaking service?”

“Yeah?
 
Why?
 
D’you change your mind and want to sign up?
 
I’d hardly call that an emergency.”

Cindy rolled her eyes, dreading what she’d done and the fact that she would now have to admit it.

“I was…curious…about it so I went to the website after you left yesterday and filled out the little questionnaire.
 
You know the one, right?”

“That’s great, Cindy! I’m so happy to hear that!
 
So what’s the problem?”

“That’s not all…um…I already heard from them and I don’t know what to do.”

“They emailed you?”

Cindy clenched her teeth and nodded unhappily.

“Move over and let me see that, will you?
 
Better yet, print a copy and hand it over.”

“Print?
 
I don’t want anyone to see it.”

“Nobody is going to see it but the two of us.
 
Now, go ahead; print it.”

Cindy reluctantly clicked the printer button and in a moment, the letter was in
Victoria
’s hands.
 
The excited look on her friend’s face made Cindy wish their roles were reversed.

“It must be a mistake, right?”

“Cindy, did you read this?
 
Did you see what kind of date this is?”

“No, I….”

“This is some rich guy who needs a date in
Morocco
!
 
It’s absolutely incredible!”

“I just didn’t mean for this to happen.
 
I was only doing it for fun, for the sake of curiosity.”

“Taking after your cat again, huh?
 
You do know curiosity
killed
the cat, right?”

“Listen, this is not funny.
 
Not funny at all.
 
I’ve gotten myself in a bind and I need you to help me.
 
You’re better at this kind of stuff than I am.”

“I sincerely doubt that.
 
Looks like you did a fine job of it, Miss International Traveler.
 
I didn’t get a call this fast, and when I do, I’ll be lucky to get a steak dinner and theater tickets out of the deal, I’m sure.
 
Do you have any idea how lucky you are?
 
Any idea at all?”

Cindy’s eyes filled with tears, her breath became shallow and she slowly nodded.

“I know I am, but I can’t do this.
 
It must be some kind of mistake.
 
He couldn’t possibly want me.”

“He does and it isn’t.
 
It’s all here in black and white, my friend.
 
The guy obviously saw you and wants you.
 
You did send a picture, right?”

Cindy nodded.

“Isn’t this incredible, Cindy?
 
You’re going to
Morocco
, the land of sheiks and camels. From what I’ve heard, it’s one of the most exotic European tourist destinations around today.”

“We’re not European.”

“You know what I mean.
 
People from
Europe
have the best taste and visit the greatest places in the world.”

All of a sudden Cindy felt naïve.
 
How does she know so much about the world?

“Where is Marrakech, anyhow?”

“Marrakech is in the northern part of Africa.
 
It is very exotic and romantic.
 
Here, let me show you.”

Cindy watched
Victoria
do a quick internet search.
 
Within a split second, a map appeared on the screen and a slide show started highlighting dozens of photos of exotic people and camels in the desert.

“Wow, it sure looks different than any place I’ve seen.”

“You are one lucky bitch, you know it?
 
I would love to drop everything and go there! You’ll be just like
Cindy-rella
going to meet her handsome prince.”

Cindy trembled as the thought of traveling so far from home began to sink in.

“First off, I am not at all like Cinderella; second, I can’t leave the office right now, I have way too much work to do; and third….”

“You can so leave the office and you know it.
 
You haven’t taken a single day of vacation since you moved here.”

“I took a day last year…”

“
A day?
 
A whole entire day?
 
Let’s see, based on our new accrual system, that means you probably have….at least twenty or thirty more where that came from.”

“I couldn’t possibly….”

“Sorry, but that’s no excuse.
 
Don’t tell me you can’t go.
 
I’m sure everyone would be thrilled to have you take some time off.”

“I still can’t.”

“Why not?
 
Give me one good reason.”

The back of Cindy’s throat tightened at the mere thought of the secret she was about to share.

“Nobody knows this, but I am terrified to fly.”

Victoria
crossed her arms, a serious look on her face which quickly turned into uncontrollable laughter.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me, right?”

Cindy scowled.
 

“I don’t appreciate you making fun of me! I’m really scared….”

“Sorry, Cindy.
 
I don’t mean to hurt your feelings.
 
I just don’t see how a little phobia would stop you from taking the ride of your life.
 
What if this guy is the one, huh?
 
And you’re going to let a little fear of a plane crash get in your way?”

“It’s not like that, it’s…”

“I don’t want to hear it.
 
You signed up for this and you need to go.
 
End of discussion.
 
So tell me, what’s the next step?”

“I don’t know.”

“It says here you need to call and go by, so what are you doing right now?”

“Uh…”

“My point exactly.
 
Here.”

Victoria
picked up the phone and put it into Cindy’s trembling hand.

“I am dialing now, you are talking.
 
Here we go.”

A young girl answered the phone.

“Yes, my name is Cindy Brown, and I….”

“Oh Miss Brown.
 
We’ve been waiting for your call.
 
Hold and I will patch Diana through.”

Patch her through?
  
What does that mean?

“Hello?”

“Yes, my name is Cindy Brown.”

“Yes, Cindy, how soon can you get here?”

“I…uh…thought you were in
Los Angeles
.”

“I have a very important client who insists on you and you alone.
 
I don’t normally do this, but I took a red eye to
Dallas
, and I just landed.
 
I will be at the Hyatt within the hour.
 
How quickly can we meet?”

“You’re in
Dallas
?
 
Ummmm…I…”

Victoria
smiled and nodded and mouthed some words Cindy couldn’t quite make out, but felt sure they meant
Victoria
wanted her to go for it, no matter what.

“I guess I’m on my way, then….”

Cindy hung up the phone and looked at Victoria who smiled and clapped as she stood up and took her keys back out of her purse.

“Come on.
 
I’ll drive.
 
I can’t wait to see this lady myself.
 
Who knows, maybe if she sees me she’ll be able to find someone for me too.”

What am I doing?
 
What have I done?
 
As she reached for her keys, Cindy’s hand shook so hard, she once again knocked over her coffee cup. Fortunately, only a few drops were left.

“You’re getting pretty good at that, you know?
 
If you want my advice, I’d suggest you might want to lay off that, if you know what I mean….”

“Yeah, I know.
 
Come on.”

Cindy smiled through a locked jaw at her boss, who just happened to pass them in the hall and wished them a good morning.

“Good morning.”

Cindy felt like she was skipping school and started running toward the elevator.

“Hey, slow down.
 
He can’t do anything to you.
 
He doesn’t own you, he’s your boss.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

The elevator emptied dozens of people on to their floor as the two of them rode down alone to the parking garage, and by the time they reached the car and started speeding away, Cindy felt much more relaxed.
 

Twenty minutes later,
Victoria
handed her keys to a valet and Cindy followed her into the hotel.

“C’mon. Hurry up!
 
This lady sounds like she’s in a hurry.”

“I’m coming.”

“Nervous?”

“I think it’s more like an anxiety attack than just plain nerves; I’m not sure.
 
Which causes shaky hands and shortness of breath?”

Victoria
laughed and Cindy followed her up the long escalator to the upper floor lounge where a tall Amazon of a woman with long, dark red hair and wearing a hot pink suit stood in the center of the room and stared right at her.
 
Cindy noticed her slight change in the Amazon’s expression at the sight of Cindy and felt as if someone had kicked her in the gut as the woman walked swiftly toward her.

It’s too late to get out of this now.

“Cindy.”

“Hello.”

“I’m Diana Lovemore.
 
Thank you for coming on such short notice.”

“I’m Cindy, and this is my friend Victoria.”

Ms. Lovemore ignored
Victoria
’s attempts to shake her hand, keeping her complete focus on Cindy, who wasn’t sure how to react to that.
 
Usually, she was the last person anyone noticed or paid attention to—or at least that’s what she always thought—but now, it appeared the tables had turned.

Lovemore sat across from the two women at a small round table in the corner and opened a file with the photo of one of the most handsome men Cindy had ever seen.

“This is Erick Redmund.
 
He lives in the Hollywood Hills in
Los Angeles
, and he was quite smitten by you, Ms. Brown.
 
He told me to fly here and do whatever it takes to get you to accompany him on his business trip overseas, including tripling your salary for the week and providing you a new wardrobe for your time and trouble.”