The Good Luck Potion (The Good Luck Series) (5 page)

“Sure. No problem. If you can’t make it this week, there is always next. Having dinner with Darren and me is an open invite. I don’t want you to feel pressured. You have your own life to live.”

“I appreciate it. A home cooked meal sounds great anytime. Far better than take out or frozen entrees.”

She giggled. “You sound like Jama. She couldn’t cook before she married Kyle. I know it’s different. You do know how to fend for yourself, but why bother cooking for one, right?”

“Yeah. You got that right.”

“Not that I’m pushing you to get married,” she said, opening her yogurt. “I know how it felt when Lucinda
started talking to me about it. She gave me a necklace that holds magical powers and told me how it would draw my soul mate to me. It was supposed to help me find the one I was to be with. Kinda like her giving you that bottle of potion to carry. You do carry it with you?”

He nodded and grinned. “Afraid not to after the call I got Sunday afternoon. She said now that I was in town it was imperative that I kept
the bottle with me at all times. And that I didn’t want to tempt fate. I have a feeling it’s more like tempting Lucinda to come after you with her bag of voodoo.”

Keely
laughed, scraping the last of the yogurt from the container and then licking the spoon. “I know you don’t put any stock in her voodoo, but I haven’t been disappointed. I’m quite happy with Darren.”

“To each his own.
” He shifted in the chair. “So you’re really okay with me not coming tonight?”

“Yes. Go have fun.” She reached for her bottle of water, unscrewed the cap and drank half
of it, then she looked at her watch. “I don’t want to run you off, but I have a meeting in forty-five minutes. I need to review my presentation one last time.”

“Is that my
cue to go?”

“
Afraid so. I’m glad you dropped by to see where I work.”

“So am I.”
He stood and collected her garbage, taking it to the trash for her.

“Thanks.” She got to her feet and hugged him before they walked to her door. “So where are you going with Phil tonight?”

Alex shrugged. “He wouldn’t tell me, but he assured me I’d like it.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

“I’ve got a funny feeling about it, but that’s probably me being suspicious.”

“About what?”

“His motives. I keep thinking about that lock and key game. What if Phil and Kimberly are trying to set me up with her sister? You said yourself that couples like to match up their friends. The more I think about it the more I find our getting paired up a little too convenient.”

“Oh that…
,” she chuckled and shook her head. “I wouldn’t worry about it. In the end who you date is up to you, not what anyone else says.”

He pulled the bottle Lucinda gave him from his pocket. “Did you forget about this?”

Keely laughed this time, opening her office door. “Don’t be so paranoid, little brother.”

“I can’t help it.” He stuck the bottle back in his pocket and stepped out of her office, bumping into the blond
e he’d met the other night. “Sue?”

“Alex?”

Sue blinked, clutching the presentation folders to her chest. “W-what are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” He frowned and looked at Keely, narrowing his eyes for a brief moment before turning back to
her.

“I work here.”

“I came to see my sister,” he explained. “I didn’t know you worked at Wright & Associates too.”

“Y-you
r…s-sister?” She swallowed, glancing from him to Keely and back. Her stomach tightened into knots as she remembered the things she’d said to her about him, even going so far as to call him sexy. Silently she groaned and forced herself to ask for clarification, “Keely’s your sister?”

“Yeah.” He grinned. “What a small world.”

“You can say that.” She looked at her smiling boss who didn’t say a word, but reached for the folders.

He noticed the interaction. “
Are you
her
assistant?”

“Yes.”
Sue crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

He nodded and turned to his sister. “Did you know?”

“I figured it out from things you both said that you’d met,” Keely replied and took a tiny step back into her office. “Sue, show Alex how to get back to the elevator for me. I need to get ready for my meeting.” Without another word, she closed her office door.

Alex
ran a hand through his sun-streaked brown hair. “She never said a word.”

Sue swallowed.
“It isn’t that big a deal. So I work for your sister. You’re Phil’s friend. I’m Kimberly’s sister. We’re both in the wedding. And we’re bound to see each other a lot over the next several weeks.” She gave him a quick, tightlipped smile. “Do you really need me to show you back to the elevator or can you find your way?”

He studied her for a moment and she noticed his steely blue eyes for the first time.
She swallowed again. Why hadn’t she noticed the streaks of sun in his hair or the color of his eyes the other night? They were definitely having a strange effect on her right now.

“I can find it.” He pivoted half a turn. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

“Oh, I’m sure of it.”

She walked back to her desk, but waited until he’d gone around the corner and
she heard the ding of the elevator before she sat down. Covering her face with her hands, she closed her eyes tight and shook her head. Why did
he
have to be Keely’s brother?

Keely. She groaned and hurried to the closed office door. Raising her hand, she hesitated a moment and took a deep breath before she knocked.

“Come in.”

Su
e opened the door, stepped inside and closed it behind her. “I owe you an apology.”

“For what?” Keely looked up from the papers on her desk.

“What I said Monday morning about Alex. I didn’t know he was your brother or I wouldn’t have said those things to you.”

“There is no need for you to apologize. It’s a free country. Last time I checked the First Amendment is still valid. You can speak freely
even if it was hard for me to imagine my brother in that way. I’ve studied him since and I find him handsome, but I can’t quite make myself see him as sexy.” Keely stood and slipped her suit jacket on. “And just because you work for me, doesn’t mean you can’t like my brother. I have no objection to you dating him either.”

Sue grinned. “I still feel
awkward.”

“It’s
really okay. But if it will make you feel better, I’ll let you make it up to me by babysitting and changing a few messy diapers once the baby comes.”

“Gee
, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. I’ve got
to get to my meeting. Is there anything else?”

“Yes. Don’t
say anything to Alex about what I’ve said or that I might like to date him.”

“Okay
.” Keely laid a hand on her arm and smiled. “Don’t worry. I won’t utter a word.”

“Thanks.”

“Now do one little favor for me. When Darren gets back to the office ask him to make dinner reservations for us somewhere nice. I think I want to go out tonight.”

“You got it.”

Alex opened his truck door and Duke jumped out. He led him over to the fenced in back yard and put him inside, taking off his leash. The appointment at the vet took longer than he planned since Kyle was late getting there because of Jama’s doctor appointment. But the wait was worth it to hear that Duke was no longer in danger of bloat, that the daily exercise routine Keely had kept him on while he’d been away had helped the dog reach a maintainable healthy weight.

He filled
the dog’s water bowl with fresh water before he scooped kibble into the food bowl. “I think skipping your jog this afternoon will not kill you. What do you say?”

Duke yawned and lay down beside both bowls. He sniffed at them then looked up at Alex with woeful eyes.

“What?” he asked. “Don’t you like your food?”

Duke yawned again and laid his head on his front paws, closing his eyes.

“Fine. Be that way. Don’t eat it, but you’ll find it tastes good when you’re hungry enough.”

Once inside the house
, he took a quick shower and changed into khakis and a polo shirt before heading over to pick up Phil. As he hurried to his truck, he again noticed a flash of white fleeting across the back yard. However, Duke did not appear to be disturbed. He lay snoozing beside his now empty food bowl.

“See
, I knew you’d eat it.”

Duke’s tail thumped against the ground and Alex grinned.
“See ya later, boy.”

He opened up the truck door and climbed inside before heading across town to pick up his friend, still unsure where they were going tonight. He just hoped it wasn’t someplace where he’d feel out of place. He wasn’t into
the flashy nightclub scene, and Phil knew that. Yet he didn’t mind kicking back and listening to some good music, having a decent meal and conversation with his buddies either. Phil was the same way so he had to trust wherever they were going it would fit into his expectations.

Pulling to a stop outside of Phil’s place, h
e blew his horn and waited for him to come out. A minute later Phil appeared dressed in khakis and a button down plaid shirt. Alex relaxed a little  and waited until his buddy got into the truck and shut the door before he asked, “So where are we going?”

“Downtown.”

“Can you be a little more specific?”

“Head toward
the Old City.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“So this great spot is down there?”

“Don’t be so skeptical. It isn’t what you remember it being. It’s the place to be these days.”

“
If you say so.”

“I do. It’s where I met Kimberly. You’ll like it.”

“You met Kimberly there? Well…I guess that means it must be an okay place because she doesn’t seem like the type to hang out just anywhere.”

Phil punched him in the arm. “
It’s a gastropub and it draws the university crowd as well as the downtown business scene.”

“Is it new?”

“Not really. I believe it opened up right after you left town. You’ve probably seen the sign from the interstate. It took Regas’s old billboard sign spot.”

“Oh you mean that goose sign.”

“Yeah. It’s called the Crown and Goose. They have their own parking lot across the street so we won’t have to search for parking.”

“That’s good.

“It’s got a British feel to it.”

“I figured
that when you said gastropub. You forget I’ve traveled extensively with my job while you’ve stayed put, meeting the woman of your dreams.”

Phil punched him in the arm again. “Don’t hold that over me. You can still meet ‘the one’. Just give it time.
If you haven’t already.”

“Speaking of that, you will never believe who works for my sister.”

His friend shrugged and furrowed his brow. “I don’t see the connection, but who works for Keely?”

“Sue.”

“Are you serious?”

“As the day is long.”

“Well…they.”

Alex grinned at Phil’s saying. He’d been uttering that phrase as long as Alex could remember when he had nothing else better to say about something.

Sue checked her lipstick and waited for her sister to return to the table. She’d heard of the Crown and Goose before but had never been here. The menu offered an assortment of items she’d never thought of trying together and the drink selection was as varied. When Kimberly said they’d go out like old times, she’d imagined them going to Sapphires or another nightclub, not to a gastropub.

“Sorry.
” Kimberly slid into the booth. “I’ve been drinking a lot of water lately. I need to drop two more pounds so my wedding pictures will reflect my true size. You know how the camera angle can make a person look like they weigh more than they do. I don’t want to be recorded for the rest of my life looking chunky.”

“Like that is even possible,” Sue muttered without thinking.
Her sister was the perfect size and weight, always had been, but she worried over it afraid she’d gain an ounce.

“There’s that tone again.” Kimberly frowned. “I
swear you aren’t happy I’m getting married.”

Putting down the menu
, Sue reached for her sister’s hand. “Stop being so touchy. You’re reading too much into my words.
HHHHH
How many times do I have to tell you I am happy for you and Phil before you believe me?”

“Then at least smile when you lie to me?”