“Uhhh… So, yeah, we had sex, and Gavin spent the night. He was gone in the morning… something about a business meeting.”
Annie went back to eating her pita chips. “The Truman’s are always working, sweetie. If you two get serious, you’ll have to get used to it.”
“So after I get up, I find a note he left for me on the coffee table and his number. It also said that he’d be sending me something later on that morning, and within an hour there was a knock at my door. Next thing I knew, some guy is handing me the keys to a red sports car.”
Annie’s eyes bugged out with enthusiasm. “This really is something like out of a romance novel. Keep going!”
“Okay, so, well…along with the keys, he attached a note stating that he wanted to have dinner with me Saturday night. He picked me up at eight, and we went to the Italian restaurant that Julianna is always raving about.”
Annie clutched her hand to her heart. “Oh, yeah, she loves that place. Okay, keep going. I want more!”
I was just about to tell her about the garden part, but I decided to keep that a secret.
“Well, he showed me all around his mansion. Did you know that he practices yoga and even has a zen garden?”
“Shut up, again! Why didn’t Richard tell me he practices yoga? You two could have gotten together a long time ago!”
I shrugged my shoulders. “That’s alright. Maybe Richard doesn’t even know that he’s into yoga. You know how men are about coming across as being in touch with their feminine side.”
“Yeah, and…”
“Well, he said that he wants to keep seeing me regularly. I’ll be honest. I was nervous at first. With everything going on in my personal life, you know the whole mess with my mother’s estate, I don’t know if I’m ready to be in a committed relationship. I’m going into it with an open mind, just to be safe. Maybe it’ll be a short-term fling, or perhaps it’ll last longer. It’s really too soon to tell. We’ve only been seeing each other for a few days, you know.”
“I think that’s wonderful, Crystal. You deserve to be happy and with a good guy, and we wouldn’t have set you up with him if we didn’t think he was the real deal.”
“Thank you, Annie. I was reserved at first, but I’m glad it worked out this way. And to think that it all happened because Jake and Richard wanted to attend your baby shower and gender reveal!”
Annie hugged me and then went back to eating her pita chips. “I hope I have some of these in my desk.”
The chime over the front door jingled, and both of us looked up to find Julianna walking in. I ran toward her, saying ‘excuse me’ to people who were busy holding their yoga poses along the way. As soon as I got to her, I hugged her neck, “Congratulations on the baby boy. I’m sorry I didn’t call you over the weekend. I was kind of busy.”
“No worries. I came over to see your new Lamborghini. I heard about it through the grapevine, better known as Jake.”
By now, Annie had joined us, holding a bottle of water in one hand and hugging her sister with the other. “And that’s not all. Crystal, tell Julianna the good news.”
Julianna listened with wide eyes as I told her the same story I had just told Annie about Gavin and me, but I decided to add a little more. These two women had worked hard to set us up, even though I had resisted at first. I wanted their advice about the car. I still wasn’t comfortable about keeping it, especially with it parked out front of Annie’s studio.
“Let’s go into Annie’s office so you two can sit down.”
“I’ll second that,” Annie said.
The two sisters shared a small box of raisins Julianna pulled from her bag, listening closely.
“Look, Gavin was just trying to prove to me he was a man of his word. I appreciate that, but this is definitely overkill.”
“Maybe not to him,” Julianna piped up.
“Let me finish. Really, I don’t even know how to drive a sports car like that. It’s just too over the top for me. You know, a yoga teacher looks out of place, driving around River Valley in a Lamborghini.”
“Who cares? Most women would die to be in your place, Crystal,” Annie said.
Julianna rubbed her belly. “I have an idea.”
“Tell me. I need help with this.”
“You haven’t known the Trumans, and Gavin as long as I have. I’ve known Jake since high school, remember?”
“Yeah, and…”
