"Are you two driving back tonight?" Duncan asked Randi and his mom.
"Yes, that's the plan." Mrs. Armstrong checked her watch. "We're leaving around six."
"How did the dress shopping go?" Amber asked.
"Awesome!"
Tanner helped Duper and Lovey serve drinks, somehow ending up with a glass of wine for Katelyn. Their eyes met as he handed it to her. Her face remained expressionless as she said, "Thank you."
Apparently she was as thrilled as he was by this second meeting.
Today she was wearing slim-fitting black pants and a complicated soft gray sweater that wrapped around her shoulders and hugged her body. Absolutely professional, completely covered up, and still sexy as fuck.
Rosser arrived with his girlfriend, Jenna, and the condo was buzzing with talk and laughter. Lovey put some music on in the background, and Tanner reluctantly took the place on the couch where she'd been sitting as she and Duper pored over pizza menus and figured out where to order from.
"So," he said to Katelyn, the only other person not involved in a conversation.
She gave him a grim smile. "So."
They'd never had any trouble finding things to talk about, back in college. They'd talked about anything and everything, sharing all their hopes and dreams for the future, as well as the occasional argument. They'd also shared times of silence, comfortable enough with each other to not always talk, to just be together. Now he searched for some topic of conversation. "How's your dad?"
"He passed away. Nearly four years ago."
Aw shit. Way to bring the conversation to a screeching halt. "I'm sorry." She and her dad had been super close, since her mom had died when she was fifteen. "I didn't know that."
She lifted a shoulder. "No, you wouldn't. It was sad, but I'm okay now."
He frowned. "Is that why you moved to Chicago?"
"Well, yeah." She looked down at her wineglass. "There wasn't anything keeping me in Michigan after he died, and Rachel lives here … You remember Rachel?"
He nodded. Rachel had been her best friend in college.
"So it's nice being in the same city as her again, and you know I had bigger dreams than working at the country club in East Lansing, even though back then I wasn't sure what they were."
"Yeah, I knew that. Which is why I could never figure out why you wouldn't come to New York with me."
Her lips tightened. "It doesn't really matter now. And it didn't take you long to find someone else."
"Presley." He grimaced. "Yeah, well, I already told you that didn't work out so great."
"Why not?"
Okay, they were moving on from small talk to personal shit. "She wasn't who I thought she was." He didn't want to be the douche guy who bad-mouthed his ex-also, explaining that he'd misjudged Presley so badly and got caught in her desire to marry a rich, famous athlete was embarrassing. "What happened with you and your fiancé?"
One corner of her mouth lifted in a crooked smile. "Which one?"
"Uh … there was more than one?"
Her mouth twisted up. "I've been engaged three times."
"Jesus. What? Really?" He stared at her.
"Yeah." She did an eye roll. "I'm such a loser."
He scowled. "Why the hell would you say that?"
"Only a loser would lead on three guys to the point of getting engaged, and then turn around and dump them."
He shook his head. "Who were the guys?" Jesus, why was he even asking this? Thinking about her with another guy made his gut burn.
"One of them taught at the university."
Sure, some brainy geek. Huh.
"One of them was a golf pro at the country club."
Whoa.
"The other's a businessman here in Chicago."
He blinked, not sure what to say about all that. "What did you do after you graduated?"
"I kept working at the country club."
He frowned. "Really?" She'd worked summers there, waitressing, but it seemed like a waste of a business degree if that's what she'd done after college.
"Yes. But not as a waitress. The last summer I worked there I got involved with some of the events they host … golf tournaments, weddings … "
"Ah." He was getting the picture. The country club where she'd worked was a first-class private club, with a championship golf course and extremely wealthy members who enjoyed the opulent atmosphere and rich history of the club. He'd golfed there a few times and had been intimidated by the plush décor, fine dining, and stuffy etiquette. He could totally picture Katelyn flitting around directing people where to put big bouquets of flowers or fine china or shit like that.