“I need to talk to you,” I whispered in her ear, but before I could elaborate, her mom pulled me in for a hug.
“Franny!” Miriam said as she kissed me on the cheek. “Let me introduce you to everyone. The twins you know, of course.” I gave a nod in the direction of Sam and Wes, who were seniors at Brown and the University of Virginia, respectively, and starting to look like actual grown-ups in their tuxedos.
“Franny, Sam has an internship in the city coming up, and he’s looking for a sublet, if you hear of anything,” Miriam continued. “He doesn’t want to live at home with his mama. Imagine that.”
“Mom, you know I love you even if I don’t want to be your roommate,” Sam replied with a bashful grin. Wes grabbed him by the shoulder and they headed in the direction of the bar. Miriam turned back toward me and Cleo.
“Franny is an interior designer who just launched her own business,” she announced to the group. “And she’s incredibly talented.”
Miriam offered me a proud smile, and my posture straightened under her gaze. She’d always treated Lola and me like daughters, welcoming us into the Kim family and home as awkward new-to-New-York college kids. The Kims lived just north of the city, in Rye, and we’d escaped to her house numerous times over the years.
Cleo had filled her in on my new business, and my need for clients, and she now began pointing around the group, ticking off names and job titles, which I tried to retain.
A woman named Ellen, with crystal-studded glasses and a martini in one hand, leaned in for a handshake with the other. “I saw you on New York News,” she said knowingly. “I met my husband when I was getting on the A train on Forty-Second Street. He accidentally stepped on the heel of my shoe—some atrocious loafer; it was the seventies, after all—and he kicked it onto the subway tracks. He tied his sweater around my foot so I could get home, and the rest is history.”
“Oh my goodness!” The silver-haired woman next to her who had introduced herself as “Catherine Ratcliffe but everyone calls me Duffy” laughed. “I had no idea Bobby was that romantic.”
Duffy then leaned in toward the group, her face ready to gossip. “My first husband and I met in high school.” This was said with an eye roll, and the group tittered in response. “But Ray—number four—and I met on a double date. We were both set up with other people and went home with each other.”
The story swapping continued—tales of first glances, drunken kisses, and lackluster anniversaries—until suddenly Ellen pushed her glasses up her nose and reached to grab my arm across the group. “Your man is here,” she said, her mouth rounded in gleeful shock. “From the subway.”
Cleo turned her head and then whipped back toward me. “Oh my god, Franny,” she murmured in my ear. “Hayes is here. Like, right behind you.”
I swiveled out of her reach to look, and, sure enough, Hayes was walking toward us.
“Hello again,” he said, offering me a small smile as he fiddled with the sleeve of his jacket.
“Hi,” I said, feeling the same nervous giddiness bubble up in my stomach that had appeared when I laid eyes on him earlier.
He turned to Cleo. “I don’t believe we’ve met yet. Hayes Montgomery.”
She shook his outstretched hand. “Cleo Kim. Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you. Obviously. Oh, and this is my mom, Miriam Kim.”
Hayes greeted Miriam politely, but before she could respond, Ellen had cut in. “I’m a fan,” she said, all toothy smile and charm. “It’s so nice to see the two of you are actually an item.”
Hayes glanced at me, ran a hand through his hair, and smiled back at Ellen.
“Ah, well, I hate to disappoint you, but Franny and I are just working together, actually. She’s designing my new office space.”
There was much oohing and aahing over this. He chuckled and looked back at me, a hint of red popping up on his lovely, smooth skin.
“Franny, I, uh, wanted to see if you might want to dance when the band picks up again.”
His eyes, dark and serious, stared directly at me. Into me.
“Oh! Oh.” My brain spun like a Ferris wheel.
“This is how my second husband and I met,” I heard Duffy say to Miriam. “A gala just like this one. Danced all night. Then he left me for one of the partners at his law firm.”
“Sure,” I said, straining to remain calm and cool. “That would be fun.”
“I’ll come back over in a few minutes, then,” he said as he tugged on the edge of his collar.