Reckless Prudence

Reckless Prudence

  by Josephine Kent

  Romance/Short Story

  Copyright ©2010 by Josephine Kent

  This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Dedication

  For Mrs. S. You are gone, but certainly not forgotten. Thank you for everything you have taught me, and for giving me the chance to go further than my own imaginings. I continue to write because you wanted to know the rest of the story. Thank you.

  “I don’t date,” Kellie Reid said to her best friend Margo, “because I don’t feel like wasting lots of time, money, and emotion when I can go see a matinee and leave the drama in the theatre after it ends.”

  “Kells, you are so self-righteous it’s sickening.” Only a very good friend could have the confidence to put it like that. “You are going to meet me at Nate’s tonight at eight. I text-messaged you the address. You just might meet someone.” Margo sometimes got frustrated with her friend.

  Kellie was a little heavier than she should be, but she had a gorgeous hourglass figure. She was also stunningly beautiful. She didn’t believe she needed a man to fix things for her, since she could pay a plumber for that. She didn’t believe she needed a man to entertain her. Her favorite activity was a solitudinous date at a sidewalk cafe. Gasp! Sans bestselling novel. The fact that she dressed to attract men was just a side effect of her great personal style. In short, Kellie was so self-reliant, and practical yet daring, that she genuinely did not see a reason why she should want a man in her life.

  Because her friend had extreme tunnel vision, Margo continued to set Kellie up on blind dates. Unfortunately, when Margo managed to get her into the same room as a suitable male, Kellie either looked through the man, or ended up becoming his BFF, best friend forever.

  Kellie shook her head and chuckled, “Sweetheart, I’m not single because I’m love-resistant. I’m single because I’ve never met the Dos Equis guy. You know, the Most Interesting Man in the World. ” She pulled her car into Margo’s driveway. “Leave me to find romance at my own pace. I’d rather wait a hundred years for a single second of absolute love, than live a lifetime with its imitation.”

  That was the problem with Kellie. She hoped for someone who loved the way she did.

  Nathanael Wright unbuttoned his coat and slipped behind the bar. On a busy night like this he would normally be in the kitchen. But he’d just hired a new chef and was giving him space to work his magic. That left Nate with plenty of time to mingle with his guests.

  In a world where everyone used their cell-phones to get the time, one woman defied the decade. She wore no other jewelry except a red watch. Her hair was combed into a side-swept bun. When she turned her head, he glimpsed ruby hairpins winking in the dark silk. Her dress wasn’t black as he’d originally thought, but rich purple, making her brown eyes look like chocolate stars. He knew who she was, even before he took her order. She lived a full life conscientiously. In her element she was bold, but did not take uninformed risks. Everyone at the bar, including the women, glanced her way, but she was so preoccupied with looking around her that she didn’t notice. She was a fake extrovert, who pretended the world was more fascinating than she was.

  He’d have to come up with something really impressive in order to get and keep her attention. “Looking for someone?” he asked, leaning across the bar. Nate inhaled deeply. She smelled like cinnamon and lemon, a unique fragrance. Like her, it was individual in an ocean of sameness.

  She turned to him. “My friend was supposed to meet me a half hour ago.”

  “If your friend’s a guy and he’s late meeting you, he’s not worth your time,“ he said dismissively.

  “Actually, it’s a girl.”

  She looked like the kind of woman that preferred her… “Martini? Dry? Shaken, with gin?”

  She raised a surprised brow at him and nodded.

  Nate mixed her drink, instinct telling him to give her flavored vodka instead of the ordinary stuff or the gin. She might not be an all-in risk taker, but he was. “This drink is different,” he said, as he placed it in front of her. “’Different’ being just another name for ‘extraordinary.’” He released the glass. “Hopefully, once you get past the fact that it’s something new, you‘ll want more of it.” Hopefully his knack for reading people had not abandoned him.

  Brown eyes regarded him suspiciously. “How much will I owe you for experimenting on me?”

  He chuckled and closed his eyes. “Let’s see. Four million, nine hundred and sixty thousand, eight hundred and sixteen.” He opened his eyes and winked at her before writing the number on an extra napkin. “Your cell works like a credit card machine. Just dial the numbers and press SEND to make your payment to Nathanael Wright.” He got her to laugh. Nate felt like a king.

  She smiled flirtatiously. “Let my taste buds determine if I’ll pay you for this drink-I-did-not-ask-for, Mr. Wright.” She took a sip of the beverage and her eyes lit up. “Lemon and something else. Cinnamon? What do you call it?”

  He smiled. “It was inspired by the scent of your perfume. If you tell me your middle name, that’s what we’ll call it. It’ll be the signature cocktail for when you come visit me again.”

  “My middle name?” she choked out a laugh. “Why not my first name?”

  Nate was grateful he had a bartender on staff because he was completely ignoring his restaurant’s patrons. “Every guy that meets you socially will get your first name. And every guy that you meet through business will have your last name. I want to call you by your secret name. And, when you give me the numbers that I need to pay for that privilege,” he beckoned her closer and whispered over the buzz of activity, “and I say that secret name over the phone, I want you to know exactly who is on the other end of the line.”

  Her grin was so wide, it was like a string of pearls held between her lips. Her laugh was the sound of a happy violin. “Oh,” she chuckled, “you are good. Very, very good. But, my middle name is Prudence. And we can’t call our drink Prudence, can we?”

  He stood upright and shrugged. “I see no reason why not. After all, I’m shrewd enough to know a good woman when I meet her, Prudence. Besides, at least you didn‘t say Prohibition.” He couldn’t keep a straight face. She made him feel good after only five minutes of talking to her. “How much do I owe you?” he teased.

  She asked for a pen and when he gave it to her, she wrote her telephone number on her napkin. “You are extraordinarily original,” she conceded. “Do you know that?”

  “Yes.” He replied unrepentantly, dialing her number right there. When he heard her cell-phone ringing in her purse, he tucked the napkin into his wallet. He knew he must have done something right, because she hadn‘t given him a false number. “You have my number, so don’t frown at the phone tomorrow morning when I call and invite you out for breakfast. You‘ll know exactly who‘s calling.”

  “Breakfast? Not dinner?”

  Nate gave her a longsuffering look. “Have you ever been on a breakfast first date?”

  “No,” she admitted. He was something else.

  “Exactly!”

  “Nate,” the bartender approached them, “they need you in the kitchen.”

  As he turned to leave, a woman arrived at her side. “Kellie! Sorry for being late. My cousin was really impressed by something he saw at my wedding, so, I had to deliver it tonight.” She glanced at Nate.

  “That’s fine, Margo. Nate here just convinced me to try something new. I think I like it,” Kellie sipped her drink thoughtfully. “Nate, meet my friend Margo. Margo, Nate.”

  “Hello, Margo,” he grinned. “Jake,” he addressed the bartender, “whatever these ladies want is on the house.” To Kellie he
winked, “Prudence, I‘ll fix you another one later.”

  Margo watched the man walk away. He was handsome despite the receding hairline and wicked scar on his chin. Tall, with broad shoulders, lean hips, and the long gait of a distance runner, he was very attractive. She cocked her head to the side and studied him as he pulled on a chef’s coat on his way into the kitchen. He wasn’t someone her friend would normally go for, but Kellie had yet to take her eyes off him.

  “That was nice,” Margo commented.

  “I think that,” Kellie said as she bit into the cherry and olive garnish, “was Mr. Right.”

  Margo’s brows shot high at Kellie’s revelation, but quickly lowered when she remembered… “Why did he call you Prudence?”

  Kellie’s lips curled in a secret smile. “It‘s my middle name and the name of this drink he invented.”

  “I thought your middle name was Hero.”

  “I wasn’t about to tell him I’m named after the damsel in a tragic love affair.”

  Before she could say anything else, Margo’s phone chimed a few times, indicating that she had a new text-message. She pulled it out and read, TOOK A YEAR OF ME BEG-N. BUT THNX 4 2NITE, CUZ. Her own secret smile spread across her lips.

  “What was that about?” Kellie asked. “Steven never calls when you‘re with me.”

  “Oh, it’s just my cousin thanking me for the delivery. Couldn’t have been more pleased with it. ” Margo flagged down the bartender. “I hope you know the recipe for Reckless Prudence. I think it‘s the perfect drink for my friend here.”

  Kellie licked a dab of sugar crystals from her finger. “Who’s this cousin, and what was the package?”

  Margo choked back a laugh. “Sweetheart, if I told you, I’d have to kill you.” Or you’d kill me, she tagged on silently.