Page 39 of The Wedding

“Nala.” The woman showed no inhibitions as she introduced herself. “I’m her Nala.”

“Right. Her Nala. Well, this is… everyone…”

“You are hopeless at entertaining,” Kathleen said with a sigh. “Now they’re going to think we’re the rudest bunch in the Northeast. That’s a hard title to claim.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Varen said, with a strong, steady voice. “We’re used to that sort of treatment in the socially frigid PNW.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way, either,” Nala quipped.

The ice was thus broken, and Jamie – crammed between Etta and Monique at a table that wasn’t meant to hold more than six people and now held twelve – felt greater pressure to either say nothing or to be the most articulate woman she had ever been. So she elected to say nothing.

I don’t want to be the reason these newcomers run away grumbling about all of us.Jamie would never forgive herself – the others would never forgive her. One of the first things she learned after becoming Etta’s serious girlfriend was that socializing and business went hand in hand in this world. Nobody “just” sat down and had a chat. Business always came up. If someone was new? They were seen as prospective clients, service providers, or investors. Varen Lake was a name Jamie would hear many times over the next few weeks, usually in the business context. Thanks to this dinner,Varen would go on to make more than one business contact that would help her expand her work to the East Coast. So while tonight everyone commended her on her more artistic side, she had that look in her eyes that said,“How much money can I make off you lovely people?”Since Jamie had no idea how invested or interested Etta would be in management apps, she kept her mouth shut.

Varen’s girlfriend, on the other hand, did not keep her mouth shut.

She wasn’t impolite, but Nala was louder than Lara, cruder than Kathleen, and definitely more socially unaware than Monique.By a thousand leagues.People looked at her with a mixture of fascination and disbelief whenever she spoke. Cocky young arrogance that Jamie never naturally espoused, yet that teeming confidence she was always jealous of others having fun. Jamie knew how to speak her mind around those she was comfortable with, but this was not such a situation. So she ended up being one of those people staring in disbelief – and fascination – as Nala interrupted her solemn, rich girlfriend to tell her that she was full of shit regarding something or other.

Jamie had to excuse herself to the bathroom shortly after. As she was coming out of the stall, however, she bumped into the only other woman currently in the restroom with her. Nala stood in front of the mirror, touching up her mascara. She was so short that she had to stand on her tiptoes, one leg kicked out behind her. Her boots made this scene more comical than sexy.

“Hey!” she called, catching Jamie’s reflection in the mirror. “What was your name again? I missed it earlier.”

Jamie froze, hand seizing her clutch for comfort she didn’t realize she needed. “Jamie.”

“Ha! What a pair of Disney princesses we make!”

Jamie stared blankly until she got the joke.Is she confusing me with someone named Jamie?“I didn’t realize an animal could be a Disney princess…”

“Hey,if it’s good enough for Princess Leia now…”

“That’s true.”

Jamie took a step toward the bathroom door, but present company was not going to let her get away that easily.

“You’re not one of them, are you?”

Something speared Jamie right in the heart. Fear? Deception? That knowing feeling that she was an imposter all along?Imposter syndrome is real!“Um…”

“I mean, you’re not part of that privileged crowd. Originally. Wow, this is coming out all shades of wrong… sorry.”

“No, it’s okay.” Jamie continued to stand as if she didn’t know whether to stay or go. Would it be rude to walk out now? She felt rude just standing there and acting like a deer caught in Nala’s headlights.What does she want from me?On the stage, this young woman was quiet and obedient. Now she acted how most people saw Jamie out of the corner of their eyes. “I’m not… yeah, my parents are a couple of commune farming hippies. Clearly I’m not, though.”

“Oh, clearly not.” Was Nala rolling her eyes?Why do I like it?Was it because she was refreshing after spending half the night with a table full of snooty rich people?Now, Jamie…“I did some reading on your girlfriend. She’s cute. A lot like mine… built up all her riches.”

“I suppose so.” Jamie knew nothing about Varen’s background. She was good-looking, though. Not every woman at that table was Jamie’s type, but Varen was up there.Etta is #1, of course. Jamie hoped she wasn’t blushing as she thought of her own girlfriend. “It’s rather rare around here. Lots of rich families that have only gotten richer.” Would keep getting richer with subsequent generations, too. Like little Baby Warner, who would be one of the richest kids around when Helen and Monique finished combining their fortunes.

“It’s more common out west, yeah, but they’re also few and far between.Do those other people at that table make you wanna pull your hair out all the time? Because I’ve been around them ten minutes and want to twist a few rings off fingers if you know what I mean.”

Wow, no wonder she was able to help take down some whackjob.

“They can be a bit… well, you get used to it.”

“Do you really?”

Jamie took a step back. “Well… not really. You are always on your toes.”

“Blech!” Nala’s sour face made her look five years younger. “Glad I don’t live out here.”

Before Jamie could build up the courage to abandon Nala to the restroom, she said, “I liked that performance, by the way. I didn’t know bondage could be so… entertaining?”