Have Baby, Need Beau

“IS THIS WHAT I think it is?

Mimi stared in horror at the newspaper Alison held in her hands. A color photo showed her and Seth, looking dreamy-eyed and glued together as they headed toward their hotel room. At least the story wasn’t on the front page. And she and Seth weren’t really the focus of the picture; they were actually in the background. Obviously the reporter had been interviewing a couple from New Jersey stranded on their way to the beach, and he’d caught them in the photo.

So much for nobody finding out she and Seth had been together.

“Mimi, is it?”

“Er…no, not exactly.”

Alison plopped onto Mimi’s bright yellow U-shaped sofa with a paper bag, then pulled out bagels and coffee. “What does that mean?”

Mimi scratched her dog’s ears while she scanned the article. Some stranded guests had spent the night in a local school cafeteria, others at churches, when they couldn’t find hotels. The reporter listed the couples’ names. At least he hadn’t identified her or Seth.

“Come on, you might as well tell me,” Alison said matter-of-factly. “Maybe I can help cushion things for Dad.”

“He’s going to freak and think I’m totally irresponsible, especially after I was so stupid with Joey.”

“Are you going to tell Hannah?” Alison sighed and stirred sugar into her coffee. Mimi left hers un-sweetened and tore off a tiny piece of bagel for Wrangler, her pug, and another piece for Esmereldo, the stray cat she’d taken in the week before. “No, I don’t want Hannah to find out. Since she’s out of town, maybe she won’t see it.”

Alison studied her and Mimi squirmed. “Oh, my gosh. You actually slept with him, didn’t you?”

Mimi nodded miserably, the horror of what she’d done escalating. “It…it just happened. One minute I was comforting him over losing Hannah and he was talking to me about Joey, then he started looking at me funny, all hot and sexy and different, and I challenged him to dance because I didn’t think he would, and he did. And it was dark and he’s actually quite muscular under those suits, and the music was so romantic and he was so tender, exciting kind of tender, not like Joey, and he isn’t boring like I thought he’d be.”

Alison blew into her coffee. “Good Lord, Mimi.”

“I know.” Mimi moaned and folded her legs Indian-style on the couch. “It was because we were stranded, sharing those close quarters. We tried to get two rooms, honest.”

“I thought you didn’t even like Seth. Remember the things you said to Hannah when she was engaged to him? That she might be dreaming about sleeping with another man because Seth wasn’t the kind of man to elicit fantasies.”

“I know.” Mimi dropped her head forward into her hand. “But he was different last night. Way different.”

They sat silently, sipping their coffee. Alison tore a bagel in half and offered part of it to Mimi, but Mimi declined, her throat too full of disgust to swallow food.

“So are you two an item now?”

Mimi nearly spilled her coffee on Esmereldo. “No. We agreed it was a mistake. It won’t happen again.” She shuddered. “But it gets worse, Ali. Jake and Hannah were at the hotel.”

“Did they see you?”

“No, I ducked out a side door and Seth followed later.”

Alison sighed. “Good. Not that I don’t want you to be happy if you want Seth, sis, but it is kind of awkward since he and Hannah were almost married.”

“Don’t you think I know that? I still can’t believe I actually did the wild thing with him.”

Alison arched a brow, her mouth quirked sideways. “So it was wild, huh?”

Mimi grinned in spite of herself. “Wilder than I’d ever imagined.”

“Hmm. Then maybe you should go out with him and see where this thing goes. Maybe—”

“No, we’ve never dated each other’s boyfriends before.”

“Seth is an ex-boyfriend.”

“Ex or not, we’ve never done that and I don’t intend to start.” Mimi gestured toward the photograph. “Do you think anyone will recognize us? I mean, I do have my back to the camera, and you can’t really see Seth’s face that clearly.”

“You’re right. I recognized you because of the dress.”

Mimi felt glum again. “Yeah, that bridesmaid dress is pretty obvious.”

“But look on the bright side. Hannah’s out of town on her honeymoon and won’t be back until next week, so she won’t see the paper. By then, the news will be old.”

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