Claire stepped through the door of Lucinda’s dance studio and took a moment to appreciate how gorgeous the space was. There were white lights and paper lanterns hanging from the high ceilings, the glow from the polished wooden floors giving off a luminescent quality as the one mirrored wall reflected back to her. A soft melody played over the speakers, hidden from sight by lots of lush, towering flower arrangements.
“Can I take your coat, miss?” A young attendant met her with a warm smile.
“Yes, thank you.” She slipped out of her trench coat and adjusted the collar of her shirt. Lucinda waved from across the room, motioning that she would be by shortly.
“Claire, champagne?” Samantha was a vision in a white pantsuit with matching heels. A loosely knotted red silk tie hung around her neck, disappearing into her cleavage, a shirt unnecessary for such an occasion, apparently. Claire did her best to keep eye contact; she really needed to stop checking out her boss’s fiancée. But it felt a little impossible.
“Absolutely.” She took the glass with a smile. “There are so many people here—this looks like a success already.”
Samantha nodded and looked out at the growing crowd. “There are quite a few people here that owe me a favor or two. I have full confidence that the fundraiser will be a raging success. Have you been here before?”
Claire shook her head. “No, truthfully I didn’t even know that Lucinda owned a dance studio until you mentioned it. It’s beautiful, though. The space is so open and welcoming.”
“Be sure to swing over to Elijah’s table by the temporary door into the new space. Elijah is the architect—his vision is what we’re celebrating tonight. We’ll do a little walking tour into the new area in a bit. In the meantime, let me introduce you to a few people.” She looped her arm with Claire’s and guided her into a group of people off to their right.
“Ladies, gentlemen, this is Claire Moseley. She’s the marketing whiz at Clear View I was just talking about.” Samantha turned Claire toward the group and rattled off a few introductions. “This is Bette Taylor, owner of Chic Boutique on Newbury Street. Sylvia Augustus, her family is in the paper business. This is Chelsea Hanscombe, the much more attractive and charming better half of Dennis Waldorff, he works at—”
“Main Stage Productions. My brother used your studio space when filming his restaurant commercial.” Claire turned her attention to the small blushing man to her right.
“Did he? What’s his name?” Dennis pushed his glasses up his nose and scrunched his brow in attention.
“James Moseley. He and my brother Jerry run Open Kitchen Express—”
“The take-out place, right? They just opened a branch in Cambridge, last month I think.” Chelsea stepped forward with a smile. “I love that place. Fresh ingredients, prepared in front of you, quick and easy. Your brother’s crème brûlée is fantastic. I was just talking about them to Dennis the other day.”
“Oh, I’ll tell him that. He’s his own worst critic.” Claire fell into easy conversation with the small group, immediately grateful that she had decided to come tonight after all.
“I see you’ll be fine, have fun.” Samantha excused herself as Chelsea took her place next to Claire.
“How do you know Samantha?” Chelsea stopped the passing waiter and handed Claire a fresh glass of champagne.
“Oh, she’s engaged to my boss.” Claire didn’t mention that they had worked together in the past when Samantha was a client of hers. Nondisclosure agreements sometimes demanded sins of omission.
“Ah, so you’re a friend of Lucinda’s.” Chelsea nodded, sweeping her light brown hair out of her eyes. She was younger than Dennis, and warmer, as Samantha had mentioned in jest. Dennis seemed funny, though sarcastic. She could see their clear attraction to each other. He was in what appeared to be some sort of debate with the other two women in their group. “I wasn’t sure if you were using her services like the rest of the people in here.”
“Not me, no.” Claire bit her tongue. She knew Samantha was very successful in her matchmaking business, but the idea of using a matchmaker to find herself a partner horrified her a little. Even if she was looking for Ms. Right—which she wasn’t because she just got promoted and her career was everything—she’d find a girl on her own, in the wild, thank you very much. Not that she would ever voice those opinions to Samantha—or Lucinda, for that matter. The last thing she needed was to offend her client, who also happened to be her boss’s fiancée.
“Well, if you ever decide you’re striking out left and right in the love department, be sure to let Samantha and Andrew help you out. Meeting Dennis changed my life, and I owe that to them.” She was so sincere Claire felt bad about her inner monologue. Just a bit.
“Claire, you look nice.” Andrew Stanley stepped closer as Chelsea kissed Dennis on the cheek, thanking him for rounding up some passed shrimp cocktail.
“Hey, Andrew.” Claire saw him much less frequently than Samantha, but dealt with him almost exclusively when operating as their PR executive. She appreciated the differences they each brought to the table—Samantha was definitely more of the schmoozer, while Andrew handled more of the operations side of the business. But she had seen them together and could see the draw; they complemented each other in the most fascinating way, each magnetic and charming on their own. “You don’t look too bad yourself.”
“Oh, this old thing?” He flattened the lapel of his designer tux. “I’m just trying to keep up with Samantha.” He stage-whispered conspiratorially as Lucinda walked over, “Did you see that suit she’s in?”
“Gotta love a good suit on a pretty girl,” Lucinda supplied easily. “How’s it going, Claire?”
“Good. Andrew was commenting on how nice I look tonight,” she joked.
“That’s high praise coming from someone as dapper as Andrew.” Lucinda playfully blew him a kiss.
“My three favorite people.” Samantha appeared over Andrew’s shoulder. “Claire, I’ve been meaning to introduce you to someone, can I borrow you for a minute?”
*
Shelly slipped through the main door and smiled at the changes in the studio she was all too familiar with. She had been taking dance lessons with Lucinda for months now, the highlight of her week. At first when Samantha had proposed the dance lessons, she had been a little resistant, but there was something about Lucinda and the way she moved with such effortless fluidity across the floor that captivated Shelly. It made her want to know what it was like to be so unburdened by physics. Plus, she really liked dancing, and her dates loved that she knew how to lead them on the dance floor. Definitely one of the things that had helped her find new confidence.
She accepted the champagne flute from the passing waiter and made a beeline toward the architect stationed by the temporary door into the new space. She had really been looking forward to catching up with Elijah. She had personally referred him to Lucinda when Lucinda first mentioned that her neighbors were selling their property. She had contracted Elijah and his group to help her build the interior of her new office building with D’Andre. She still couldn’t believe they had cut the ribbon on that place three years ago already. It felt like it was only yesterday.
“Shelly”—Elijah stood from his table and hurried around to embrace her—“how are you?”
“Hey, Elijah.” She patted his shoulder lightly. Affection was still something she was getting used to. She had to admit she was much better with it the more she danced, but physical contact with another person was still a little foreign unless she initiated it herself.
“I’m so pumped you made it tonight. Did you see the specs?” He reached behind her and pulled over a portfolio with rich three-dimensional color photos and blueprints of the space next door. She immediately recognized a water feature that he had installed in the waiting area of her office.
“Nice water feature.”
“I know, right? It’s a little different than yours, but along the same lines. I feel like it brings something unique to the space, you know?”
Shelly nodded. People loved it. She realized she was so used to it that she had been taking it for granted. She made a note to sit in the waiting area and enjoy it after hours someday soon. No need to surround herself with people if she didn’t have to; she’d opened up a lot in the last few months, but she wasn’t an extrovert by any means.
“Shelly, can I borrow you?” Samantha’s voice drew her attention away from Elijah and back toward the party behind them.
“See ya, Shel. Pop by to see me before you leave—I wanna show you something cool I was thinking about.” Elijah shook her hand and turned back to the newly formed line at his table checking out the plans.
“Nice jacket.” Samantha ran her hand over the zipper along Shelly’s cuff.
“I do what I can.” Shelly brushed the hair off her shoulder in an exaggerated flirt. “What’s up?”
“I wanted you to meet Claire Moseley—she works at Clear View. I thought you two might be able to talk about that project you mentioned to me last week.”
Shelly looked past Samantha and realized there was another person with her. She had completely missed her at first. Not that she could figure out how that was humanly possible since Claire Moseley was gorgeous. Her shoulder-length auburn hair fell in beautiful, straight layers and her blue eyes shone with warmth. And her teeth were that perfect, blinding white that was so—
“Shelly,” Samantha repeated with a smile, “this is Claire. Talk amongst yourselves. I have to go flirt some money out of those rich people’s pockets. See you later.”
“Sorry, um, hi. I’m Shelly White.” She extended her hand to Claire as Samantha glided away toward a group of well-dressed business-looking people.
Claire giggled when accepting her hand and returning a firm shake. “Yes, she mentioned that.”
“Oh, crap. I kinda zoned out for a second.” Shelly was blowing this already and she knew it.
“No biggie. It’s fine. These types of events get pretty boring—I definitely zoned out twice tonight already.”
“So, you work at Clear View, huh?” Shelly tried again to make herself appear like she could string two or three words together in a coherent sentence. Attempt number two was almost a success.
“Yes. I’m a PR and marketing executive there. It’s fun work, I love it.” Claire placed her empty flute on a tray to the left.
“All right, ladies and gentlemen,” Samantha’s voice sounded over the speakers. “It’s the time of the night when you are asked to grab a partner and hit the dance floor. Lucinda and a few of her dance instructors will be going around and helping you improve your form and lighten your wallets.” The background music increased in volume.
Wondering if this was her chance, Shelly decided to try on that flavor of bold Samantha always coached her about. “Would you like to dance?”
“Oh, sure.” Claire looked surprised, but not put off. That was a good sign.
“Great.” Shelly awkwardly handed her glass to an unsuspecting Elijah walking by, as she guided Claire toward the center of the room. She could do this. She could dance and flirt and talk. She’d been training for months. It was go time.
As the music picked up and transitioned into a new song, Shelly rested one hand gently on Claire’s midback and clasped Claire’s hand with the other, slowly initiating a sway from side to side.
“You’re a pretty good dancer.” Claire looked amused.
“I’ve had some practice.” Shelly turned them toward a quieter area of the dance floor. “You’re good, too, though.”
Claire smiled. “So, Shelly, besides dancing, what do you do?”
“I run an IT company with my partner. Well, I’m supposed to be doing the background work and he’s supposed to be running the business side of things, but he’s been a little absent lately, so…Sorry, I’m rambling. I work with computers. Clearly, I’m still mastering the art of socialization.”
Claire laughed and Shelly swooned a little at the sound.
“Is it a company I might know?”
Shelly led them into another turn, pleased she was managing to keep them moving while trying to speak. “It’s called Boston Pro App. We make templates and apps for people to use in order for them to—”
“Build their own businesses and websites. I’ve used your products a million times. You create that stuff?” Claire’s excitement was palpable through the loose grip she had on Shelly’s hand.
“I do. I found I spent more time in college showing my friends how to use their devices and technology than I actually did in class. So when D’Andre and I were fooling around in business class not doing the assignment, we figured we might as well try to make a living off of it.”
“D’Andre is your partner-partner or…?” Claire was looking right at her when she asked. It was a little intimidating.
“Dre? He’s a business partner. Really one of my oldest friends. It’s not like that, I’m single.” Shelly felt like that last bit was rushed out and forced, but she couldn’t take it back.
“Me too.”
Claire was so cute, and Shelly was having a hard time focusing. She tried some of that brave on for size again. “Well, that guy over there seems kind of interested. Maybe Samantha can make something happen for you.”
“Which guy?” Claire looked to her left. Shelly had been bluffing just to find out if she was gay but pointed to poor, innocent Elijah just because he was in that direction. “Oh, he’s cute. But that’s not my thing, I’m not into—”
“Architects?” Shelly hoped her voice wasn’t too hopeful.
“Not specifically, but I was referring to men in general. I like women. So I guess maybe Samantha could help me…” She paused for a moment and Shelly thought it was because that gulp she tried to stifle had actually deafened her dancer partner. Claire seemed oblivious though and leaned in closer, lowering her voice. “Hey, so, can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, of course.” Shelly moved them a little farther away from the dancers. She could see Samantha watching her from the distance, her expression unreadable. Lucinda wove between the couples around them and cued a little here and there. She looked up at Shelly and smiled but headed in the opposite direction. Shelly assumed this meant she must be doing an okay job. But she thought maybe her hands were sweating. Probably. Definitely. Her hands were definitely sweating because her adorable dance partner was into women and they had been dancing for well over four songs now and it didn’t look like an end was in sight and what if she ran out of topics to discuss?
Claire saved her from the imminent panic attack, her voice a mere whisper. “So, Samantha is a matchmaker and she’s engaged to Lucinda…”
“Yeah. Wait, you work at Clear View, so you must know Lucinda, right?” Shelly had to turn her head to hear Claire over the music and the laughing couples around them.
“Lucinda’s my boss. That’s what I’m getting at. Did Lucinda get together with Samantha because she joined a matchmaking service?”
“What?” The question caught Shelly so off guard that she missed a step and nearly stepped on Claire’s toes. “Sorry.”
Claire didn’t seem to notice, instead waiting for Shelly to start them back up again. “Well, do you know? Did she?”
Shelly laughed. “No. They met at a wedding.”
“Oh.” Claire looked disappointed. It was adorable.
“What makes you ask?” Shelly dipped Claire as the song ended and blended into a slower one. She chanced moving her hands to hold them a little closer, settling one hand on Claire’s hip like she had seen Lucinda do a million times with Samantha when they thought no one was watching.
“Well, I’ve been here for a while now and more than half of these people have used Samantha and Andrew’s services and rave about them both. I guess I’m surprised so many people need the crutch of a matchmaker to find happiness.” Claire shrugged and continued to follow Shelly’s lead.
“You think it’s a crutch?” Shelly tried not to stutter. She stuttered when she was anxious. She wasn’t sure this was a line of questioning she was comfortable with. Especially since she thought she might be about two songs away from asking Claire out.
“Sort of, I guess. I don’t know if I would be caught dead filling out the applications to be put into the system or whatever. I was listening to some of them talk about the algorithms of a perfect match and it just seems so insane to me. What do you think?” Claire looked at her expectantly.
Shelly froze. “I, uh, I think everyone takes a different path in life. I don’t know it’s my place to judge.”
As the song came to a close, Samantha’s voice filled the room again, announcing that the last tour of the new space would be happening in a few minutes. The couples clapped and broke apart all around them, Shelly and Claire following suit.
“That was a lot of fun. You’re a great dancer. Thanks again.” Claire reached into her pocket and pulled out a business card, handing it to Shelly. “Samantha mentioned you have a new project you may want to consult on, right? Give me a call. I’d like to hear more about what you do.”
“Sure. Great. Will do.” Shelly wasn’t quite sure how to thank Samantha for interrupting the train flying off the tracks a minute ago.
“It was nice meeting you, Shelly.” Claire pulled her into a quick hug before heading off toward the last tour of the evening at the other side of the room.
“Yeah, me, too.”
“You, too, what?” Samantha appeared at her side like a matchmaking ninja.
“Jesus. You scared me.” Shelly’s heart was racing but she wasn’t sure if it was because Claire just hugged her or because her dating guru had magically appeared like a mist next to her and caught her talking to no one in particular.
“So?” Samantha pressed.
“So, what?” Shelly looked from the card in her hand to the disappearing form of Claire as she went through the door to the new space.
“So, I noticed that you danced with Claire. How’d that go?”
“Fine. Actually really well, until it didn’t.”
“What do you mean, it didn’t?”
“I mean the dancing was fine and the conversation was going well and then it took a turn and then there were flames and screaming and the cruel death of a dream. That’s what I mean.” Shelly pouted as she put Claire’s card into her pocket for no other reason than to have something to do with her hands.
Samantha looked alarmed. “Flames and screaming, huh? That sounds serious.”
“Yeah, it was a mass casualty kinda thing. No survivors. Titanic-like failure.”
“So in other words, it didn’t.” Samantha nodded in understanding.
“Yup.” Shelly scuffed her shoe on the floor as she exhaled.
“Well, what if I told you what I saw, as a casual and innocent observer?”
“Something tells me that you were not all that casual or innocent. But I’m game. What did you see?”
“I saw two people smiling and laughing, having a conversation while in close proximity to one another, in an intimate position for the entire duration of the dancing portion of the evening. And I saw her hug you when it was over and give you her number.” Samantha shrugged as though it were obvious.
“Except what you didn’t observe when you were creepily watching us from across the room was the part where she told me that she thought matchmaking was a crutch for people unable to find a partner on their own in the world, like failures.” Shelly rolled her eyes in a huff.
Samantha laughed and shook her head, slipping her arm around Shelly’s and resting her head on Shelly’s shoulder. “Shel, everyone says that. That’s what people say when they have given up hope or are jaded. Don’t let that blind you from the fact that she gave you her number.”
Shelly rested her head against Samantha’s with a sigh. “She gave me her business card for business purposes. Not for dating purposes.”
“I beg to differ. She gave you her business card because she had a good time with you and wants to spend more time with you. Business or otherwise. You just need to look at it with an open mind.”
Shelly considered this for a moment. “You know, she did mention she was into women.”
Samantha squealed and turned to wrap Shelly into a twirling hug. “I knew it!”
Shelly laughed and shrugged Samantha off, pretending to dust herself off. “That doesn’t mean she was coming on to me, Samantha. It means when I asked if she had any interest in Elijah, she corrected me.”
Samantha stopped in her tracks, her mouth opened in surprise. “Wait, you actually asked if she was interested in guys? Why specifically Elijah?”
Shelly could feel the blush on her cheeks. “Well, I told her I was single and she said she was too and we were sort of facing Elijah so I might have pretended like he was interested in her and told her he was checking her out and maybe then she told me she was gay.”
“I. Am. So. Proud. Of. You.” Samantha rested her hands on Shelly’s shoulders and shook her. “You sly dog, you. I think I’m rubbing off on you.”
Shelly shook her head and let herself fantasize that maybe Samantha was right about Claire.