You stole them?" I said.
"Mm-hmm," she nodded. "She should really be more careful about who she lets in that store. You're her friend. You should tell her."
I laughed and grabbed two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter. After a silent toast, we continued our tour of the room, stopping now and then to make small talk. After 15 minutes or so, we found ourselves coming up on Heather, who had literally grabbed the senator as he was going by, and Marcia.
"Well, it's nothing more than we expected," Heather was saying as we approached. "Of course, I grew up next door to Willie and we had all our high school classes together."
"I thought you thought he was a dweeb," Jenny broke in.
If looks could kill, Jenny would have been on the floor. As it was, Heather was forced to laugh off her sister's comment.
"Well, you were only a baby, then," she said. "I'm sure you're just remembering it wrong. Senator, this is my sister, Jennifer. And her date, um . . . ."
"Bill," I added helpfully.
Joe couldn't help but grin, so he covered it by taking Jenny's hand.
"Jennifer," he said, winking at me so that Heather couldn't see. "I noticed that lovely dress earlier in the evening. I hope you'll save me a dance."
"My pleasure," Jenny grinned, as Heather looked at her with narrowed eyes.
Just then, a member of the club's staff announced that dinner was beginning. I had little trouble locating my table, just off the dance floor, and sat Jenny down next to Carlo. Dave was on Annamaria's other side, and Beth was next to him.
"Is this Frank and Marylou?" I asked, pointing to the two empty chairs between Beth and me.
"It was," Annamaria said, "Unfortunately, little Bobby's ill. Nothing major, but they couldn't make it tonight. So I don't know who they, uh-oh . . .."
I looked around to see Marcia and Heather making their way over.
"Figures," Heather muttered as she approached. All three of us men stood up, and I made the introductions.
"Marcia, Heather, I'd like to introduce Annamaria Colapietro and her fiancé, Carlo, er . . ."
Carlo helped, as he always did, by reeling off his ten-syllable name.
"Annie, how nice to see you again," Marcia said. "I hear your restaurant is a big success."
"Thank you, Mrs. Colley," she blushed.
"Marcia," the older woman insisted.
"And this is Dave and Beth Moorhead," I said, turning to the other couple.
Heather blanched, remembering the names all too well, and quickly claimed the seat next to me, giving her mother the seat next to Beth. Marcia remembered the names as well.
"Hello, David," she said. "It's nice to see you again. I have to tell you, your movers the other day were just perfect. And I understand that you are responsible for the most beautiful dress here tonight, Beth."
"Thank you, Mrs. Colley," Beth smiled. "Marcia." She was clearly enjoying Heather's discomfort.
Throughout dinner, Heather assiduously avoided talking to her mother, for fear that she'd have to talk to Beth as well. So she divided her time between trying to break into my conversations with Jenny and Annamaria, and looking around the room. At one point, though, while Dave was off somewhere else, Jenny moved to sit between Annie and Beth, leaving me no choice but to talk to Heather.
"Are you looking for someone in particular?" I finally asked.
"Willie Smith," she answered distractedly. "I assume he's over at the Senator's table, but none of those guys looks young enough."
"Who's she looking for?" Annamaria asked with a puzzled look on her face.
"Willie Smith," I grinned.
Just then, Joe stood up and ambled over to the microphone in front of the dance band.
"I'm not going to bore you with a long speech," he said, to the applause of several wags, "because I won't be running for reelection for another four years. But I do want to take just a minute to introduce the man we're honoring tonight. I've known Bill Smith for eight years now, ever since he sneaked into my campaign headquarters and did what we like to call the crap work of putting up signs and making phone calls. I didn't realize who he was until after I'd won. But this town knows him very well. It's had four of its sons and daughters attend college on Bill's money. It has the William Smith hospital wing, providing medical care as good as any facility in the country. And it still has Bill Smith. Ladies and gentlemen, my good friend, Bill Smith."
I stood up, walked around to kiss Jenny on the cheek, and walked toward the band. Behind me, the table dissolved in laughter, and I turned around to note the flush on the back of Heather's neck.
I'd prepared a small speech, but I'd decided earlier in the afternoon that I was just going to wing it. The speech was still sitting at home in my desk.
"I remember being told by my parents when I left here to go to college that I should stay away after I graduated, because this town had no future," I began. "But I never thought that was true. I came back, because I've always thought that this town was a great place to take some risks. Of course, some risks aren't really that risky. If you'd had Annamaria cook for you, you'd have known that lending her money for a restaurant wasn't a risk. Or if you'd seen one of Beth's Moorhead's dresses, you'd have known that lending her money wasn't risky either. There are three women over at my table wearing Beth Moorhead originals. And by the way, Beth, that blue one is no longer for sale. I don't think anyone else will ever look that good in it, so I'll drop off a check tomorrow morning."
"That's an eighteen hundred dollar dress, Bill," Beth announced loudly.
"Whatever," I said airily, before turning to the other side of the room and mouthing, "Eighteen hundred dollar dress?"
They all laughed.
"Finally, my good buddy Dave, whose work ethic has turned Dave's Moving into a very big business here in town. Incidentally, Dave, I put in four hours of work for you on Wednesday afternoon."
"Bob told me you spent half of it talking!" Dave yelled.
"Okay, two hours," I said. "But I'm not going to charge you for it, because it turned out to be a blessing for me. For one, I got reacquainted with a woman who was like a mother to me when I was growing up. Marcia Colley used to be a neighbor of ours, and for seven years – seven important years between ages 11 and 18 – I used to ask Marcia for advice on everything. And I mean everything. Things I couldn't even ask my own mother. When she left town, I was, to be honest, a mess. And now she's a neighbor again. And with my own parents deceased, I'd like to think that our relationship will be a little more permanent this time."
I glanced over at the table to see how that had gone over. Beth had her hands over her mouth, and was staring at me with wide eyes. As I watched, Annie looked over at her, and put her hand in front of her mouth as well. Dave and Carlo were simply watching me speak. Jenny, meanwhile, was looking back and forth between me and her mom with undisguised pride. Marcia and Heather had turned their chairs around to look at me. Marcia was smiling; Heather simply looked sick. Well, I was about to make her sicker.
"Anyway, one of the secrets to managing risk is to always do your homework. I found out yesterday that a girl I used to live next door to, used to practice signing her first name with my last name."
I glanced over again. Jenny was glaring at the back of Heather's head while Heather watched me. Beth and Annie were both beside themselves with laughter. A waiter was serving dessert.
"So I hope I'm not taking that big a risk tonight, either," I said. "Jennifer Colley, will you marry me?"
Jenny's eyes snapped back to mine and she brought both hands to her face.
"Jenny?" I said.
Annie and Beth were both giving me a thumbs up sign, but I wanted to hear it myself. I left the mike and began walking toward the table.
"Jenny?" I said again, even more hesitantly, when I got closer.
"Yes, you goof!" she said, picking up the little petit four on her plate and throwing it at me. She threw it over my head, and the assembled diners were clearly a little surprised that I turned around and scrambled to pick it up. They probably had no idea that I was that cheap. But somebody had paid good money for these little desserts. Although probably not quite as much as I'd paid for this particular one. After I retrieved it and made a show of blowing off the dust like I still was interested in eating it, I walked past the microphone again on the way to the table.
"Ladies and gentlemen," I said, holding up a hand to silence a crowd that had begun to applaud. "You've just seen the first time a woman has simultaneously accepted a proposal of marriage and thrown back the engagement ring."
Breaking open the cake, I pulled out the ring that I'd bought earlier in the day and had the club's staff put inside. I walked over to kneel at the feet of my fiancée.