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taking his place. I wasn’t exactly sure what they were talking about, but I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
    “I think you have the wrong number. I didn’t call for an escort.”
    I could hear some paper shuffling going on before the man on the other end of the line spoke again.
    “You are Faith Graham? I have the paperwork in front of me. It says black-tie wedding. He’s to pick you up at four o’clock on Saturday the fourth in Santa Monica.”
    “Well, I do have a wedding then, but I didn’t …”
    “Oh, I see the problem here, miss. It looks like a Grace Davis was the one who made the appointment, and I called the wrong number. She gave us your number also, in case Joe should need to get hold of you the day of the event. Should I call her and coordinate?”
    “What? I’ll kill her! No. I’m the one who has the wedding to go to, and I told her I didn’t want to take a date, and certainly not from an escort service.”
    “Well, miss. You may want to reconsider. Joe Starling is our number one escort. You’re very lucky he’s available to fill in for Brian. Sometimes he has a two-month waiting period, he’s so busy. We’ll only charge you Brian’s rate, of course.”
    Oh my God. This was ridiculous. I could not believe Gracie had set this up without my approval. Although…
    I asked him to hold while I thought it through. Really thought it through. It might be nice not to have to endure the sneers from my sisters, not to mention my mother, that I would surely receive if I showed up without a date. Maybe I should. I mean, what did I really have to lose?
    The heck with it—nothing ventured, nothing gained. I quickly picked the call back up before I lost my nerve. “Is it possible for me to meet him before Saturday?”
    “Sure. We can set up a meet and greet here at the office. Let me check his schedule. Hold on, please.” He put me on hold, and I was glad for the reprieve. It gave me a second to accept my risky—for me—decision. I was still going to kill Gracie, but who knows? I might thank her later.
    “Miss Graham? Could you come in tonight? Joe’s due to pick up his schedule around seven o’clock. Would that work for you?”
    “Sure. I can do that. Where are you located?” He gave me an address in one of the taller high-rises in Los Angeles. The address alone told me Perfect Ten was no run-of-the-mill escort service. That was some expensive real estate.
    I went back to crunching numbers and thinking about all the things that could go wrong with hiring an escort. I think part of the reason I chose a career in accounting was because there aren’t too many gray areas. Numbers don’t lie. You don’t have to guess what they’re going to do. They’re either right or they’re wrong. Maybe it wasn’t the most exciting job in the world, but it was a comfortable, minimally risky job.
    I finally gave up at six and went home, calling Gracie on the way.
    “Hey, Faith. What’s up?”
    “I got a phone call today informing me that Brian had to cancel so my new escort is Joe Starling. Does that sound like something you might know anything about?” Silence met me over the phone. “Gracie?”
    “Don’t be mad. We just thought that if he showed up at the house to pick you up, you might go with it. Are you mad? You’re mad, aren’t you?”
    I was weighing my options in my head as I let her suffer my silence. I could make her feel bad and drag it out, or I could let her off the hook. Sighing loudly, I gave in and let her off the hook. “No, I guess not. I’m actually going to go meet him tonight and make my decision then. What do I owe you?”
    “Oh no. The girls and I went in together on him. Consider him a gift.”
    “Well, the guy on the phone assured me I wouldn’t have to pay Joe’s going rate, since the other guy couldn’t go. How much is it, anyway?”
    Gracie didn’t want to answer me. She tried changing the subject, and when that didn’t work, she said she had to get