Read The Cinderella Project (A Comedy of Love, #1) for Free Online Page B

in my arms and just held her. She seemed to warm to the embrace, but I could still feel the tension in her back and shoulders. After only a few moments, she pushed away with an excuse about having to make food. I asked if I could help, but was shooed to the living room where I happily sank into her leather sofa.
    “Oh, hey, Ella?” Vera said from the stove.
    Ella looked up from her sandwich -making. “Yeah?”
    “You missed a few calls while you were out.”
    “From who?”
    Vera gestured to a marker board on the kitchen wall. “The fitting for your wedding dress. They called about that. It’s at four-o-clock on August eighteenth. You also got calls from the caterers, the flo rist, Barbara for your hair and,” Vera paused to read the board, “something about a Jake Connor.”
    Ella stopped working. “Jake… Connor?”
    I sat up at the odd hesitance in her voice.
    “Yeah .” Vera nodded as she moved a boiling pot of something to a backburner. “Some girl from your high school said he was in town and that she had given him your number.”
    “Oh. That’s nice.”
    “She said she’d told him you were usually here in the evenings and that he told her he might call you tonight, maybe around seven. She didn’t get his number, but she thought you had it. She said you might want to call him if you got home before that.”
    Ella was silent.
    “Ella?” Vera asked, glancing at her.
    Ella continued mutely layering cheese and meat on buttered bread.
    “Are you going to call him? Can I erase the reminder?”
    Ella jumped as if startled. “Oh, dear. Oh, I’m sorry, Vera. I think I just zoned out for a moment there. Yes, I’ll take care of things.”
    Ella and Vera went about their preparations in awkward silence after that. When Vera was done she took her food upstairs “So that you two can be alone,” she told us with a wink. Ella had made pasta salad and chocolate mousse to go with the sandwiches. She made to set the table.
    “I got that, Els.” I had two plates on the table before she could respond. I followed the plates with a couple of bottles of her favorite mineral water.
    “Oh, thanks, Nick. You really are just too sweet.”
    “What’s a fiancé for?” I asked with a smile. “Chivalry isn’t dead.” Ella giggled and pecked my cheek.
    We dug in. Ella’s club sandwiches were among the best I’d ever had, so I took time to let the sourdough melt in my mouth as the flavors of the meats danced with it. I complimented her cooking; she blushed appropriately. As I took another bite, I noticed a catalog on the table near me. It was one of the wedding catalogs that Ella had asked me to peruse with her. I had time, so I picked it up and leafed through it for a few minutes. China, crystal, furniture, vacation packages, lingerie. Comprehensive.
    “Ella? Weren’t we going to register for some of this stuff?”
    She blinked. “Oh, yes. The wedding registry. I guess we should do that soon, shouldn’t we?”
    “Did you want to show me a few of your ideas now? I’ve still got a few minutes before I need to run.”
    Dabbing her mouth with a napkin, she replied, “Oh, you don’t have to do that. I’d really rather look at it when we have an hour or two to just sit down and dream .”
    “How about tonight?”
    She looked at me oddly. “I thought you were at the lab tonight.”
    “Well, sure. But the nice thing about being my own boss is that I set my own hours. I’ll wrap up at seven tonight. I can’t do that every time, of course, but now and again is fine. Why not tonight?”
    Ella grew quiet and quickly stuffed a spoonful of mousse in her mouth.
    “What?” I asked. She continued to eat.
    Then I remembered what Vera had said. “Oh, wait, that’s right. Your friend was going to call then. I can’t believe I forgot that already. What was his name?”
    Ella acted as if the mousse was driving her to oblivious ecstasy. Sure, it was good stuff, but not that good.
    I stole a glance at the whiteboard.