A Mate for Lance (The Program Book 5) by Charlene Hartnady Page A
Authors: Charlene Hartnady
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hot.”
“Now you’re talking.” Bethany giggled. “I still think you’re crazy not to be interested in Lance but Elliot is pretty dreamy.”
She took another bite of her crostini and made a sound of affirmation around her food. Bethany continued to talk. She talked enough for the both of them, telling Amber all sorts of stories about her job in the local pet store. Amber tried not to look in Lance’s direction. She didn’t care what he was doing. She really didn’t.
Dinner was a pasta dish. So far, no shell fish or anything with tree nuts had been served. Her allergies were listed in her medical report and she’d mentioned them again when filling out her forms. There had been an extra section at the back. She’d also been sure to have a chat with the lady who had talked to them when they had first arrived. The dark haired one with the green eyes, her name started with an ‘A’ but she couldn’t remember exactly what it was.
Just to be sure, she double checked everything with the waiter, who in turn checked with the chef. A girl couldn’t be too careful. She had her EpiPen and antihistamines carefully tucked in her purse but she would prefer a relaxing evening to a night in the emergency room. Plus, if she ended up in the hospital, her parents might find out and that would be a huge problem.
Bethany took a big sip from her fourth or fifth glass of champagne. Amber had lost count. Her eyes sparkled and she spoke more and more quickly as the evening progressed.
“Maybe you should go easy on that stuff.” Amber gestured to the glass. She picked up her own sparkling water and took a sip.
“It’s the real stuff. Real champers.” She shook her head. “I’m going to drink as much as I possibly can between now and Friday. I was telling you about the time we had a guy come in to the store. He wanted one of our dwarf rabbits. He said that he had a hutch and that one of his rabbits had died and he wanted a companion for his little princess who was left all alone.” She took another sip of champagne. “But, because he didn’t want any babies, it was important that the dwarf rabbit be a girl. We had five rabbits in the store at the time and would you guess, all of them were males.” She rolled her eyes.
She licked a bit of pasta sauce off of her fork. “Anyway, we ordered him a female and three days later he collected her. About,” she said, pausing and her eyeballs moved up in thought, “eight or nine months later, the guy came back with two boxes of bunnies. It turned out that his princess was actually a prince.” She cracked up laughing. “We had five perfectly good companions and ended up ordering the wrong sex. The stuff that goes on in that store.”
“I can well imagine.” Amber smiled.
“I’m sure you can.” Bethany pulled a face. “You work in a store as well. I can’t remember what type of store you said it was though.”
“A hardware store and I stay away from the customers as much as possible. I’m not really a people person.”
“Yeah…they can be serious pains in the ass.” She rolled her eyes. “That guy with the rabbits. You won’t believe it but he blamed us for his rabbit situation. The customer was the one that wrongly sexed his princess. He was insistent that he needed a female rabbit.” She huffed out a breath. “The customer is always right though…baloney. I have to try and score me a vamp… I don’t want to wear a butt ugly maroon uniform and work at Barking Mad for the rest of my life. At least your family owns the hardware store. I work for minimum wage.”
“Yeah.” She smiled and without thinking, glanced across at the other table. The chair was empty. She scanned the room but there was no sign of Lance. She felt oddly deflated, even when Kai winked at her and waved. She waved back. She reminded herself that Lance was arrogant and had no interest in actually getting to know her, not like Brynn and Kai. It was good that he was gone.
There was a
“Now you’re talking.” Bethany giggled. “I still think you’re crazy not to be interested in Lance but Elliot is pretty dreamy.”
She took another bite of her crostini and made a sound of affirmation around her food. Bethany continued to talk. She talked enough for the both of them, telling Amber all sorts of stories about her job in the local pet store. Amber tried not to look in Lance’s direction. She didn’t care what he was doing. She really didn’t.
Dinner was a pasta dish. So far, no shell fish or anything with tree nuts had been served. Her allergies were listed in her medical report and she’d mentioned them again when filling out her forms. There had been an extra section at the back. She’d also been sure to have a chat with the lady who had talked to them when they had first arrived. The dark haired one with the green eyes, her name started with an ‘A’ but she couldn’t remember exactly what it was.
Just to be sure, she double checked everything with the waiter, who in turn checked with the chef. A girl couldn’t be too careful. She had her EpiPen and antihistamines carefully tucked in her purse but she would prefer a relaxing evening to a night in the emergency room. Plus, if she ended up in the hospital, her parents might find out and that would be a huge problem.
Bethany took a big sip from her fourth or fifth glass of champagne. Amber had lost count. Her eyes sparkled and she spoke more and more quickly as the evening progressed.
“Maybe you should go easy on that stuff.” Amber gestured to the glass. She picked up her own sparkling water and took a sip.
“It’s the real stuff. Real champers.” She shook her head. “I’m going to drink as much as I possibly can between now and Friday. I was telling you about the time we had a guy come in to the store. He wanted one of our dwarf rabbits. He said that he had a hutch and that one of his rabbits had died and he wanted a companion for his little princess who was left all alone.” She took another sip of champagne. “But, because he didn’t want any babies, it was important that the dwarf rabbit be a girl. We had five rabbits in the store at the time and would you guess, all of them were males.” She rolled her eyes.
She licked a bit of pasta sauce off of her fork. “Anyway, we ordered him a female and three days later he collected her. About,” she said, pausing and her eyeballs moved up in thought, “eight or nine months later, the guy came back with two boxes of bunnies. It turned out that his princess was actually a prince.” She cracked up laughing. “We had five perfectly good companions and ended up ordering the wrong sex. The stuff that goes on in that store.”
“I can well imagine.” Amber smiled.
“I’m sure you can.” Bethany pulled a face. “You work in a store as well. I can’t remember what type of store you said it was though.”
“A hardware store and I stay away from the customers as much as possible. I’m not really a people person.”
“Yeah…they can be serious pains in the ass.” She rolled her eyes. “That guy with the rabbits. You won’t believe it but he blamed us for his rabbit situation. The customer was the one that wrongly sexed his princess. He was insistent that he needed a female rabbit.” She huffed out a breath. “The customer is always right though…baloney. I have to try and score me a vamp… I don’t want to wear a butt ugly maroon uniform and work at Barking Mad for the rest of my life. At least your family owns the hardware store. I work for minimum wage.”
“Yeah.” She smiled and without thinking, glanced across at the other table. The chair was empty. She scanned the room but there was no sign of Lance. She felt oddly deflated, even when Kai winked at her and waved. She waved back. She reminded herself that Lance was arrogant and had no interest in actually getting to know her, not like Brynn and Kai. It was good that he was gone.
There was a