After the meeting, Mark and Helen got separated. He was talking with Collin and Trevor while Helen's only route was to leave the building with Mindy. Helen wasn’t expected to work as Mark’s assistant on days when she was working as Vera, so she only had to make an appearance at work during the morning for the meeting. It was noon and she and Mindy were planning on eating lunch together in a restaurant down the street. At least, that was the plan until Dominic commandeered them.
He was on the street outside Capier's building putting Alexander in the back of a limo when he saw Helen and Mindy step out of the building. Abruptly, he shut the door on Alexander and banged on the roof of the limo to let the driver know it was okay to go without him. Then he turned on his heel and approached Helen and Mindy.
“Good work today,” he said to them both cheerfully. By that point, Mindy and Dominic knew each other rather well. He took Mindy with him on both his phony dates for Laura’s benefit. At least they knew each other well enough to be friendly.
“You too,” Mindy said, echoing his sentiments.
Helen gave him a dirty look. What was he doing here? “Aren’t you supposed to be with Alexander?” she asked grouchily. “Won’t he be mad at you for blowing him off?”
“Dang! Was I supposed to escort him out?” Dominic smiled as he watched the limo disappear around a corner. He shrugged his shoulders. “Too late now. I’ll catch up with him after I take the two of you to lunch.”
“We already had plans,” Helen said, trying to make her casual lunch with Mindy sound like something important. “You can’t just cut in on them at the last minute.”
Mindy rolled her eyes and made her feelings known before Dominic had a chance to argue. “Didn’t you hear what the man said, Helen? He said he was going to pay for both of us to have lunch with him. Did I not teach you anything? Not to mention if we go out with him, we’ll probably get to eat at a restaurant where we don’t have to carry our food to the table ourselves. Catch my drift? Let’s go, Dom.” With that, Mindy put her arm through Dominic’s and let him lead them down the busy street.
Helen was left to trot meekly behind them—scowling. She couldn’t help it. She didn’t like Mindy’s way of talking openly about being a sell-out in front of Dominic. Helen guessed Mindy didn’t care because it wasn’t like Dominic didn’t know what she was. Why bother with the pretense of being someone you weren’t? Helen wished she could be that honest—except not in front of Dominic. She had the feeling there was more to lunch than he said. She couldn’t forget what he said to her weeks ago at the escort service. He hadn’t given up on her.
Once at the restaurant, Helen got to hear a detailed account of Laura’s dates with the male escorts. Helen had heard a little from Mindy before, but it was more interesting when Mindy told the story with Dominic because then she got to hear both their perspectives at the same time.
“Shane was tough, even though he looks like a sissy,” Mindy said brazenly when recalling Laura’s first date.
“Tough?” Helen asked. She couldn’t imagine sweet, blond-haired, blue-eyed Shane being anything different than a little brother type. “How could he be tough?”
Dominic shook his head, “Well, you said he should get her to confide in him and to tell him about her troubles with Mark. Naturally, she didn’t want to. He was patient though and chipped away at her defenses until she finally pulled him aside to talk to him. I guess she told him everything because when we found them, she was crying her eyes out on his shoulder and he was…”
“Patting her head,” Mindy finished, unable to wait for him to do the honors.
“Really?” Helen asked, not quite able to visualize the scene even though it had been her idea in the first place.
“Yeah,” Dominic said, looking as surprised as Helen felt. “I still can’t get over how well it worked out, but I guess she was a little extra sensitive because she knew you were out with Mark.”
Dominic looked into Helen’s face to see her reaction to that observation, but Helen refused to be rattled. She maintained that it didn’t matter if she existed or not, Mark would never have fallen for Laura. So, she waited for Dominic to go on and eventually, he did.
“She even asked to be set up with him again since they missed exchanging cell phone numbers. After that, we took her out with Gregory.”
“How did that go?”
“I think Laura was disappointed it wasn’t Shane again,” Mindy said, gulping her water.
“Yeah, it felt like we were pitting Gregory against both Mark and Shane which would have been cruel.”
“How did he manage?”
“We went to an amusement park because it was supposed to be ‘all about distraction.’ Remember?”
At that point, Mindy started to laugh. “Gregory is a riot. I didn’t know him too well before, but man alive, I want to find out all about him now. You’ll never guess his superpower!”
“Superpower?” Helen repeated, stunned.
Mindy took a deep breath before she answered carefully, “It seems that in a past life, Gregory was a carny.”
“A carny?” Helen exclaimed.
“That’s right,” Mindy giggled. “He used to be one of those guys who stands there at the carnival and shoots paper targets with a BB gun. You know, the person running the stand who can actually score enough points to get a really big prize. That way, everyone thinks it’s easy. So, Gregory found the game he used to run and he won Laura this gigantic pink spotted frog within the first ten minutes.”
“No way!”
Mindy shrugged her shoulders, “Then he took her on the roller coaster and kept her moving until it was time to go. They even got their picture taken together in a booth. I was surprised that Laura had enough stamina to keep up with him, but then his energy is infectious. That must be why he’s so popular.”
“Wow,” Helen said, completely dumbfounded. “Her next date was supposed to be with Michael, right? Has she gone on that one yet?”
“She went on Saturday… by herself,” Dominic said meaningfully.
Helen leaned closer to him across the table and whispered, “Did she tell you how it went?”
Mindy leaned in to listen as well. “Yeah, tell us.”
Dominic looked at both of them twice before he spun his sunglasses between his fingers and answered, “I’m not sure she’d want me to tell you.”
“Come on!” Mindy groaned. “Haven’t we been your partners in all this? Helen cooked this all up and I went with you on those two dates. Come on! Spill!”
“I don’t know,” Dominic continued, sighing and appearing to be torn.
“You can at least tell us if it went well or not, right?” Helen encouraged. “If it’s super personal, then yeah, don’t tell us the details, but you can at least let us know which way the wind blew. Right?”
“Well, it didn’t go as well as you expected it to, darling Vera. Michael was a little smoother than Laura likes. Yeah, from her description, it sounded like he knew what he was doing. His moves sounded smoother than butter. To be honest, I sort of wanted to go beat the crap out of him after what Laura told me. But he was supposed to be the last escort-made date, so I think it is okay to let it slide.”
As Dominic talked, Helen remembered the next phase of the plan. They were supposed to set Laura up with a real guy.
“Do you have any plans for who should be her next date?” Helen asked seriously. Dominic frowned for an instant before he flourished a fantastic smile and said,
“That’s why I wanted to ask you two out for lunch. We need to talk about something.”
“Ask,” Mindy said acting like whatever Dominic was going to say involved her as much as it involved Helen.
“I have someone in mind for her real date, but it involves putting you, Vera, in a rather awkward situation when you’re already going to be stressed. Mindy, you have to help her.”
Helen’s body suddenly felt hot and uncomfortable. From his tone, she knew it was going to be something she wouldn't like.
“Explain quickly, Dom,” Mindy said in her sternest voice which was anything but inviting.
“I want to set her up with Trevor. I think they’d match. It’s just that Laura will need to be on-site during the shoot from time to time. You know, to make sure that the two of them see each other a little before I suggest they go on a date. Do you think you’ll be able to deal with her daggers, Vera?”
Helen stared at him with utter revulsion. He really was the devil; horns and everything.