18

Sondra

“I changed my mind,” I tell Corey, my cell phone pinched between my ear and my shoulder as I pace around on the balcony of my Bellissimo suite. “I don’t want to go on this date.”

“Okay, so you don’t have to,” she says patiently. “You don’t have to stay there. You don’t have to work there. I’ll come pick you up right now.”

She stopped by after her shift earlier and I filled her in on the latest. Now I’ve called her at home to talk some more.

I peer over the edge of the balcony at the busy strip below. “A quick crazy fling with Nico Tacone is one thing, but dating him? It’s a bad idea.”

“Agreed,” Corey says. “So cancel the date.”

“I don’t even have his phone number. I have to wait until he shows up.”

“What are you really worried about? Just say it, even if you think it sounds stupid.”

Corey knows me so well.

“I have nothing to wear,” I blurt. That’s not really what this is about, but it seems to symbolize my dilemma. I’m not prepared to handle Nico Tacone and everything it might