One Toe Out (A Complicated Love Story) Read Online Free Page B

peep toe shoes and a Louis Vuitton bag. She thought she looked nice.
    “ Marcella should be here soon,” the receptionist said. “She’s stuck in traffic.”
    “ Thanks,” Simone said. J.T. didn’t bother to acknowledge her.
    Simone had worked in Corporate America a while ago for six months, as a receptionist in the same affluent neighborhood, Buckhead. And she hated it, she couldn’t go to the bathroom without telling half the office where she was going. And the office politics were enough to make her quit, which she did. But her former place of employment was nowhere as nice as this office. Plush furniture filled the reception area, fresh cut flowers decorated the room and the neutral color palette oozed sophistication. The view of Buckhead was breathtaking and this office was just a few short blocks away from Lenox Mall and Phipps Plaza, two malls known for celebrity sightings and its pricy shops.
    Simone was debating whether to take the receptionist up on her offer for coffee when Marcella stormed into the office. That’s the best way Simone could describe her entrance. Even though the office was on the tenth floor, she brought the brisk April air in with her. Simone wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered.
    With a curt hello, she marched to her office and J.T. and Simone trotted after her.
    She immediately started talking as soon as they sat down. Simone had never seen anyone move so fast. She whipped off her black leather jacket, pulled off her earrings, then strode over to her wet bar, where she reached into her mini fridge and pulled out a bottle of Perrier. “Your travel arrangements have been made, you leave for Vegas tomorrow. Barry signed off on the team’s jet,” she called over her shoulder.
    Simone turned to her fiancé. “What? Why are we going to Vegas?”
    Marcella settled behind her desk. She ran her hands through her luxurious black hair, as though calming herself. “You haven’t told her yet?” Marcella scowled at J.T. “We’re moving things up just a tad. You two are getting married tomorrow in Vegas.”
    “ What?” She knew that they weren’t going to have a huge five hundred person wedding and reception but she wasn’t expecting a quickie wedding in Vegas. “But I want my mom there.”
    “ As long as she can be packed and ready to go by tomorrow, she can ride the corporate jet with you and J.T. if not, oh well,” Marcella said with a shrug then took a sip of water.
    I’m getting married tomorrow? Anger struck Simone as though it was lightning and she turned her simmering rage on Marcella. “Oh fucking well?”
    J.T. rested his hand on her thigh and squeezed it. “She didn’t mean it like that, did you Marcella?”
    His publicist sighed. “Of course not. I’m sorry, Simone, I can be a bit brash at times, please excuse me. I’m so used to working with men and telling it like it is that I find it hard to soften myself to a woman.”
    “ Yeah whatever,” Simone muttered.
    “ Oh, and Ms. Chanté will be joining you two on the jet.”
    “ Who’s that?” Simone asked.
    “ A stylist. She dresses celebrities.” Marcella rattled off several A-list and some B-list celebrities. “And right now she’s working with Rihanna, and you know how gorgeous she looks. She has some free time, so I convinced her to work with us.”
    “ I don’t need anybody to dress me,” Simone snapped.
    Marcella pointedly looked at every piece of Simone’s outfit mentally taking it apart and Simone suddenly felt as though she had picked up her clothes from a garage sale. “Yeah you do,” she quipped, then buzzed the receptionist. “Hey,” she called into the intercom, “call Mannie Banks and get him on the plane tomorrow.” She clicked off.
    Simone was afraid to ask who the latest addition to the trip was, but she was curious. “Who’s that?”
    “ A hair stylist. You need your hair done.”
    “ Shit! Is there anything else I need to change about myself?” she barked and Marcella