Alpha Billionaire Series
Billionaire and the Barista Chapter 17

GABRIELLA

I stood in front of the cheap almost full-length mirror hanging on the back of my bedroom door. Robbie sat in the middle of my bed, surrounded by piles of discarded outfits. "I don't know," I muttered looking at my reflection.

I twisted side to side. Did my b**t look too big? Did it look flat? It was big but I didn't necessarily want to emphasize it. I definitely did not want it to look flat. My backside looked okay. And the cleavage was good, but I hated the way it emphasized the visible belly line.

I pulled the dress off and tossed it onto the bed and began rummaging in my closet for something else. There was no way to get away from my body, just some clothes looked better, and sometimes I didn't care. Tonight, I cared. I cared a lot. The next dress needed to work; I was running out of options.

I pulled on an old favorite. It was bright and the skirt swirled around my knees.

"You look pretty mommy," Robbie said.

I turned away from my reflection and looked at him. He was no longer looking at me but playing with some cars.

"You like this dress?"

He shrugged.

"Or do you like this one better?" I held up the dress that I had just pulled off.

The expression on his face told me I had already passed his tolerance for fashion.

"You don't like that one." He pointed to the dress in my hand.

I liked it, just maybe not for my first date in six years. Or my first date with Nathan since he had left.

"What makes you say I don't like it?"

"You didn't smile. You look happy in that one, so you like that one."

I flopped onto the bed and pulled him into a squirmy hug. I hugged, he squirmed.

"You know you are a smart little man. How did you get so smart?"

He squealed and giggled, and I giggled too. Fashion sense or not, he had helped me to pick my dress. He was right, I did like this dress. It was pretty with big red flowers, and it was comfortable. I could be myself in it. I would be self-conscious enough going out with Nathan. I didn't need to compound my issues by constantly wondering if my clothes were alright.

He wiggled free of my grasp. And pushed a pile out of his way.

I got up and began putting clothes away, keeping the dress on. I still needed to finish getting ready. "You're going to be good for Lacey tonight, right?"

He nodded.

"She's going to put you to bed. Don't do that thing where you won't go to sleep."

"Why aren't you going to put me to bed?" he asked.

"I told you, I'm going out on a date. I will probably be back later than bedtime."

A wash of nerves overcame me. I shook all over and let out a whoosh of air. Robbie looked at me funny.

"I'm a little nervous," I admitted. "I haven't been on a date in a long time."

"Why are you nervous? I'm always excited when I get to go to a playdate. Last time I got to play at Annie's we played with blocks. And then her big brother played with us until he got cranky and knocked down everything. Are you going to play with blocks?" "I don't think so, baby. We're going to have dinner and talk."

"You have dinner all the time. That's nothing to be nervous about."

I hung up the outfit in my hand and sighed. He was right. And way too smart for a five-year-old. I finished putting my clothes away and let Robbie play in the middle of my bed while I worked on my hair and makeup. The nerves continued to build in my stomach. I didn't think I would be able to eat by the time I met Nathan at the restaurant.

My ability to wing eyeliner went out the nearest window. I washed my face and started my makeup over again. I gave up on trying to do winged liner, and I didn't even attempt false lashes. I ended up swiping my lids with a simple shimmer of gold and managed not to stab myself in the eye putting on a layer of mascara.

My hair was clean and having learned my lesson with the clothes and the makeup, I decided not to try anything too fancy. I swept it up into a high ponytail, and then twisted it and tucked it back in, giving my hair the look of having a fancy bun. I used a few bobby pins to secure all of it and pulled tendrils out around my temples and in front of my ears.

Nathan would have to deal with me not being as glam as I was sure he was expecting. This was the best I could do. I admired myself in the mirror again and could not believe I thought I was ready to walk out the door. My dress was a wrinkled mess. I pulled out my ironing board, set it up in the kitchen, and plugged the iron in.

I pulled the dress off and ironed the skirt and the front while I was in my underwear in the middle of my kitchen. All I needed were fuzzy pink slippers and rollers in my hair to feel like a movie stereotype. I guess it was a good thing I didn't own curlers.

I waved the dress out so that it wouldn't feel hot when I put it back on. I didn't need to add being sweaty from warm laundry to my anxiety this evening. I unplugged the iron and set it on the counter, and then put the board away. I scanned the kitchen and started to put dishes in the dishwasher. I could start it when I got home. I didn't want to leave a mess.

I jumped when I heard a loud knock on the door. I opened it to a confused Lacey.

"Hi, Lacey."

"I thought you were bringing Robbie up? Isn't your date in like ten minutes?" She scanned my kitchen and saw the open dishwasher. "Are you cleaning the kitchen right now?"

I gestured at the dishes. "It's a mess."

She chuckled. "Wow, you are nervous, aren't you?"

"I didn't say anything of the kind."

"Gabby, you're cleaning your kitchen, and you still don't have shoes on. That's a textbook case of avoidance. Do you want to go on this date?"

"Lacey!" Robbie came running out from my room and wrapped a hug around Lacey's legs. Acting like it had been forever since he had last seen her, instead of the twenty-four hours it had been.

"Are you ready to come hang out with me? I got some new coloring books," she said.

Robbie's big eyes got even bigger.

"Go get your shoes." She trained her gaze on me, "You too. Shoes."

I sighed; she was right. I would spin myself into a cleaning frenzy, replaceing yet another thing to do first before leaving for my dinner date, if I didn't stop. I didn't want to be nervous. This was Nathan. The one person I had been the most comfortable with in the world at one point in time.

I headed back to my room.

"And earrings!" Lacey called after me.

My fingers flew to my earlobes. I slipped my feet into a pair of red flats, and I grabbed my hoops from the bathroom. I didn't want to think about all the things I should be doing to dress up for this. It felt like a major accomplishment to get this far. Back in the kitchen, Lacey looked me up and down. She made a twirling motion with her hand, directing me to spin. She twitched her mouth to the side and considered me.

"Okay, come with us upstairs. I have something to complete your look."

I grabbed Robbie's hand and we followed Lacey upstairs. Once inside, Robbie dropped my hand and ran over to the couch, and the little table next to it where she kept his coloring things. She crossed the studio and stepped over her bed and pulled a red scarf from a display of other scarves she had.

"Wrap this around your bun," she said, holding out the scarf. It was red with little white polka dots.

"You do it, I'll mess it up," I said. "I had to do my makeup three times."

"Wow, you are nervous. I've seen you put makeup on while juggling a Robbie meltdown, and your wings turned out perfectly. Is this guy really worth it?"

"I don't know. I dated him a long time ago, and" I sighed. "I haven't been on a date in a lifetime. I don't even remember what I'm supposed to do."

"I don't think there is any wrong way to do a date. Be yourself. If this guy is worth it, then he would hate that you're nervous. And if you went out with him before, then he knows how remarkable of a woman you are."

"Both you and Robbie have been the best advisors today."

I tended to think of Lacey as being younger than me, but she wasn't. We had just taken different paths in our lives. I began running the café when I was nineteen and I had a kid when I was almost twenty-two. She had gone to college and grad school. She was maybe two years younger than me, and right now, she was years smarter than I was when it came to this date.

"Oh yeah, what did Robbie do?"

"He told me I looked pretty in this dress because I looked happy. Talk about a fashion choice, right? I stopped worrying about how I looked and focused on how I felt. He was right."

"You've got a smart kid there."

I completely agreed with her.