“And this is the silly party,” Ellie was saying. She whispered as she waived her hand to a small group of toddlers dressed in the gaudiest outfits Gus had ever seen. They all had floppy hats and were draped in costume jewelry and scarves. Gus’s eyes widened when he noticed several of the little girls were wearing designer shoes that had probably cost over four hundred dollars. And the scarves were pure silk, one was a Versace scarf, he knew since he’d just bought one for a woman about a month ago, he thought.
But what struck him hardest was the woman listening intently to a magical story one of the little girls was telling. The woman wore a huge straw hat with a red, pink and yellow floral scarf tied around the top in a bow so he couldn’t see her face at all. She had three or four strands of pearls draped around her neck, and another scarf tied around each of her wrists. None of the scarves matched her periwinkle blue Chanel suit.
What he noticed wasn’t the hat or the suit or the gaudy jewelry. His eyes were caught by her legs. The hostess of the silly party, as Ellie had called it, had the sexiest legs he’d seen since he’d watched a woman play tennis a week ago.
His eyes traveled from her tiny feet with her shoes off up to her slim, periwinkle clad hips that were twisted slightly in the tiny, toddler chair. He suspected that the little girl to the left of her had liked the shoes because the little girl was wearing periwinkle pumps, the exact shade of the woman’s suit. Her legs were crossed conservatively at her delicate ankles. His eyes traveled upward again, noting her slim calves and muscular thighs. He was impressed again when he noted that, although she was perched in a toddler chair, her cute little derriere fit perfectly.
Unfortunately, that was about all he could see of her figure but she instantly held his attention.
“You don’t say!” the woman replied to a story one of the little girls was telling. Gus couldn’t understand a word the child was saying but the woman obviously did since she replied several times, nodding in what seemed to be the appropriate places which only encouraged the other little girls to add to the story. They were all chiming in at the same time, wanting to make the story as outrageous as possible. Gus caught the word “shark” and “bear” suspiciously close to “Barbie” and “fairy godmother” but nothing else made sense.
Gus didn’t know how long he had been standing there watching the scene, but he finally heard Ellie clearing her throat. “Would you care to join the tea party?” she asked.
Gus shook his head and pulled his gaze away from the mysterious woman. He wondered who she was, then assumed she was one of the corporate mentors Ellie had mentioned to him. He turned away but his head snapped back when he heard her laughing at whatever the girls had said. It was a light, twinkling sound that affected him all the way into his gut, his stomach muscles clenching with an instantaneous need to meet and possess the woman with the amazing laugh and sexy legs.
Ellie was waiting for him at the end of the hallway and he hurried down to her and they walked back to the office.
Now that he was away from the mysterious woman, the spell he’d been under was gone and he was able to concentrate again. “I’m sorry, but I need to rush,” Gus explained. “I’m trying to reach someone and need to get back to the office,” he said when they reached the administrative offices again.
Ellie nodded her head and extended her hand to shake his. “Yes, you probably have a lot of business to attend to. Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting us.”
Gus shook her hand then took out his cell phone then cursed in his mind. His battery was dead again. He’d forgotten to charge it last night. “May I borrow your phone for a moment?” he asked Ellie.
“Absolutely. Do you need to use my office for privacy?”
Gus appreciated the offer but shook his head. “No. I just need to check in with my secretary.”
“Help yourself,” she said and pushed the phone across the counter towards him.
Gus dialed up and Dora answered on the first ring. “Have you heard from Ed Mason yet?” he asked.
He listened as Dora answered him. “Well, as soon as you can get him on the phone, let me know. My cell phone has died but I’ll be back at the office tomorrow. If he doesn’t respond, we’ll go with the second choice and work out the details later.”
Gus hung up a moment later and smiled at Ellie. “Thanks for the phone. I’ll be in touch.”
Ellie smiled tentatively. “You’re trying to reach Ed Mason?” she asked.
Gus nodded, wanting to get out of the office so he could find out who the woman was in the tea party. He knew he should be concentrating on business, but she wouldn’t leave his mind. He was hoping Dora would be able to get a list of the mentors working here. Hopefully, he could narrow the list down and find the woman with the haunting laughter and great legs. The tennis player from a few days ago also came to his mind and he wondered why he was suddenly so fascinated by women’s legs.
Before Gus knew what was happening, Ellie was speaking into the phone he’d just hung up. “Nancy, I need you to get Ed to call Gus Attracelli,” she said in her no-nonsense tone of voice. “No, immediately, Nancy. I think it is important and Ed might be losing some business if he delays.” Ellie nodded as the person on the other end of the phone said something. “That would be great. Thanks Nancy,” Ellie said and hung up.
Ellie smiled at Gus. “Ed will be calling you tomorrow morning, first thing,’ she said.
Gus thought his mouth might drop open. “How did you accomplish that?” he asked.
Ellie shrugged. “We all have our resources,” she said. Then her attention was diverted as a group of girls strolled in, arguing about makeup. “I’d better resolve this,” Ellie said apologetically. “Makeup can get a little scary when teenage girls are involved.”
Ellie came around the desk. “Ladies,” she said firmly and even Gus stood up straighter when this friendly, motherly woman used that tone. “Hand it all over,” she said.
Gus slipped out, not wanting to get in the middle of a make up dispute among teenage girls.
---
Walking into the ballroom, Gus glanced around, wondering how long he had to stay at this event before he could head home and watch the hockey game. The ball was an obligatory event for ATI and it was his turn to show up. He and his four other brothers alternated attending these events, with him and Carlo picking up more than the lion’s share now that the others were married and either expecting or already have kids.