her drink in Japanese. She sounded impressively fluent.
“Where’d you learn to speak the language?” Taylor asked.
Candy made a little shrug. “I picked it up. You know us flight attendants. So…is it your boyfriend or fiancé you’re trying to forget tonight?”
“Neither.” Taylor stewed for a moment and then leaned in to whisper. “Did you know that Bennett’s engaged?”
Candy smiled and leaned back in her seat. “So you are interested in Mr. Wade. I knew it.”
“No,” Taylor replied defensively. “Why would you think that?”
Candy shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe because you looked like you wanted to claw someone’s eyes out when you said the word ‘engaged’?”
Taylor looked away. She was making a fool of herself, wasn’t she?
Candy slid her hand across the table and gave Taylor’s wrist a light squeeze. “Like I said before, the man doesn’t get involved with women who work for him. So do yourself a favor and accept he’s off-limits. You’ll save yourself a huge amount of heartbreak.” Candy looked down at her menu. “Besides, you’re not his type.”
Taylor laughed. “Well, thanks. Not that I care.”
“No, no, honey. I meant that as a compliment. You’re much too brainy. And I can tell you don’t take lip from a man,” she said with a little extra southern sass. “He only dates superficial airheads. I keep warning him to raise the bar, but he won’t listen.”
“Apparently, he does more than just date them.”
Candy folded her menu and set it down. “Mr. Wade doesn’t discuss his relationships with me, but the tabloids make stuff up about him all the time.”
But the Victoria woman had a giant rock on her hand and had been holding it to the camera.
She continued, “All I can tell you is what I know. And this girl,” she pointed to herself, “knows sleazy men. Mr. Wade isn’t one of them. He just hasn’t found the right woman yet.”
“Is that what happened with his ex, Kate?” Taylor asked. “She wasn’t good enough?”
“Honey, I have no clue what went on between him and that woman, but the moment I laid eyes on Kate, I knew the innocent schoolteacher thing was an act. That woman was anything but innocent.” She shook her head and sighed. “I triiied to warn him. But, let me tell you: he was not happy when that one ended.”
That made Taylor wonder if Bennett had been dumped and not the other way around. No. No way. He’s not the kind of guy who girls dumped. Of course, what did she know? “So, you were going to tell me how you met him, right?” Taylor asked.
The waiter showed up with their drinks and took their orders. Taylor wasn’t that hungry so she ordered the sashimi salad. Candy ordered a teriyaki chicken-something with rice.
“Cheers.” Candy held up her glass of white wine and Taylor toasted with her large cocktail.
They both sipped and then Candy set her glass on the table and folded her hands. From her body language, Taylor sensed the conversation was about to go down a serious path.
“I met Mr. Wade here in Japan, actually. I used to be a call girl of sorts,” Candy said.
Taylor tried to keep from spitting her mouth full of vodka across the table. “I’m sorry, did you say ‘call girl’?”
Candy lifted her chin. “Well, really more like a ‘paid’ companion, but yes. My life is a horrible cliché, right down to my name.”
Wow. Taylor didn’t want to be judgmental, but this was not what she’d expected to hear.
“So how does one…” Taylor sipped her drink to clear the shock from her throat, “end up a call girl in Japan?”
“Another damned cliché, honey. That’s how. I was eighteen and stupid and from a small town in Arkansas. We didn’t have any money growing up so when a friend of mine, who had an older sister living in Los Angeles, invited me there for a weekend of partying, it was like breaking out of prison. I never went anywhere except church and school.” She leaned in. “And honey, someone shoulda kept me there. One night we were out at a bar drinking and I ended up going home with two guys. They introduced me to drugs. I never went home. One thing led to another, and a year later I was stripping for money. I was a mess.”
Taylor’s eyes went wide, and she hardly knew what to say. “Oh my God. That’s…awful.” It sounded like the plot of a sad Lifetime movie.
She took a big sip of her drink, attempting to understand